Blessed Or Cursed?

MAT 6:25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, ’What shall we eat?’ or ’What shall we drink?’ or ’What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Verse 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. This is a promise from Jesus Himself. We christians don’t seem to have problems whenever it come to "naming it and claiming it" on most of God’s promises; we seem to simply not believe or hold on to this one very much.

After all, we gotta work, don’t we? Of course! The Bible says if you don’t work, you don’t eat....and by all means, we need to "worry" about our clothes....that is, we need to be wearing some! The text here is telling us that we don’t necessarily have to have "designer" clothes, or expensive clothes. God will provide.

Now the trouble with christians seems to be that God doesn’t provide the way we think He ought to. "Yes, He got me a car, but it wasn’t the one I really wanted!" or "Yes, He got me a job, but He could’a got me a higher paying one!" "Look’a here, preach’a.... God really NEEDS to get me a better house....we’ve outgrown this one!" Think about it...at least you have those things. Some people don’t have anyplace to lay their head or a car to drive to work.....5% of this very country doesn’t even have a job to go to! Thank God most people can get clothes!

Jesu is not trying to minimize our needs/wants/desires here. He is simply telling us that we need to keep our focus on Him. Chasing after the cares of this life will come in-between you and your relationship with God. 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. He knows what you need even before you ask. God is committed to taking care of His children....and that IS a promise. God doesn’t lie, nor does He break His promises. SO why, then, don’t we seem to living in the blessing of God’s promises?

You remember last week we kinda "defined" what God calls His people. It’s not what we call ourselves that matters, but what God sees us as that we will be held accountable to.What’s important to know here is that God will not/cannot renege on any of His promises as long as we are doing our part. He is incapable of breaking His Word.

Listen, a promise is only as good as the one making it. Have you ever been promised something by someone and it never happened? "Well, pastor.....there are a lot of promises in the Bible that don’t seem to be working for me....I see it work for everyone else, but not for me"....What do you think makes you different that God’s promises don’t apply to you? DO you believe in God’s integrity? Do you believe that God has the ability to supply all your needs according to His riches in glory? If so, then how can we not apply these principle in our text with full confidence that God will take care of us no matter how dire our circumstances look? He made a promise, and He is faithful and just to keep His promises, just as He is to forgive your sin whenever you repent and ask Him into your heart!

If you don’t know where your next meal is coming from, or you just don’t know how you’ll pay your bills this month, then God has you right where He wants you. "What kinda crazy talk is that, preach’a?" Well.......if you are in this circumstance, you are either going to worry yourself to death or.......you are going to learn to trust God and believe in His promises. And the more that you are unable to totally trust God whenever you are in trouble.....any kind of trouble, including financial trouble.....then the more you are going to be put to thru this test until you get it right and learn to trust God.