Daily Devotional For Friday, November 1, 2024
It is Friday. Yeah! Good morning or good day or good evening whichever it is for you right now. We are making our way through the most famous and best sermon ever – Jesus’ Sermon On The Mount. It is found in Matthew chapters 5, 6, & 7. Currently, we are in Matthew 6 and today we begin looking at a topic everyone struggles with – worry. Are you a “worry-wart?” Let’s pick up where we left off on Thursday in Matthew 6. Remember the goal is not for us to get through a devotional as an item on a checklist. It is for the devotional to get through us. Look at Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:25-34:
“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? (26) Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? (27) And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? (28) And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, (29) yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. (30) But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! (31) Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ (32) For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. (33) But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (34) “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (NASB).
We saw in Matthew 6:19-24 that Jesus focused on luxuries we enjoy but in Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus focuses on the basic necessities of life we expectantly stress and worry about in life. Matthew 6:19-24 is directed to the rich and Matthew 6:25-34 is directed to the poor. Whether we are rich or poor, we stress and worry over the necessities and things of life. Pastor and author John MacArthur writes this:
“In Christ we are recreated as heavenly beings and, as children of our heavenly Father, our concerns should now focus primarily on heavenly things— even while we still live on earth. Christ sends us into the world to do His work, just as the Father sent Him into the world to do the Father’s work. But we are not to be “of the world” even as Jesus Himself, while on earth, was “not of the world” (John 17:15–18). One of the supreme tests of our spiritual lives, then, is how we now relate to those two worlds. Sixteen of the thirty-eight parables of Jesus deal with money. One out of ten verses in the New Testament deals with that subject. Scripture offers about five hundred verses on prayer, fewer than five hundred on faith, and over two thousand on money. The believer’s attitude toward money and possessions is determinative” (Source: John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, “Matthew,” p. 418).
This being true it kind of tells you where our priorities are in life. We live in the age of materialism, prosperity, and greed. In the movie Wall Street, Gordon Gekko, played by Michael Douglas says, “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good.” And though we may say we disagree with this even as disciples of Jesus Christ, our lives overall say the opposite. Whether we want to admit it or not, we are materialistic. All of us. Author Jeremy Rifkin, who by the way is not a Christian, writes in his book, The Emerging Order: God in the Age of Scarcity, the following:
“Emphasis on continuous economic growth is a black hole that has already sucked up a majority of the world’s critical, nonrenewable resources . . . the only solution to our approach to life is the reemergence of the evangelical Christian ethic, which is an ethic of unselfishness and low consumption . . . The single alternative, Rifkin says, is a constrictive” (Source: Quotes by John MacArthur,, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, “Matthew,” p. 418).
Personally, I do not see at the present time evangelicals doing this. We want nice things. We want nice things that make our lives more comfortable and convenient. We live in the most blessed nation and to be truthful, with our lifestyles, it is almost impossible for any of us to identify with what Jesus is talking about here. Why? We are well clothed, well fed, and have health care that keeps us well physically. We have counselors and therapists for emotional issues and we have gyms/spas to relieve our stresses from the day to day toil of life. Yet, in this passage from Jesus, He tells us 3 times not to worry – 3 times.
In Jesus’ day most people were dirt poor and worried about where and when their next meal was coming. We worry about where we are going to eat and what we are going to order. Worrying and being anxious are wrong and sinful because we toss faith for facts; we toss trust for God for trust in ourselves, and we toss prayer for being preyed upon by our worries. Worrying is our way of saying to God, “I can’t trust You God with this because You can’t be trusted due to Your track record.”
Worry immobilizes our faith and maturity with Christ. I like what pastor and author Chuck Swindoll writes:
“Worry. It’s one of our favorite pet sins. Anxiety, worry, fretting—these vices have been domesticated by modern Christians. We’ve adopted them into the family, so to speak. Rarely do we hear of anybody rebuking or correcting a brother or sister in Christ over excessive worry—probably because most of us are guilty of it, too, at some level. Yet Christ is clear in Matthew 6:25–34 that worrying can be extremely detrimental to our lives. That’s because at the heart of worry is a distrust of God’s promises and providence. The command of Christ is straightforward: “Do not be worried about your life” (6:25). This isn’t a suggestion. Not one bit of take-it-or-leave-it advice that you might want to apply if you feel so inclined. It’s an imperative. Stop the self-tormenting anxiety that corrodes your inner peace; stop being obsessed with fear!” (Source: Charles R. Swindoll, Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary, “Matthew 1-15,” Vol. 1A, p. 120).
Questions To Consider
- Is worrying one of your pet sins? Why or why not?
- If you do worry, what is it that you worry about and why?
- Jesus says that worrying is an act and attitude of self-torment. Why is this true?
- What do you think about the comment from Jeremy Rifkin, a non-Christian author above?
- Do you believe that greed is good? If not, what?
Scripture To Meditate On: Philippians 4:6, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, whew this is a pet sin of mine. I like to have control and feel that I am in control. Please forgive me for not trusting You as I should. I really do not have any reason to doubt You. I do not want to be a worry-wart. Please forgive me for my sin of worry and distrust of You. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ names, Amen!”
I love you Southside!--Pastor Kelly