"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? 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? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" (Matthew 6:25-27)
In spite of these words of both admonition and assurance, Christians still tend to worry. Sometimes worry about the ability to provide for our families takes over our lives to such an extent that it guides our thoughts and actions. We put off giving to the Lord through our church - "temporarily," we say - until we feel secure in our financial situations. Life, as you know, seems to throw one crisis after another at us, and, often, that financial security ever comes.
We have the same worry when it comes to serving. We complain that we just don't have time. We work long hours, and then we have commitments to our families. How can we go to meetings or make meals for a family whose mom is sick?
Later, we tell God and even ourselves. Later, when the college tuitions are paid and the kids are out of the house. Then we'll have time and money. But then, after all that hard work, don't I deserve to get away and take a nice, long cruise?
We reap what we sow, we read in II Corinthians 9:6. What are you sowing? Proverbs 11:18 reads,
"He who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward." Matthew 6:19-21 records Jesus' words, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on Earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in an steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
Is it forgetfulness of God's promises or lack of faith that keeps us stuck in this pattern of of giving all for our physical, temporal lives instead of storing up treasures in Heaven. Take God at his Word: give generously, serve without reward, take time to help others, and watch him satisfy your every need.
Pastor Jim
