“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?” Matthew 6:25-26 The first thing Jesus wants us to realize from Matthew 6:25-26 is that if we are bound by the emotional stronghold of worry, we have forgotten who our Father is. He says our heavenly Father finds us more valuable than the birds and flowers. He introduces this section about worry by saying in verse 25, “For this reason.” For what reason? In verse 24 it says, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” If money is your master, you’re going to find yourself worrying about it and not serving God. Jesus put worry in perspective when He asked, “Who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?” (Matthew 6:27). If we do all we can and then entrust the outcome to God, worrying is pointless. God’s people who know Him and have a relationship with Him should not live or think the same way as those who do not. God is insulted by our worry, and it impedes our ability to function as children who trust Him. I have a getaway spot away from the hustle and bustle of city life. When I wake up in the mornings there, I often hear the birds singing outside of my window full of peace and joy because they aren’t worried. These are birds with no bank account, mutual funds and no career paths. They understand that the One who created them has provided all their needs. God feeds the birds, yet they have no eternal value to Him. But you have so much value to Him that He gave His only Son to purchase your salvation and redemption from hell. You may have been raised in an environment where your needs were not met while the needs of those around you were. Or you experienced betrayal in a close relationship—maybe a marriage and all of that is evoking emotions of worry, dread and doubt. Jesus is talking about your heavenly Father, not other people who may neglect you or forsake you. When you make that distinction in your mind and in your thoughts, that God is not like the others, you will be on your way to overcoming worry.
~Tony Evans
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