NOTES for Php 4:6
We encounter once again with the paradoxicality of the Holy Scriptures. The apostle Paul practically repeats the words of Jesus, said by Him in the sermon on the Mountain - "be careful for nothing". But is it not the same Jesus who gives us the command to love one another, and thus - to care for one another. And the famous 25th chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew puts our fate in direct dependence, in how we care about others. What all this really means?
Doesn’t it seem to you that the word "careful" has two meanings: an effective help to someone and a certain internal burden, "fixed" on something? Care in the first meaning absolutely enters into the notion of Christian life. But care in the second meaning is something completely improper to Christians. There is in it an impasse, despair, distrust in the fact that there is an exit from a difficult situation. After all it is distrust of God. And that is why Paul writes not only "be careful for nothing", but also "to let your requests be made known unto God" - with trust and gratitude for all that He has already made, and – in advance! - for all that He will still do.