Day 30 - Don’t worry about tomorrow ...

“…..even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” [Matthew 6:28-29].

Considering the various news reports that are current, any reasonable person is likely to decide that the most prominent topic is ‘worry’. Not only do we have the immediate themes of war, economic collapse, climatic deterioration and the like, but just below the surface lurks the reportage on social deterioration and injustice. Many people that I meet are simply worried, in a general way.

Of course, general worry gives opportunities for ever more burdensome rules and regulations, based upon the feeling that ‘something must be done’. That, on the whole, doesn’t help. An iron cage of imposed expectations has never done more than increase a sense of grey, unreasonable fear.

Whilst Jesus was counselling His immediate followers, He gave some of the most profoundly under-used advice ever. You may want to have a look at the few verses between Matthew 6:25-34. Then put your mind back into the world’s topics and then look again at Jesus’ teaching. We’ll return to that in a minute.

For me, the most pressing topic of our lifetimes is very different from the doom-laden lists in the news. The topic that detains me most is: “What are we doing to portray Christ to our generations?”, and this topic never appears in the media.

So back to The Boss – Jesus. The first few verses in the passage run counter to our human nature because Jesus says that we are wasting our time and efforts doing what we most often do, which is to chase the things that we, mistakenly, believe are the antidotes to being worried. God, says Jesus, is well aware of all our needs – and will supply them. He goes on to point out that worrying is purposeless anyhow [Verse 27]. Jesus goes on to tell us that it is not only sustenance and clothing that God gives out, but also the means of being ‘clothed gloriously’ [verses 28-30].

The challenge here is that this as first glance, the glance that many seem to think is adequate, this set of assertions is just not true. Jesus Himself suffered horribly and died painfully, as have many of His followers. Further contemplation opens the mind though.

A little later in Matthew, we have the story of the feeding of the 5,000, [14:13-21]. God provided the crowd with enough and more at Jesus’ request.

Understanding develops earlier in Matthew [4:1-4] when we meet Jesus resisting the temptation to provide material needs out of context. He could have fed the world but says that bread is not sufficient for real life. Only the Word of God does that job.

All of which bring me back to the ending verses about not worrying [Matthew 6:33-34].

“Seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness…” & “Do not worry about tomorrow…”.

Jesus did allow Himself to be crucified, because that is God’s purpose. When He wanted to, He could overwhelm the needs of the world and produce bread. However, before anything else, He looked for God. Then He did not concern Himself with the ifs and buts of what may happen.

The point, surely, is that The Topic for us is to follow His example whilst we travel through the otherwise grey apprehensions around us.

John Cartwright