PLEASE NOTE: There will not be an in-person Sunday service at Springford Baptist Church for today October 16th. Our in person service is cancelled due to COVID in Pastor Lola’s household. You can view the online service and welcome God’s Presence there in your homes.
Matthew 6:25-34 (New International Version)
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.
Matthew 6:33,34 (The Message Translation)
33Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.
34 “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.
Matthew 6:25-34 STEEP YOUR LIFE IN GOD-REALITY
Springford Baptist Church: October 16, 2022.
This idea of steeping our lives in God-reality reminds me of making a cup of tea. It is necessary for the tea bag to be saturated and soaked, well steeped, in order to produce a good and satisfying cup of tea. If we are going to become who God wants us to become, we need to have our lives steeped or saturated in God-reality. When we are convinced about Who God is and we want our knowledge and awareness of Him to permeate every part of our lives, that can result in us being steeped in God-reality.
We all like answers to questions don’t we?
Here Jesus talks about 2 matters that can occupy a lot of attention and concern: What will I eat?
What will I wear?
It seems to me that in the time and circumstance in which we live, these questions have become even more complicated:
-a variety of concerns regarding food choices and good health
-rising cost of both groceries and clothing items
-several more choices around what to wear for both men and women.
The issue that Jesus emphasizes here is that these are 2 major causes of worry and worry has a way of taking over and interfering with faith.
The One who can answer these and other persistent questions that lead us down the winding path of worry is our Heavenly Father and Jesus keeps drawing attention back to God our Father in heaven.
It is very personal to speak of God as our heavenly Father.
This term reflects a close relationship.
Not all parent child relationships are close.
We cannot assume that they are.
We cannot assume what other’s relationships are with God…
But as Jesus highlights in Matthew 6, there is this possibility of choosing to rely God. We can choose to have a close relationship with our heavenly Father.
It is in very matter of fact terms that Jesus speaks about this relationship with God.
vs. 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”?
or
vss. 31,32 “So do not worry saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.”
These are legitimate concerns: what to eat and drink and what to wear. However, they should not become an obsession demanding all of our time and attention and taking our attention away from God our heavenly Father.
Jesus is our example of One who really did trust His heavenly Father to supply His needs and He is inviting us to do the same.
Children who know that a parent has things looked after can relax.
This is what childhood should be like-not a time filled with anxiety and uncertainty.
Likewise, when we as children of God find ourselves overcome with worry, we are being robbed of God’s best for us.
Jesus gives us a different focus than worry! It is a focus that will result in God’s best for us. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33)
Jesus does not just promote this as the ideal way to live. He lives it.
Jesus constantly lived in close relationship with His heavenly Father. He had learned that this is the best way to live and He urges this approach for His followers.
If we have been accustomed to living our lives bound up by worry and stress, it will be a noticeable difference to choose to trust God.
We will be positioning ourselves to live steeped in God reality.
Choosing a different path than worry will not be easy.
This is particularly so when we have become extremely familiar with this pattern and it has become a habit.
Incentive for us to persist on this journey is being able to grow deeper in relationship with God our heavenly Father.
The thought of having a relationship with God similar to the relationship that Jesus had with His heavenly Father is remarkable and certainly a gift.
God actually gives each of us the unique and wonderful gift of being our heavenly Father every day.
Our gift back to our loving heavenly Father is to demonstrate by the living of our lives, by seeking God’s kingdom first and trusting Him a day at a time that having God as our heavenly Father really is the most important thing to us in the whole wide world!!
This can very accurately be described as steeping ourselves in God-reality, God- initiative and God’s provisions.
We can step into this place of blessing when we determine to release our worries and to embrace the reality of Who God is prepared to be for us.
Will we live today and the days ahead steeped in God -reality?