Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat: and the body more than the raiment?
Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns: and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not you of much more value than they?
And which of you by taking thought, can add to his stature by one cubit?
And for raiment why are you solicitous? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they labour not, neither do they spin. But I say to you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these. And if the grass of the field, which is to day, and to morrow is cast into the oven, God doth so clothe: how much more you, O ye of little faith?
Be not solicitous therefore, saying, What shall we eat: or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things.Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.
Be not therefore solicitous for to morrow; for the morrow will be solicitous for itself. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.
In the Podcast, we talked about Simplicity, what it means and why it is important. Here, Christ invites us to greater simplicity by asking us not to worry overmuch about things like food and clothing: “For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things.” He says, instead, we should simplify our intention: “Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.”
It is not an intuitive leap: Seek the Kingdom of God, and food and drink and clothing shall be given to us? How is that possible?
It is possible because God is the root of all that we have, and is the answer to all our worries. If we can see God as the source of all we have, why would we worry?
And yet: we do worry and we do have good reason to worry. Christ suggests that first on our list of worries should be seeking the kingdom of God. All else will follow.
Have you experienced God providing for your necessities in surprising ways? What does seeking first the kingdom of God mean to you? How can it help simplify your life?
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Yes, I do know that God provides for us. There have been many instances of this in my life. I think the way in which this can be true for us all is an internal trusting. it is akin to faith but more than a blind faith. It is not a passive faith but a daily kind of placing ourselves consciously in His care. Hard to explain really.
This is a great observation. You might even say that "faith is a choice"--it's more than just the creed we are committed to, but actually, truly, trusting that God has control. We have to wake up every day and say "I'll take whatever you give me, Lord!" and trust that if it is good things it's because He wants us to have them; if they are more challenging it's because God knows we will get something from the challenge.
Yes, I do know that God provides for us. There have been many instances of this in my life. I think the way in which this can be true for us all is an internal trusting. it is akin to faith but more than a blind faith. It is not a passive faith but a daily kind of placing ourselves consciously in His care. Hard to explain really.
This is a great observation. You might even say that "faith is a choice"--it's more than just the creed we are committed to, but actually, truly, trusting that God has control. We have to wake up every day and say "I'll take whatever you give me, Lord!" and trust that if it is good things it's because He wants us to have them; if they are more challenging it's because God knows we will get something from the challenge.