Worry or Grow?

On Wednesday, I commented on the text about serving two masters, in Matthew 6:24.

That piece is directly followed by this:

Mat 6:25 "This is why I tell you: do not be worried about the food and drink you need in order to stay alive, or about clothes for your body. After all, isn't life worth more than food? And isn't the body worth more than clothes?

Mat 6:26 Look at the birds: they do not plant seeds, gather a harvest and put it in barns; yet your Father in heaven takes care of them! Aren't you worth much more than birds?

Mat 6:27 Can any of you live a bit longer by worrying about it?

Mat 6:28 "And why worry about clothes? Look how the wild flowers grow: they do not work or make clothes for themselves.

Mat 6:29 But I tell you that not even King Solomon with all his wealth had clothes as beautiful as one of these flowers.

Mat 6:30 It is God who clothes the wild grass---grass that is here today and gone tomorrow, burned up in the oven. Won't he be all the more sure to clothe you? What little faith you have!

Mat 6:31 "So do not start worrying: 'Where will my food come from? or my drink? or my clothes?'

Mat 6:32 (These are the things the pagans are always concerned about.) Your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things.

Mat 6:33 Instead, be concerned above everything else with the Kingdom of God and with what he requires of you, and he will provide you with all these other things.

Mat 6:34 So do not worry about tomorrow; it will have enough worries of its own. There is no need to add to the troubles each day brings.

The principle of not serving two masters, is directly followed by the principle of “do not worry.”

This is why …

The transition from the one principle to the next, is in the words “This is why I tell you …”

So the reason we are not to worry, is because you cannot serve two masters. Jesus knew that the master you fear the most, is the one you are going to serve. Therefore, if your life is filled with worry about your daily necessities, you will serve money.

The Link Back to the curse of Genesis

The alternative focus points of our thoughts, that Jesus gives us, are the examples of the seemingly effortless growth of nature: The grass and the lilies. He seems to be very directly addressing the curse of Genesis. Compare these two sections:

Gen 3:17 And he said to the man, "You listened to your wife and ate the fruit which I told you not to eat. Because of what you have done, the ground will be under a curse. You will have to work hard all your life to make it produce enough food for you.

Gen 3:18 It will produce weeds and thorns, and you will have to eat wild plants.

Gen 3:19 You will have to work hard and sweat to make the soil produce anything, until you go back to the soil from which you were formed. You were made from soil, and you will become soil again."

Mat 6:28 "And why worry about clothes? Look how the wild flowers grow: they do not work or make clothes for themselves.

Mat 6:29 But I tell you that not even King Solomon with all his wealth had clothes as beautiful as one of these flowers.

How will you spend your time?

Now once again, the question could arise – what does all of this have to do with time? Well, the way I see it, is that Jesus is trying to teach us that we have one of two ways to spend our time, and this is where the image of the lilies and the grass comes in. The first way, which is not the preferable way, and which leads us to serving money, is by worrying about our daily necessities. The second way, which is the way to serve God, is to discover His will for our lives, and to grow. The lilies and the grass look the way they look, because they naturally grow in the way that God had designed them to grow. They use that which God provides, to grow in the way they should. And that is enough.

When we seek God’s kingdom, firstly in our own life, then we will grow in the way that God wants us to grow – and soon we will be a display of His glory, just like the lilies and the grass. That is how we should be spending our time.