Today’s Reading: Matthew 6:3-34 (HCSB)
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Today’s Question: Today’s Commentary:
What do you worry about? The answer to that question reveals the tempting of Satan in your life. Whatever consumes your thoughts to the point of worry is that which you are seeking as a priority in your life.
All of us are guilty of the sin of idolatry. Maybe you do not have a bronze statue in your house that you pray to each day. Jesus, however, identified worry as an act of idolatry. (See Matthew 6:32) Repentance of this sin means that we turn back to Christ in faith. Faith erases worry.
Something will consume your life and your thoughts. Ray Pritchard gives a diagnostic test in stating, “You are probably well into worry…
1. When the thing you are concerned about is the first thing you think about in the morning and the last thing you think about at night.
2. When you find yourself thinking about it during every spare moment.
3. When you find yourself bringing it up in every conversation you have.”
The disciple of Christ must examine this reality. Christ calls us to find our sustenance and direction through Him alone. We have no need for which He cannot supply.
Jesus concludes His teaching on worry by offering both the cure and the preventive medicine. If we seek the Kingdom of God first and foremost in our lives, worry has no room to creep into our lives. When we are tempted to worry, the solution is simple: refocus on God. The Lord who has saved you from eternal punishment for your sins can miraculously rescue you from the cares of this life. May we follow the instruction in 1 Peter 5:6-7: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your care on Him, because He cares about you.”
“Follow One, Lead Others” Principle #45: The disciple of Jesus should have a fixed focus on the Lord that is so intense that the worries of this world no longer exist.
Today’s Prayer Point: Pray that God would protect you from the despair and defeat of worry and anxiousness by giving you His peace.
Shepherding Well 