Smoodock's Blog

We fret about many things in life, whether we would have enough to meet our needs. The context of Jesus’ remarks about fretting or being anxious about the necessities of life is found in the word, therefore. He isn’t speaking of not planning for our future needs, as that pertains to a vocation, or our concern for personal and family necessities, like food shelter and clothing. Rather, Jesus’ remarks come down to a question of who do we trust, if we put the Kingdom of God first in our lives.

Can we trust God to provide for us, or do we need to make our provision certain on our own? In the matter of religious reputation (Matthew 6:1-6), will God care for our good name, or is our good name tied to what others expect of us? Can we trust God to satisfy our needs, even if we don’t pray or make our desires known to him (Matthew 6:5-15)? If we share what we have, will we have enough left for ourselves (Matthew 6:16-18)? Seeking to be rewarded in heaven may be a good idea, but what about now? If I place the Kingdom of God above my own needs, will I have enough? Will my family have enough, or will we find ourselves begging for food and clothing, like those we are sharing with (Matthew 6:19-24)?

First, Jesus presents the principle of not fretting from the perspective of the importance the Lord places upon life in which the breath of God exists. Think about this for a moment. If God created life with a natural need for something else, like food and clothing, if he didn’t give provision for the necessary thing to be used or consumed by the life, especially in that life in which he had placed the greater value? What purpose would there be in creating anything, if the thing would be destroyed in a matter of days through the lack of what it needs? The principle of greater value is evident throughout the Lord’s creation. Life that contains the breath of God is clearly more important to God’s purposes than vegetation that also lives and covers our planet. Vegetation exists for the consumption of animal and human life, wherein is found the breath of God.

The point is that one’s body is much more valuable than the clothing that protects it. This is logical and true. It is the protective clothing that takes the abuse of the elements, while the body is preserved, proving the body is of much more value to God than the clothing it needs to survive. Likewise, a man’s life is of more value than the food he needs to consume. The food, whether fruits or vegetables, will decay and pass out of existence soon after they are ripe, whether or not they are consumed by man. Therefore, why wouldn’t God provide these very temporary things to preserve the lives of human beings, whom he created to live longer than ripe vegetation? It simply doesn’t make sense, if the Lord created life to image him (Genesis 1:27), and if such life has a need for food and drink, that the Lord wouldn’t provide for those necessities (Matthew 6:25).

Consider the birds of the air as an example. Why would God create them, and not provide for their needs? They don’t work for their living, nor do they harvest what they need and store supplies away. Instead, they glorify God by being what they are, doing what they do (Romans 1:19-20), and the Lord, their Creator, provides for their necessities (Matthew 6:26). Life, even of the birds of the air, is more important to God, than what they need to eat to survive. It is a law of nature that life, in which is found the breath of God, is of much more importance to him than the living necessities (vegetation) that exist for those life forms that live by the breath of God.