Do Not Worry
The problem is not so much what we eat and wear today, but what we shall eat and wear ten, twenty, or thirty years from now. Such worry about the future is sin because it denies the love, wisdom, and power of God. It denies the love of God by implying that He doesn’t care for us. It denies His wisdom by implying that He doesn’t know what He is doing. And it denies His power by implying that He isn’t able to provide for our needs.
This type of worry causes us to devote our finest energies to making sure we will have enough to live on. Then before we know it, our lives have passed, and we have missed the central purpose for which we were made. God did not create us in His image with no higher destiny than that we should consume food. We are here to love, worship, and serve Him and to represent His interests on earth. Our bodies are intended to be our servants, not our masters.
The birds of the air illustrate God’s care for His creatures. They preach to us how unnecessary it is for us to worry. They neither sow nor reap, yet God feeds them. We are of more value than the birds, then we can surely expect God to take care of our needs. But we should not infer from this that we need not work for the supply of our present needs. Paul reminds us: “If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat”(2 Thes. 3:10).
Worry about the future is not only a dishonor to God—it is also futile. The Lord demonstrates this with a question: “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?”
Next the Lord deals with the unreasonableness of worrying that we will not have enough clothing in the future. The flowers of the field neither toil nor spin, yet their beauty surpasses that of Solomon’s royal garments.
