Luke 12:22-31 ~ the body more than clothing

Jesus and the Body of Christ, art by Sarah, Missionary from Tanzania

Luke 12:22-31


22 And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! 29 And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. 30 For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, seek his[God's] kingdom, and these things will be added to you.


Return with me, back with me the days of yester yore; when we drew pictures for our parents and learned faithfully not to worry. When we experience God's peace, we know this passage to be fruit of God's Word.  These beautiful Words of God's are sunshine on the days God's Heavenly will is done on earth as in Heaven. When all is right with the world.  And these words we can put as the Rock upon which we lay our cornerstone.

Romans 14:4
Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

Jesus is in the Holy Business. The LORD, The GOD of Salvation is about making people whole. When Isaiah saw Jesus 700 years before His birth, we learned of the lame walking. Scriptures go on to say walking and leaping in the Book of Acts.

There are days we cannot Stand in Luke 12. And the beautiful, amazing, powerful words of God just say to us - I cannot reach the place of not worrying.  I have seen people with cancer stricken over Luke 12. 

Rick Warren said life is like two trains all the time. One is one path marked Trouble, the other train says Peace, Problem Solved.  The Word of God is living and active.  Sometimes we deserve the rebuke. One of my Grandmother Anita's favorite saying was "Rise above it." Jesus told us many times to have faith.


John 5:2-9 
 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. ³ In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. ⁵ One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” ⁷ The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” ⁸ Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” ⁹ And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.



Matthew 15:29-31
Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain and sat down there. 30 And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them, 31 so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.


Mark 9:23-24,27
 And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” ²⁴ Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” 

 ²⁷ But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.
 

We have seasons in our life. I would say that lately my season has been this passage in Luke 12.  Sometimes this means some abundance, sometimes this means shopping in thrift stores (this is a very green option as well as being fun), sometimes creative finance and repair options. In all of this, I've felt an expectation of the willingness of God to bless in abundance and in problem solving. A feeling of joy and gratitude.


Psalm 31:21-24
21 Blessed be the Lord,
for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me
when I was in a besieged city.
22 I had said in my alarm,
“I am cut off from your sight.”
But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy
when I cried to you for help.

23 Love the Lord, all you his saints!
The Lord preserves the faithful
but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.
24 Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
all you who wait for the Lord!
 


Psalm 21  A Psalm of David
O Lord, in your strength the king rejoices,
and in your salvation how greatly he exults!
2 You have given him his heart's desire
and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah
3 For you meet him with rich blessings;
you set a crown of fine gold upon his head.
4 He asked life of you; you gave it to him,
length of days forever and ever.
5 His glory is great through your salvation;
splendor and majesty you bestow on him.
6 For you make him most blessed forever;
you make him glad with the joy of your presence.
7 For the king trusts in the Lord,
and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.



For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, seek his[God's] kingdom, and these things will be added to you.






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