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 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?28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If 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—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Usually, I focus on Matthew 6:33 - "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" but this time, verse 32 stood out to me the most. "For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them." During the Bible study, the leader posed the question - "what does it mean to 'run after all these things'"? And the image that came to my mind was when you miss a bus. You are frantically running after the bus because you are not guaranteed that you will catch the bus. As a result, when we are "running after all these things," we do so because we have no assurance that we will get it. We can run after food, money, and clothes to have security and safety but there's no assurance that we will have security and safety.
There's a quote that my friend shared a few months ago that I really like: "There are years that ask questions and there are years that answer." Right now, I have a lot of questions (which can easily turn into worries) but through this short 15 minute Bible study, I was reminded that yes God knows me. He knows what I need exactly when I need them. God is a good good Father. I don't need to run after food, clothes, and money. Rather, I need to "seek first his kingdom and his righteousness" and I know that God will provide exactly what I need when I need it. An example is that - after my freshman year, even before I asked my parents for a car, my dad decided to purchase a new car so that I could have his old one. The beginning of sophomore year was when I began as a youth group teacher and really needed a car. God knew even before I asked that I would need a car and provided in His perfect timing!
When I see my friends running after their education (med school), a good MCAT score, career, relationships, etc. I wonder if I should be doing the same. I don't know if you will agree with me, but there's a fear - a fear that if I seek God's kingdom and His righteousness first, I will miss things. That I will miss my chance and opportunities of going to med school, getting good grades, getting married, etc. But I was really encouraged and reminded to seek after God's kingdom and his righteousness because He will provide all these things in His perfect timing. I love this semester, but it has been pretty stressful. I usually go to school around 9:30 or 10:30 AM and end up coming home around 7 PM at the earliest. I want to do well this semester, but I came to the conclusion that I have to entrust each day wholly to Him and He will take care of the rest because God knows exactly what I need each day (which is a lot of grace every day, haha). I was really encouraged by this passage and reminded of God's sovereignty and goodness. I hope you find this encouraging as well!
On a side-note, be on the lookout for a post about community (in the near future). And I've been listening to Amanda Cook's album Brave New World nonstop. Here's one of my favorites!
There's a quote that my friend shared a few months ago that I really like: "There are years that ask questions and there are years that answer." Right now, I have a lot of questions (which can easily turn into worries) but through this short 15 minute Bible study, I was reminded that yes God knows me. He knows what I need exactly when I need them. God is a good good Father. I don't need to run after food, clothes, and money. Rather, I need to "seek first his kingdom and his righteousness" and I know that God will provide exactly what I need when I need it. An example is that - after my freshman year, even before I asked my parents for a car, my dad decided to purchase a new car so that I could have his old one. The beginning of sophomore year was when I began as a youth group teacher and really needed a car. God knew even before I asked that I would need a car and provided in His perfect timing!
When I see my friends running after their education (med school), a good MCAT score, career, relationships, etc. I wonder if I should be doing the same. I don't know if you will agree with me, but there's a fear - a fear that if I seek God's kingdom and His righteousness first, I will miss things. That I will miss my chance and opportunities of going to med school, getting good grades, getting married, etc. But I was really encouraged and reminded to seek after God's kingdom and his righteousness because He will provide all these things in His perfect timing. I love this semester, but it has been pretty stressful. I usually go to school around 9:30 or 10:30 AM and end up coming home around 7 PM at the earliest. I want to do well this semester, but I came to the conclusion that I have to entrust each day wholly to Him and He will take care of the rest because God knows exactly what I need each day (which is a lot of grace every day, haha). I was really encouraged by this passage and reminded of God's sovereignty and goodness. I hope you find this encouraging as well!
On a side-note, be on the lookout for a post about community (in the near future). And I've been listening to Amanda Cook's album Brave New World nonstop. Here's one of my favorites!
"You don't give your hearts in pieces..."
I definitely agree that there is a fear that trusting God will lead to missed opportunity. However, not trusting God is missing the best opportunity in the world. Thanks for sharing I enjoyed reading
ReplyDeleteNeeded to read this...you're always there to remind me <3
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