Luke 12:22-34 – Trust will eliminate worries

Our outlook and value of life often determine the level of our trust in God. When we are overly concerned about how people value us and put our focus on what we have or what we do not have, we will be overtaken by anxiety. Worry results when one gets so preoccupied with the cares of this world. In Luke 12:22-34, the Lord gives reasons why we should not worry. He takes us through by comparing the lesser to the greater and what less valuable to what is more valuable.  

He started by asserting that life is more important than eating and dressing. Therefore, there is really no reason to be pre-occupied with food or clothing. If food is the worry, we should start by looking at the carefree birds, the crows in particular. They are scavenger birds who neither sow nor reap nor store up a harvest like the farmers, yet they are never starved. Why? Because God provides for them. And if God cares about the lower order of His creation, how much more will He care for us, His highest creation, whom He values more. Worry insults our Heavenly Father. It suggests that He cannot provide for us. We also should not worry because it is an exercise in futility. It’s like sitting on a rocking chair, full of movements but takes us nowhere. No one could add to his or her lifespan by worrying. Hence to worry is absurd activity. It adds nothing to our life. In fact it subtracts.

And if clothing is the worry, then consider the flowers of the field. They do nothing to adorn themselves but their beauty outstrips Solomon's glory. They make Solomon's clothes look like rags. This is a hyperbole, an exaggeration to prove a point. If God cares for the beauty of the flowers, how much more will He provide for our clothing. Consider the transitory beauty of the flowers in the field. They are here one moment and could be gathered as fuel for fire the next and yet God cares for them. So how much more will He care for us? We are eternal creatures made to spend out eternity with Him. As far as God is concerned, we are infinitely more valuable than those transitory flowers. He loves us and has redeemed us for Himself. So He will definitely take care of us. Worry has to do with our trust in God and His Word. If we worry, we are in effect saying that we have no faith in our faithful God and His Word.

The logical thing to do as believers in God, is for us to stop worrying about food or drink or clothing. These are the activities of people who do not know or seek God. We, His children, should redirect our energy in the right direction. We should instead direct our energy and engage it in seeking God and His will. We belong to Him and He is our portion and we are His prize. As His disciples, we should not be consumed by the passion to get the transitory things of life. Earthly and material possession pale in comparison to the values of eternal things. What's more: what we pursue truly reveals the priority of our lives. For whatever we treasure, we will put our heart and attention to those things.

So what is our concern today? Things temporal or things eternal? In whatever we do, don't neglect God and His Kingdom. For where you place your importance, that's where you will channel most of your energy to. Let's give God our first-fruit and not our leftovers.

Hear the inspiring words of Horatius Bonar:

Fill Thou my life, O Lord my God, in every part with praise,
That my whole being may proclaim, Thy being and Thy ways.

Not for the lip of praise alone, nor e'en the praising heart.
I ask, but for a life made up, of praise in every part!

Praise in the common things of life, its goings out and in;
Praise in each duty and deed, however small and mean.

Fill every part of me with praise; let all my being speak
Of Thee and of Thy love, O Lord, poor though I be, and weak.

So shalt Thou, Lord, from me, e'en me, receive the glory due;
And so shall I begin on earth, the song forever new.

So shall each fear, each fret, each care, be turned into a song,
And every winding of the way, the echo shall prolong;

So shall no part of day or night from sacredness be free;
But all my life, in every step, be fellowship with Thee.