There is always one thing you can count on, besides death and taxes, and that is God’s constant care! 24/7 God loves and cares for us, as a mother cares for her child. If we trust in God to take care of us we do not have to worry or be anxious about our needs. This is plainly, simply stated for our sake in the first reading of this Sunday from Isaiah.
In the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus illustrates this loving care and our freedom from worry over our daily needs by using birds and flowers as examples of God’s creation that neither work nor worry, nor save up for later or keep as riches for themselves and are always given food and “clothes” to wear. The most important point of the Gospel is that we should FIRST seek the kingdom of God. All other needs will be met if we look first for God’s kingdom.
We tend to think first of ourselves and what we will wear and eat, where we will live, our place in society, how much money we have, what possessions we can own, etc. Most of what we worry about aren’t even necessities; they are “wants” not “needs”. Is God and the kingdom of God THE most important thing in our lives?
I’ve heard that athletes training for major competition focus their minds on the “prize”. Have you heard the expression “Keep your eye on the prize!”? During training for competition the athlete constantly envisions himself winning the competition. He does not moan and despair over setbacks but pushes forward continuously toward the “prize” of winning the competition. He trains as much as it takes to condition his body for peak performance and winning and he doesn’t worry about a lot of things that have nothing to do with reaching that goal.
We are like an athlete training for a major competition and we need to focus our minds on the “prize” of God’s Kingdom! Never saying maybe, but believing that we will ABSOLUTELY reach the goal of the kingdom of God! We set our minds on that prize, we stop worrying about our daily needs and instead focus on our conditioning and training for the marathon ahead!
We need to have food, clothing, shelter, etc. We have to work so we have money to purchase these things. God knows we need these things and so will provide us the means to have those needs met. It is our failure to BELIEVE in God’s love that prevents us from trusting Him for our needs and instead taking on the burden of worry unnecessarily when what we should be focusing on is the kingdom of God and being right with God. When our focus drifts away from God we also begin to rely on worldly things to meet our needs and our desires and we begin to stray from the path that leads to the kingdom of God.
To rise above our weakness we must be determined to win through to the end! There is absolutely nothing on earth that can replace the love and care of God, or replace our relationship with God, or take the place of His kingdom!
Our Psalm this week is Psalm 62: Rest In God Alone, My Soul