NOTES for Mat 6:24-34

Many people cannot make sense of these words at all. How can we not be anxious when we must work in order to eat? Even the birds of the air, though they neither sow nor reap, constantly work their wings to find food for themselves and their chicks.

Yet not being anxious does not mean not working. This passage speaks of the anxiety that overwhelms a person, ceases to be reasonable, and turns human life into constant worry, preventing us from receiving the Heavenly Father’s many gifts. Our desire to minimize unexpected troubles is understandable, but when we try to anticipate every possible future, we risk becoming like Clever Elsie, who deprived herself of the present out of fear of one possible future.

But if we place more hope in God than in our own limited efforts, we can calmly begin our daily work, trusting that it will not become a meaningless waste of strength. The Lord Himself will be beside us in sorrow and in joy.

It is no accident that this passage ends with a call to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. For this is the one essential thing to which everything else will be added.