Anxiety (Matt 6:25-30)

Matthew 6:25-30

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith.

The type of anxiety Jesus warns us about is material. We may worry about our life - food/drink, our needs, how are we going to survive? And/or we may worry about our body - clothes, which could also stretch beyond the physical need for clothing to extend to our appearance and image.

Worried about your survival? Jesus says:

• That if God is concerned about the needs of the birds, he is concerned about your needs (v26)
• worry doesn't work! you can't extend your life by anything, including worry. God is in charge of your survival (v27)
• Life is about more than survival (v25). You've worried and survived - is that a life?

Worried about your image? Jesus says:

• Life is about more than image (v25)
• The beauty of a minor part of God's creation far exceeds the best that man can manage (v28-29)
• God has expressed his creativity in the beauty of nature, which includes you. Your image is his creation (v30)