Daily Devotional For Saturday, November 2, 2024
It is Saturday. The weekend is here and I pray you get some rest and relaxation today. 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 Friday 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).
To help us see why we do not need to worry, in verse 26, Jesus draws our eyes and worrying hearts to two examples from nature. The first example is birds. Birds do not have an intricate and involved process of acquiring food. All life is a gift from God and this includes life in the animal world. Nowhere does it say in the Bible that God says to the animals or birds, “I’ve done my part. Now you are on your own.” God provides for birds.
God has provided in nature food for the birds and the means for them to find food. Jesus says in verse 26 that our heavenly Father feeds the birds so they do not have to sow or reap to find food. Since God has provided food for seemingly insignificant creatures, birds, will He not provide for us who are made in His image? Yes, because we are worth more than them. Of all of God’s creatures, we are the only ones made in God’s image and for whom Jesus died on the cross to save, redeem, mature and send out.
British Christian author and educator Arthur Pink writes this:
“Here we may see how the irrational creatures, made subject to vanity by the sin of man, come nearer to their first estate and better observe the order of nature in their creation than man does. For they seek only for that which God has provided for them, and when they receive it they are content. This solemnly demonstrates that man is more ... vile and more base than even the brute beasts” (Source: Arthur Pink, An Exposition of the Sermon on the Mount, p. 229).
Of all God’s creatures, I am impressed with birds’ diligence and vigilance in foraging for food for themselves, their mates and their young. Depending on the weather and seasons, birds may spend a lot of time foraging for food, but they do not worry about finding it. They don’t worry about where and when their next meal is coming. They gather enough food to have enough, and then they stop. Birds only overeat when they are caged. That should tell you something there. Yes, there are certain species of birds that store seeds or nuts for the winter, but not out of worry, but out of instinct. And unlike us, birds do not stockpile food to gloat and brag to other birds as we do with one another.
This means that since Jesus Christ died on the cross for us, we are more valuable to Him than birds. In God’s creation, we as His disciples are the only ones promised heirship with Christ. We are the only ones promised eternity in heaven with God. Pastor and author John MacArthur writes this:
“The idea that the world’s food supply is rapidly diminishing is untrue. A recent bulletin of the U. S. Department of Agriculture states, “The world has more than enough food to feed every man, woman, and child in it. If the world’s food supply had been evenly divided and distributed among the world’s population for the last eighteen years, each person would have received more than the minimum number of calories. From 1960 to the present world food grain production never dropped below a hundred and three percent of the minimum requirement, and averaged a hundred and eight percent.”
Nor has the per capita amount of food been dropping. The same bulletin reports, “World per capita food production declined only twice in the last twenty–five years. In fact, production of grain, the primary food for most of the world’s people, rose from two hundred and ninety kilograms per person during the early fifties to three hundred and sixty kilograms per person during the last five years.” It is also stated that only ten percent of the agricultural land in the world could produce enough food to feed every human being on our planet, even by the standard of U. S. consumption!” (Source: John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, “Matthew,” p. 422).
Then Jesus asks a great question: “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?” The point is: worrying will shorten your life, not lengthen it. New Testament scholar Bruce B. Barton writes this:
“Worry presents us with the dual temptation to distrust God and to substitute fear for practical action. Worry means paying attention to what we cannot change instead of putting our energies to work in effective ways. Jesus made it clear that worry takes away from life rather than adding anything to it. We can counteract worry by doing what we can and trusting where we can’t. When we work for God and wait on his timing, we won’t have time to worry. When we seek first to honor God as king and conform our lives to his righteousness, worry will always finds us otherwise occupied” (Source: Bruce B. Barton, The Life Application Bible Commentary, “Matthew,” p. 123).
Questions To Consider
- Today in America, we do not have to worry about food. Our cupboards and refrigerators are stocked as well as our grocery stores. Since it is hard for us to identify with worrying about food, how do we relate to this passage today?
- If you do worry, why?
- Studies show that birds only overeat when they are caged. Do you think if we were more busy serving the Lord, we would worry less and bless others more? Why or why not?
- For people who claim to be disciples of Jesus Christ to worry, what message do you think this sends to non-disciples of Jesus Christ and why?
Scripture To Meditate On: Job 38:41, “Who provides food for the ravens when their young cry out to God and wander about in hunger?” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, help me to be more focused on foraging for spiritual food rather than worrying about the cares and anxieties of life. Lord, I know that worrying is a sin – it means I do not trust You. Father, I want to trust You no matter what. I love You Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside!--Pastor Kelly