| “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;” – Matthew 6:28 |
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| Don’t just STOP and SMELL the Roses, LOOK and LEARN FROM THE ROSES! As Jesus is teaching about trusting God and putting GOD FIRST, He knows there is a very real battle of the urgent vs the important. He knows there is a battle between focusing on the temporal as opposed to the eternal. He knows there is a battle between the things of earth and things of heaven. He knows there is a battle over what one’s priorities will be. He knows that the essential needs of the physical consume a person, consuming them so much that they neglect their spiritual life. As He teaches the SERMON ON THE MOUNT (Matt. 6 is part of the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5, 6, and 7) He wants His followers to SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS. Matthew 6:33 is the MAJOR MESSAGE of the sermon. To get to the place of SEEKING FIRST GOD Jesus has told them that they can’t serve God and mammon – money. This creates a natural concern, a conflict, if you will, in their soul. Everyone has physical needs and survival demands getting food and water and clothing. This means having money and getting money means making it a priority. Physical survival trumps one’s spiritual’s life. For His listeners, He knows that asking them to put the spiritual above the physical could be a little much. So as a great teacher, He addresses the issues by telling them to NOT WORRY about the essential necessities of life – going so far as saying, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.” He then gives illustrations as to why they CAN trust God and put Him first instead of worrying about the essentials of life. He then points the worrier first to the birds (v26) and now He points the worrier to the flowers. He says looks or consider how the flowers grow, growing because GOD takes care of them. Sounds simplistic, doesn’t it? LOOK and LEARN from BIRDS. LOOK and LEARN from FLOWERS. Yet in these two examples, we have illustrations to remind us that GOD really does CARE about us and that He can be trusted entirely! Friends, your life is more, far more, than just meeting the necessities of life. You are physical as well as SPIRITUAL and the SPIRITUAL LIFE is so much more valuable! Yes, the question must be asked. “Will you be putting Jesus first today or your needs first?” As you battle what (WHO) will be first you are encouraged to not just stop and smell some roses but to LOOK and learn. As God takes care of them, God will take care of those who put Him first!!! Verse to DATE the Word on June 28 (6/28) is Matthew 6:28. Matthew 6:28 says, “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;” (worth reading 29 and 30; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field….will he not much more clothe you,) Continue Strong with JESUS FIRST, And remember to DATE THE WORD |