Why Worry

Seek ye First

Matt 6:25-34

25 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?

26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

32 for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

33 But seek ye FIRST the kingdom of God, and HIS righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (N.I.V.)

It would appear as if Jesus is saying, that we as humans have a strong tendency to worry, concern ourselves with temporal things……

WHY WORRY………..

There is a saying :- “If you worry you die, if you don’t worry you also die, so why worry…”

1 ½ weeks away from Xmas, I wonder as we sit here, maybe there are some of us who has cares & concerns usually associated with this time of year???

Gifts to buy, what to wear on Xmas day, what meals to prepare, where to spend holidays, ……some of which are relevant, but to what extent…………

The words of Christ in his counsel to his disciples emphasises that we can be overly concerned about future events…………

Matt 13:18,22,23

18 Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.

22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.

23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

In our Christian walk, we can hear the word, but still be unfruitful……depends on our focus….

By hearing & understanding God’s word, we become fruitful, and we make ourselves available to be used by God in which ever way he sees fit.

Worldly cares are fitly compared to thorns. They came in with sin, and are a fruit of the curse. They are good in their place to stop a gap, but a man must be well armed that has much to do with them. They are entangling, scratching, and their end is to be burned. Anxiety & worry are great hinderances to our profiting by the word of God. What distinguished the good ground was it’s fruitfulness. By this, true followers of Christ are distinguished from those who profess to be followers, but are not. Christ does not say that this good ground has no stones in it, or no thorns; but none that could hinder its fruitfulness. All are not alike; we should all aim at the highest, to bring forth most fruit. The sense of hearing cannot be better employed than in hearing God’s word; and let us look to ourselves that we may know what sort of hearers we are.

In order to seek His righteousness, let us first see how we can gain an understanding by hearing the word and casting it to memory.

Firstly, a practical way of casting to memory is by action. Psychologists have analysed the human mind…..

We remember 10% of what we read, 20% of what we hear, 30% of what we see, 50% of what we see + hear,

80% of what we say and 90% of what we act upon ! ! In the light of Matt 6 & 13, we can see what can result out of reading & hearing, compared to acting upon that which we read & hear. (repeat)

Eg. Attending health seminar….

Hear presenter, read material, feel the difference???