Monday 26th August
Read Matthew 6:25-27
“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 than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look 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? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (NIVUK)
Jesus begins His teaching about worry in the Sermon on the Mount with the simple word ‘therefore’ (v25). Immediately preceding this He has warned us that we can’t live with divided loyalties. One either chases material possessions for security or lives generously and graciously, reflecting heavenly ways. We are all in or all out. If one lives ‘all in’ though, what about the basic necessities of life? Should we worry?
Jesus’ words are both simple and complex. Worry simply wastes time and may sometimes be an outward expression of a lack of faith (v27). The complexity lies in the way in which Jesus draws on the creation story to illustrate His point. Jesus argues that worry is unnecessary because we are created with inherent worth and dignity. It is bestowed upon us by God Himself.
In a world that is beset with anxiety and worry, in many ways a consequence of constantly being encouraged to ‘choose your own identity’, the words of Jesus are never more relevant. If our identity is found in the value God places upon us, and not from within, anxiety and worry will have less grip upon us. Reflecting upon what it means to be made in God’s image is not a waste of time at all.
