Matthew 6:25-33
25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry 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, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
I remember a few years ago, I was in the church office where I pastored in Greer, SC. At the time, we had a financial need in our Helping Hands Ministry. We needed $300. I happen to be reading this passage and when I got down to verse 26 that says:
26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
I put my Bible down, and went to my window. The back of the church property was full of animals. You could watch squirrels play and chase each other all day. At times you could see deer come walking up. But there was a great abundance of birds.
As I looked out the window, I saw a bird getting a worm. And I don’t know why but I felt a great deal of love for that bird. I felt like that bird was me. I don’t know it was about 9 in the morning. If the early bird catches the worm, he was late that morning.
He must have slept in. But the Heavenly Father still provided for that bird. And I thought, God I can trust you to provide for me.
Later that day as we gave out free groceries, an elderly woman who did not come to our church but came often for free groceries, handed one of our church members a napkin with $300 cash that she had saved over a year and she wanted to bless our church for all that she had received over the years.
I still have that napkin and it reminds me of God’s faithfulness. I only have one job, and that is to seek the Kingdom and His righteousness and if I do, He will take care of the rest. Maybe take time to read Matthew 6:25-33 a couple times slowly and let God’s Word just bring peace to your spirit.
Blessings,
Pastor Lee & Gidget Athey