Matthew 6:25-34
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. 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 which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious 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 arrayed like one of these.
30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Just maybe you remember the movie "Parenthood" (1989), with Steve Martin.
Gil: They call me Cowboy Gil, as in guil-ty. I saw Cowboy Dan. I didn't like the look on his face. It was like this...
Gil: ... so I killed him. I blew a hole in him this big. Actually it was about this big. You know, when I think about it, that hole was about THIS BIG! And his guts were spilled out all over the floor. As I was walkin' away, I slip around on his guts. A couple of other people came by and started slippin' on his guts too. After I blow a hole in somebody and slip around on their guts... afterwards, I always like to make balloon animals. That's mighty courteous of you. Here we go!
[holds up jumbled of twisted balloons]
Gil: Your lower intestines.
Gil practices endlessly to make Kevin perfect in their baseball adventures. By the end of the horrific season, Kevin catches the ball and Gil goes home to proclaim the catch was a "miracle" to his wife. His wife smirks and says, "Endless practice."
What about not being anxious... Christians tend to more worried and more anxious and more eager to please. Not really a bad thing when you consider these are souls at work for Him. We get ourselves in such a knot over not being nervous. The disciples were constantly being flummoxed with worry.
We get exactly like this - worried over worrying. Real is what Father God wants from us. The father who cried out, "I believe, help my unbelief!" - this father was within a few thousand feet of the Transfiguration.
Sufficient is the day - we have to have practice with our gratitude - without really digging a lot goes past us and we don't see how He is working all things to the good of those who love the Lord.
Crying, for me, helps. A rain shower to allow the emotion to be recognized and helped.
Psalm 139:23
Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
1 John 3:1
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are
Malachi 3:10
Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.
Matthew 14:31
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"
Luke 13:34
how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings
Isaiah 40
Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
3 A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
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