Matthew 6:25-29 “25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, F54 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? F55 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.”
It’s not easy. Especially if you can see, hear, read, listen, etc. You don’t have to watch tv, or read a paper or website for very long to find a reason someone else wants us to worry. We are a people whose fearful resources are being competed for on a daily basis. So many causes, arenas, events, products, organizations, etc. want our attention. How is our attention easily obtained? Generate fear or worry.
And so it happens. Constantly. Even to the point where things like “Saturday Night Live” and other comedic sources poke fun at it. But in the midst of the poking, it continues to grip our lives.
It is into this world, we are called and sent as people of Christ…to exist differently. The words of Christ in Matthew chapter 6 are not a wise fiscal plan. They don’t account for all the needs, and don’t spell out details of how someone can honor God with their resources both now, and the tomorrows to come.
But in the midst of a world filled with legitimate concerns and a daily torrent of concerns we’re being sold….we are called to “consider the lilies” as a way of following Christ. How are we doing, Church?
I get a flood of church advertising in my mailbox on a weekly basis. Always a new seminar, technology, or event happening “near you!!” that promises to rescue my ministry from whatever panic-button issue they want me to believe I’m struggling with. Churches make the news on a regular basis for actions and words that don’t reflect the heart of Christ, always with a martyr-like defense justifying them in their “holy crusade”.
Do people who follow Christ care? Definitely. We see passion, emotion, and a dramatic distaste for injustice and the brokenness of creation. But it is not a care that draws us to fortify, protect, and further our “crusades”. It is a care that draws us to give sacrificially, to speak for the mute, to show love in the face of hate, mercy in the face of un-forgiveness, and life in the face of death.
And to live….free from worry. To observe how the lilies exist….free. God will finish what He began. Our moments are not the beginning, or the end. We continue the work of Christ, and we do so with every fiber of our being…but not to the sacrifice of the message He lived.
words from wick 