Jesus said to his disciples:
"No one can serve two masters.
He will either hate one and love the other,
or be devoted to one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon.
It seems that the opposite of serving God is not actually, as many imagine, freedom to run wild according to one's desires. It is not the case that one who will not serve God reigns sovereignly over his own life and uses his wealth to meet all of his desires. Instead it is he who ultimately ends up serving money, rather than money him. Because, as Bob Dylan said, "You gotta serve somebody", whether the devil or the Lord.
We can see the way in which the things we possess begin to possess us from the worry that they demand of us, the percentage of our mental real estate that they occupy. Our worries tend to begin with ensuring basic necessities, food, drink, clothing, and shelter. But when we chase these things without a deeper underlying trust in the providence of God it quickly becomes apparent that enough is never enough. Our mortal lives are like boats constantly springing new leaks. As soon as we patch one there is another that needs attention. Unless we learn to trust that the Father knows what we need we will never escape an all-consuming anxiety to take care of it all ourselves. Basically, without trust in God we are forced into the role of God ourselves. But our power to play this role is so weak that we turn the very things we desire into idols. We know we can't play the role of God so we sell out to anything that looks remotely solidly to fill the gaps and give peace, however temporary, to our hearts.
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life
It may at first seem hugely impractical to not worry about our lives, to let tomorrow take care of itself. But this is in fact our privilege as sons and daughters of our Father in heaven. We should say, however, that it isn't as though we are not to provide for ourselves, to plan, or to act prudently. The point is rather to do all of this in a spirit of trust and not cross the threshold into anxiety and fear. Because in actuality, anxiety and fear don't assist us in making optimal decisions. Desperate decisions are seldom good, let alone optimal. When we constantly act as though we are fighting for our lives the mistakes we make tend to grow in number and severity.
We might think that to not worry in the way Jesus commanded is actually control of our emotions that is impossible. But Jesus does not ask the impossible of his followers. He is not asking us to control emotions that can't be controlled, but to manage our perspective. But even this won't succeed unless we are sufficiently steeped in Scriptures. If we can keep the truth of how much we are loved constantly in mind the enemy will find no room to insert his claws.
Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things will be given you besides.
The point is not that we need only spiritual things and must ignore our material needs. The point is rather that there is a hierarchy of goods. When the Kingdom is first in that hierarchy everything will go for us as it is meant to go. When we have other competing priorities, chasing those priorities apart from the Kingdom tends to court disaster.
Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.
Sufficient for a day is its own evil.
We are not ultimately in charge of the world or providence. We can't control every possible contingency as worry about tomorrow would insist we must do. We are free, and let us here take a deep breath, to leave the governance of the world in God's hands. And we need not fear to do so because he himself makes all things work together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose (see Romans 8:28).
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