[Daily Devotion] February 16th, 2017

God is Watching – Matthew 6:25-34

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? ²⁸ And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. ³⁰ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ ³² For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

³⁴ “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

What the passage says

V. 25-27 Do not worry about what you eat or drink. Like God provides for the birds, in the sky, God will provide for God’s Children.

V. 28-30 Do not worry about what you wear. We can try our best to look good, but we know that it cannot measure to the beauty presented by God.  We need to know that we are God’s masterpiece. 

V. 31-24 Our focus should not be on what we have, but what we live for. When we are focused on the Kingdom of God, we will be able to see how God provides. However, this also means, if we focus on worrying, we will miss the opportunity to see the God who provides.

What does the passage say to me/us?

Where is our focus?
When we focus on what we possess and what we don’t have, we are bound to worry. Because the more we have, the more we will see what we do not have yet. The more we will see the risk of losing what we have, or the things what have cannot provide.
Jesus says that this is a lifestyle of pagans, people who do not know God. (These are not only the people who don’t believe in God but also the ones who say that they believe but never experienced God’s work in their lives.)
Jesus says, “[Don’t worry] But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (v. 33 NIV).
Sometimes we fear that if we focus on God first, we will miss out or not have enough. However, on the contrary, Jesus says, that will be the only way we see God’s hands providing for us so that we can live a worry-free life. Focusing on the kingdom doesn’t mean that we will suffer for the glory, rather we will enjoy the life walking with our Lord. The Message Bible describes this lifestyle as, ” Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns met” (v. 33 The Message).
How can we focus on God’s kingdom today?
How can we share that peace, which comes from a worry-free life, with others?

Prayer 

Lord, help us not to be trapped in our own worries. Help us to focus on you. Help us to rely on you. Help us live a worry-free life.
In Christ name, we pray, AMEN

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