Don’t Worry… Be Happy
Why We Worry – Part II
Scripture Reading: Matthew 6:25-34
Key Verse: Matthew 6:25 NLT
“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing?”
Jesus tells us, in today’s Key Verse, not to worry about everyday life. Yet far too many of us do worry about everyday life!
Let’s be honest, we may not worry that we won’t have clothing, but we do concern ourselves with the proper fashion of our clothing.
We may not worry about having food to eat, but we do focus on being able to eat at the nicest restaurants and having the best food available.
All this is true for us who live in the “first world” environment. It is so easy to get focused on having the nicest things, a nice home, with a beautiful lawn, and everything else that goes with it. Please understand, Jesus is not saying to never think about or enjoy these things. Jesus is telling His followers to make sure these things are secondary to our focus on His teachings and our obedience to them.
Jesus’s words in Matthew 6:33 NLT sum up the teachings of Matthew 6:
“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need.”
God is not mad at us for living in a first world nation with all its privileges. God does not love people living in third world nations just because they are poor. It is not what we have or do not have that matters to God. It is our hearts desires that matter to Him.
People who are poor can, and often do, have money as their greatest goal in life. And people with lots of money can have hearts that are sold out to God and willing to follow Jesus wherever He leads them.
Jesus did not start our Key Verse with “do not desire anything good in this life”. Jesus said not to worry about everyday life. The key word here is “worry”. Worry is to have anxiousness wrapped around our desires. Jesus wants us to live life satisfied with what our Father in Heaven gives to us.
Look at the Apostle Paul’s testimony in Philippians 4:11-13 NLT:
Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.”
The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy:
Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment…” (1 Timothy 6:6a NLT)
Join me in “learning contentment”. Let’s trust the goodness of God to provide all we need for this life.
Father, You bless me with far more than the basics of what I need and want in life. Thank You for Your goodness to me. Help me to always live content with what You provide. In Jesus’s Name, amen.