“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” Matthew 6:34
We are almost to the close of Q1, 2023. What is keeping you up at night? Is it making payroll? Ensuring production schedules are met? Having the donor resources to advance the mission of your non-profit? Maybe you are worrying about your health, kids, spouse, or finances. Whatever it is, in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6:25–34, Jesus tells us not to worry.
You might be thinking, “That’s easy for the Son of God to say. He multiplies fish and loaves of bread.” Jesus knows we can’t do that, yet he gives the directive, “do not worry.”
The Sermon on the Mount is the most renowned message that Jesus ever delivered and perhaps the most famous sermon ever given. Scholars have written entire books on this one talk that Jesus gave to the gathered crowd.
Putting the sermon in context, Jesus recently returned from the desert and a time of solitude and testing by Satan for 40 days. The authorities were not fans of Jesus, but the people were paying attention to his radical ideas. He had put into place his leadership team of twelve and begun to preach in the synagogue and heal people. He was saying and doing things that nobody was doing! Word of his teaching and healing quickly spread.
Moving from Matthew chapter 4 to 5, Jesus shifts from speaking to only a few people to addressing a large crowd. Many scholars believe the sermon took place on a mountain on the south end of the Sea of Galilee, near Capernaum. For the next three chapters, Jesus describes what a life looks like when it is lived with a kingdom perspective. He describes a life pleasing to God, and one filled with love and peace.
Focusing in on Matthew 6:25-34:
“Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
So, what is getting in the way of living your life with the kind of love and peace Jesus describes? In thinking about this question, look in the rearview mirror for a moment – three weeks, 6 months, a year, even five years past the point of your worrying, what did your worry accomplish?
Now is a great time to take your problems to Jesus – tell Him what you are worrying, anxious, or fearful about. Go ahead, he can take it. You won’t disappoint him. He already knows what you are going to say, and that you would be in this situation right here, right now.
How might your life be different living by this scriptural principle? How much more joy might you make room for in your life?
This content was originally written by Darrell Passwater, Convene Forum Team leader, and updated by Convene. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Content edited and distributed by Convene for educational purposes