“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?” (Matthew 6:25).
TEXT — Matthew 6:25-33
Message
John Masson relayed the amusing story of a woman who was crying profusely on a street corner. A man walked up to her and enquired why she was weeping. Shaking her head, she responded, “I was just thinking that maybe someday I would get married. We would later have a beautiful baby girl. Then one day this child and I would go for a walk along this street, and my darling daughter would run into the street, get hit by a car, and die.” This woman’s thoughts and behaviour are absolutely ridiculous. Like her, many of us let our minds slide so deeply into needless fear and worry.
Our text contains one of the most vital lessons that our Lord taught His followers. He warned against tormenting anxiety and needless worries about food, raiment (clothing) and the future (uncertainties). This is because life itself (given freely to us by God) is more valuable than our means of livelihood. He takes care of inferior creatures: He feeds the birds and clothes the lilies. Can we not depend on Him to do more for us? We cannot alter our stature by the least degree through worrying.
Christ’s teaching here does not negate being concerned about the necessities of life or necessary planning for the future. It is against fretting about the things of this life and in the process distrusting the providence of God. It is an established fact that so many health complications that afflict people today are traceable to needless worries. Many people do not only worry about these basic issues, but they worry so much about what other people think or say about them.
Christ gave a perfect prescription: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness…” If you sincerely do, He says: “all these things shall be added unto you.”
Thought for the day
To stop the inner warring, stop the needless worrying.
Listed among “500 most powerful people on the planet” by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2013, Pastor (Dr.) William F. Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. DCLM started in 1973 as a 15-member Bible study group right in Kumuyi’s apartment at University of Lagos where he was a lecturer. His revolutionary Bible teaching on personal holiness and commitment to evangelism soon gained so much traction and resulted in a widespread revival.
