Matthew 6: 25-34
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life ? "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
What has been driving your life? Were everything you did in the past driven by anxiety. You might have had a different word used to describe all the anxiety in your life. But God knows it. Let us warn you that anxiety will drive you to obey the sinful nature of the Devil in you, if you do not know it. Some know it, but its their own stubbornness and rebelliousness towards the LORD that makes them choose to live an anxiety driven life instead. The Lord Jesus had given us ample warnings about choosing an anxiety driven life, in the passage above. If you don't heed it, whose fault would it be? "For the pagans run after all these things". If you choose to follow the way of the pagan, whose fault would it be? You will fail like them? They seek these things like food, drink, clothes,first. That's an anxiety driven life. Why do you foolishly want to follow that too, if you say you belong to Christ our Lord? If you truly belong to Christ our Lord, you would seek first His kingdom and His righteousness! Did the Lord say in His promise above that, if you seek His kingdom and righteousness first, you will lack the things you need to sustain yourself. He is the One who sustains you-"and all these things will be given to you as well". He gives you these things, not you get them on your own. Don't you say a prayer of thanks to God before you eat your meals? Why do you say that prayer? To thank Him for what He has given you, a meal on the table. Do you take all that He has given you for granted? No, you should not! Do not lead an anxiety driven life. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ is saying here. When you lead an anxiety driven life, you will fight and quarrel like the pagans. When you fight and quarrel, out of jealousy and greed for more, there will be anger,violence and murder.
Many things we do on Earth are driven by our own anxieties of life. Anxiety is dangerous. Anxiety drives you to steal, kill and destroy like the Devil. Anxiety leads you to war. Anxiety leads you to murder or commit suicide. Anxiety leads you to obey the sinful nature of the Devil in you, if you do not know how to handle it. Anxiety is excessive worrying. Anxiety starts from your worrying. So follow what the Lord Jesus Christ said:"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own". Do not follow what the pagans practice. They have nothing to live for, except for; food,drink,clothes and so forth. For you who belong to Christ our Lord, it's totally different here. We seek first the things of God and our needs on Earth will be met. That's His promise to us. He has never failed us with this promise all these years. He carried us through. Our needs were met somehow, as we sought first His kingdom and His righteousness. We never sought anything else. We never sought anyone else's kingdom that they are trying to build. We never sought their righteousness, even when they stood upside down and say, this is the righteousness of Christ. We knew there was something terribly missing with that kind of righteousness, one that is mixed with worldliness. We shunned every bit of it. We still do shun it. The apostle Paul was given these words below from the Lord to share with us about this.Let's see what he has to say about this.
Philippians 4:6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
The opposite of anxiety is the peace of God which transcends all understanding. The peace of God guards your hearts and mind from sinning. It guards you from turning to the sinful nature of the Devil in you. The peace of God is one vital part of the divine nature of Christ that must be formed in you. How does this get formed in you? Through your obedience to everything Christ had commanded. This peace of God in Christ Jesus that is formed in you, makes you different from the rest. You don't worry the things the pagans worry about. Your understanding of things around you will be different from the rest. They see turmoil but you still have that peace of God in Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ showed us this peace of God with His life, while He was on Earth. We can see this to be very true in His life. Have you searched that out? Prayer does it! Thanksgiving will flow. You are always seeking all things from God and not from the world. You won't fight and quarrel with the world for everything you need. God is the one who provides you with what you need, not sinful men. The sinful nature of the Devil in you can give you food,drink and clothes but it cannot give these eternal things of God. In fact, it will drift you far away from God and the peace of God, when you turn to it for an answer. The sinful nature of the Devil in you isn't eternal. The sinful nature of the Devil in you instead, brings death! It brings eternal death when it's urges, desires and passions are continually or stubbornly obeyed. Rather, seek the peace of God that surpasses human understanding to be formed in you. This peace of God is formed in us as we come to Christ our Lord and obey Him fully. We will have that peace of God formed in us eternally. The divine nature of Christ is as different from the sinful nature of the Devil in you, as light is from darkness. Seek it with all your heart and mind!
Matthew 11: 25-30
At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. "All things have been committed to me by my Father.No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
