This portion of Scripture should be very familiar to many of you, I preached a message with part of this last year. But God has laid it on my heart to teach us again from this text. But first we are going to learn a little bit about our brains. So, I want to be very clear anxiety for some people is a serious medical condition. But for a lot of people it is not, and it is those people we are addressing today. So, where does our anxiety come from? Well officially it comes from our amygdala which is part of our limbic system, which is a neural network that controls our emotions, our behavior and memory formation. If you think back to more primitive times the amygdala was very important, it would to keep us safe from predators, it is where our fight or flight response comes from. The amygdala’s sole purpose is to keep us safe and alive, which is a good thing but it can also be a hindrance. It focuses on what could happen and harm us, even if there is no real physical threat. According to a study done at Cornell University 85% of what people worry about never happen. The study also found that 97% of worries are exaggerations or misperceptions, and only 3% of worries are well-founded. Now lets dive into the text and see what Jesus is teaching about anxiety.

Matthew 6:25 LEB

25 “For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, what you will eat, and not for your body, what you will wear. Is your life not more than food and your body more than clothing?

I used the LEB translation because it interprets the word “therefore”as “for this reason”. This refers us to the previous section about where have we laid up our treasures, and about serving two masters, you can’t love God and love money. So, because we put our trust in God not the things of this world Jesus tells do not be anxious for our life. God has taken care of our most important need (salvation), He will most certainly take care of our material needs—the key word is needs not wants. I want to be clear we still have to do our part, we have to work to provide for our families. I also want to be clear Jesus is not anti-private property, anti-banking, anti-saving or anti-investment. But where is our trust. Do we treasure God? If we do we should trust Him, and if we trust Him why do we worry. Well one of the reasons is doubt, we doubt God will do what He says, we doubt He will provide. Our amygdala kicks in and says that there is a serious threat we should worry about—whatever it is. Jesus makes the point that we are much more than the external things—food and clothing—

Matthew 6:26 LEB

26 Consider the birds of the sky, that they do not sow or reap or gather produce into barns, and your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth more than they are?

Jesus makes the point that God provides for the birds, won’t He provide much more for us. Are we not more important than them, us as the pinnacle of God’s creation, chosen to be adopted into God’s family, are we not of more importance. Think of it like this, if you have pets and children— don’t we take care of our pets but don’t we take better care of our children, don’t we love our children more. We are the only creature that was created in the image of God.

Matthew 6:27 LEB

27 And who among you, by being anxious, is able to add one hour to his life span?

One of the bad things about worry is that it makes us unproductive. Can we add any time to our lives by being anxious. No it actually has the opposite effect. It causes us to pull away and not follow God’s plan for our lives. According to Medical New Today constant anxiety leads to these health risks: depression, digestive issues, insomnia, chronic pain.

Matthew 6:28 LEB

28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Observe the lilies of the field, how they grow: they do not toil or spin,

Here again Jesus points out that worry is unnecessary. He again points us to creation to show God’s provision.

Matthew 6:29 LEB

29 but I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory was dressed like one of these.

The beauty of God’s creation makes the beauty of Solomon pale in comparison.

Matthew 6:30 LEB

30 But if God dresses the grass of the field in this way, although it is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not do so much more for you, you of little faith?

Jesus makes a very strong point here if the grass that is bound for the fire is taken care of will He not take care of us. Many times worry comes from a lack of faith. We say we trust God but then we worry. Do we really trust God to provide for our needs or are we just talking. God has provided the most important need and if we trust Him for that, if we trust Him with our eternity why don’t we trust Him with the temporary.

Matthew 6:31 LEB

31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?,’

Again Jesus is pointing back to God’s provision for nature, why should we worry about such trivial things as food and drink.

Matthew 6:32 LEB

32 for the pagans seek after all these things. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

Are we acting like the world or are we putting our faith in God’s provision. He knows what we need better than we know.

Matthew 6:33 LEB

33 But seek first his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Here is the key. If we seek the things of God first, everything else we need will be provided. We should keep our focus on Christ , when we put Him first everything else falls into place. Now i also want to be clear, that if we make poor financial choices and do not consult with God, we will have to face the consequences. If we make poor life choices and do not consult God, we will have to face the consequences. We are to be good stewards of everything that God has given to us, everything. That also applies to the church, we must be good stewards of what God has intrusted us with.

Matthew 6:34 LEB

34 Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow, because tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Here Jesus is referring back to verse 33. This is why we should not worry . Can we control what happens tomorrow. Now yes, we plan and we schedule things, but do we really have any control over tomorrow today.

Anxiety

I have a couple of questions for us to think about. Do you worry? If you do how can you worry less, trust in God’s provision. Are you seeking God in everything? If not how can you change that, and make it a habit to seek Him first. Are you focusing on the Kingdom or on the world?

So, how do we make these changes? Spend time with God, in His word in prayer, in fellowship with His children. Turn our worries into prayer and leave them with God.