Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these

 

 "Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  So why do you worry about clothing?  

 

"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'   For after all these things the Gentiles seek.  For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  

 

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

 

- Matthew 6:25-34 

 

We are currently reading through the Sermon on the Mount.  On Saturday, we read that Jesus taught, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  The lamp of the body is the eye.  If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.  If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!  No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon."

 

"Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  So why do you worry about clothing?"  Here my study Bible comments that what Jesus is warning against is anxiety.  This is not a critique of thoughtful planning.  It notes that our physical well-being is directly dependent upon God, and only indirectly on food, drink, and clothing.  To be over-anxious over earthly things expresses a lack of faith in God's care. 

 

"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all  his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'   For after all these things the Gentiles seek.  For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things."   My study Bible notes that because the Gentiles served pagan idols, they remained consumed by dependence on earthly things.  Those who follow God can be freed from this dependence.

 

 "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."  The kingdom of God is the central theme of Christ's teaching, the gospel message -- and God's righteousness is the subject of the Sermon on the Mount.  Christ calls us to be free from anxiety about earthly things, and directs us to look to heaven.  My study Bible comments that we can do so in the security that God will provide needed earthly blessings.

So we seek first the kingdom of God.  But how does this work in a modern and very secularized world, in which public interaction with faith is no longer commonly found in day-to-day life?  This is an important question, because it becomes a consideration of how we, as faithful, structure our days.  With a focus on the kingdom of God, we "hand over" daily life to God and place it in God's hands.  What this translates into is a dependence upon God for how we seek to live our lives, the choices we make, and especially the interaction that we have with others.  What is it that supports our own way of life in seeking the righteousness of God that my study Bible says is the subject of the Sermon on the Mount?  In other words, if we put the kingdom of God first -- that is, Christ's gospel of the Kingdom -- then what we seek to do in our daily lives is live that Kingdom's life even in this world.  Therefore we don't place first earthly considerations of how we are going to get things:  "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'   For after all these things the Gentiles seek.  For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things."   Jesus' teaching is clear that the One upon whom we're to depend knows that we have need of all of these earthly, material things, so our dependence upon God does preclude having the things we need.  Jesus rightly points out the beauty of the created world, saying that "Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these," and that it is God who so beautifully clothes even the simplest elements of creation.  So the consideration here is for worry and anxiety, perhaps the two greatest preoccupations that drive the modern world.  I have repeatedly read statistics that teach us that the most commonly prescribed drugs world-wide are anti-anxiety medications, and it's no wonder.  With a material focus that discounts the importance of a sense of God's reality permeating this world, a sense both of scarcity and competition drives priorities.  Our social media focus gives us another dimension of life which is permeated by this type of unhealthy competition:   what is ostensibly a way to be connected to others becomes yet another form of curated appearance meant to give an impression of status or success.  Not too many people are going to share their perceived "failures," and even fewer are interested to see them or to provide the kind of fellowship necessary for a supportive community.  When our drive is focused on this sort of competition within our communities, or possibly even to impress family members, where do we find the kind of community that Christ teaches us about?  When we ourselves make this commitment to live the gospel of the kingdom of God, then we find that we take it upon ourselves to live that community, to create it, to be it.  It is akin to the teaching of the parable of the Good Samaritan.  Who was the man's neighbor?  It was the one who took it upon himself to be a neighbor.  This might seem like a tall order, but what Jesus is talking about is not creating the perfect system of community in the world.  He's speaking about belonging to and being a part of the kingdom of God, even as we live in the world, and that Kingdom is much greater than any one of us, or even any community of us.   That means being a part of a loving embrace that can find us anywhere, and no matter what our circumstances -- and Jesus is asking us to start there for where we truly dwell and find our dependence in life.  We're not dependent upon accumulation in the sense that God knows what our needs are, and we will find God's way for us through all circumstances.  To be freed from the kinds of worry and anxiety that permeate our lives would indeed be a blessing.