The Gospel of Matthew 6:25-33
Jesus said, “I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 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? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you– you of little faith? Therefore, do not worry, saying, `What will we eat?’ or `What will we drink?’ or `What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed, your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Let us Pray: Pray, bring your worries to God. Instead of letting your worries rattle around in your mind, formulate them into prayers and petitions to your Father. This we pray in your Name. Amen.
Jesus tells us to stop worrying, stop letting anxiety, fear, fretting, fussing interfere with our life. The opposite of worry, fear, anxiety is faith and trust. If we were to trust in God as simply and completely as the birds of the air and the flowers of the field do, we would not be anxious. We would still have responsibilities but would not be anxious about them. And more than this, if we set our responsibilities within the framework of first and foremost desiring God’s realm and its justice, then our intentions don’t get confused with our expectations. Which is to say, it is human nature to describe our intentions in terms of the expected outcomes. Doing this is very useful since it gives others a concrete picture of the anticipated reward at the end of the journey. However, in the real world, setting out on the journey will result in learnings and setbacks. We will become worried and anxious about achieving our expectations. But if we re-focus on our original intentions and trust that God is still present in our current circumstance then we can stop worrying about tomorrow. How much we worry and how many of our worries are unfounded? Unhealthy worrying can cripple us to the point of making us ineffective and unable to cope with life’s challenges. It can also lead to depression. We worry over sickness, viruses, finances, family, children, unforeseen dangers, and many other things. Living in fear Jesus says, is not the point of real life. Turn your thoughts away from topics of anxiety to those good and noble thoughts that will bring you peace. Pray with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving for what? For what God has done in the past. When we take time to praise God for who he is and what he has done in the past, we are encouraged and strengthened to believe he will do that for us in the future as well. Praise is the language of faith and stirs up faith. So, when we seek God, wherever and however he leads us, we can see his Kingdom and his righteousness and we find that he meets our temporal needs, too. Jesus is saying is that we don’t need to go borrowing trouble from tomorrow; we have enough already. Deal with today by God’s help. Then tomorrow, deal with tomorrow, and he’ll help you there, too.
Let us Pray: On this Thanksgiving Day let us be thankful that we can celebrate life, we need to let our worries go and thank God for all He has given us. We need to think about all we have not what we don’t have. Put aside our anxieties and live life to it’s fullest believing God will guide us. This we pray on this Day of Thanksgiving to our Lord and Savior. Amen
Reflections by Bob 