Jesus gives a radical view of life in many ways. Many of them seem to challenge us to do things we don't naturally want to do, like loving our enemies. Here we come to one that challenges us to get rid of something I am sure that we would all want to be rid of, anxiety. The world spends an inordinate amount of time worrying. Individuals do. Just think how much of your life you have wasted worrying about things.
Worry is part of the world, but it is not part of the kingdom.
It is interesting that Jesus says "therefore .." He has just told us not to serve money. Our immediate reaction might be, well we have to serve it, because we need to live! So how do we stop serving money? We stop worrying. Life is more than food and clothes. We were not created in order to spend all our time focusing on these things. The only reason we seem to have to is because of the Fall. However, we have now been rescued from the dominion of darkness.
Jesus tells us to look at nature. Birds do not sow seeds, yet they have food. The flowers of the field are much more beautiful than anything man can come up with. God will provide for us. This needs to be a fundamental facet of our faith.
We should not be like the rest of the world in worrying about all sorts of things.
So, having saved all this time and energy by not worrying, what are we to do instead? We are to seek first the kingdom, then God will take care of everything else. Notice that it does not say "seek first the kingdom so that all these things will be added unto you". It is easy for us to change this into a get rich quick plan. It is no such thing. The purpose is that we are free to live for God. When we come into the kingdom everything changes.
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