God Tends Us 4

Matthew 6:25-26

There is a familiar saying, “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” In other words, don’t worry about things that aren’t important. Then there is the follow-up statement, “It’s all small stuff.” The implication is that we shouldn’t worry about anything because nothing is that important. But we all know that isn’t true. There are things in life that are not important and there are things in life that are very important. We can’t avoid worrying about some things, but we need to gain some perspective and a little faith to help ease the worries.

In “The Sermon on the Mount” Jesus makes a comment on worry. What should we not worry about? Why not? What example does he give? What does he say about us?

I guess a modern interpretation of what Jesus says here would fit with “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” Our meals and our drink, the clothes we wear – these are the small things of life. We shouldn’t be focused on these concerns.

But I don’t necessarily believe Jesus is saying that nothing is important enough to worry about. He tells us not to worry about food and clothes and then follows it with the statement that life and our bodies are more important than these. Our lives and our physical beings are important. Perhaps we should be concerned for these.

I see this less as a teaching that instructs us not to worry at all and more of a lesson on where to place our focus. He concludes this whole lesson in Matthew 6:33 with the comment that we should seek first the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus seems to be saying that we should not get caught up in the unimportant and trivial – food and clothes. We should not focus on the superficial and the transitory, the momentary, perishable things of life. Instead we should put our concerns and focus on the important things of life – our physical health and our spiritual well-being.

And once we have the right focus we need to have the confidence of knowing that God is always with us. We are much more important to God than the birds of the air. God values us so much that He is with us in all things to help us, to tend to us, to provide for our needs. God watches over us so that we don’t need to sweat even the big stuff.

DAILY CHALLENGE: How can you hand your worries over to God?