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.
Excessive concern for money is a subset of a larger problem, indicative of the fact that we are trying to be the gods of our own lives. It demonstrates that we wish to insulate ourselves against all of the many things that could go wrong in the world. We become so afraid of the fact that our basic needs of our lives, including food, drink, and clothing, might not be met, that even remote possibilities of problems become intolerable. Or we turn to money because we don't find the world to be sufficient good on its own. Instead we decide that we must be the ones to ensure we have sufficient access to beauty and pleasure. Or we turn to money because we don't feel sufficiently confident that we are lovable in ourselves and use our wealth to give others reasons to want to be in our company. But when money is what we are chasing above all it quickly becomes evident to others. And it isn't a good look. When we care about money more than God and neighbor we become its servant instead of servants of the Lord. Rather than elevating ourselves by the power it promises we become something less than human, pursuing inanimate material resources as though they were our superiors.
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,
what you will eat or drink,
or about your body, what you will wear.
Jesus didn't say that we are not to provide for ourselves. He only said that worry doesn't actually add to our ability to do so. Worry is a lot of emotional movement that is nevertheless entirely unproductive, since worry cannot "add a single moment to your life-span". And yet we are reluctant to relinquish our right to worry. We have this semiconscious suspicion that if we don't subject ourselves to worry we won't expend enough effort to make it through life. But is it ever actually worry that helps? To be sure, preparedness often makes a difference. But preparation and worry are not the same or even similar. Preparation is best accomplished with a mind that is sound and sober. But when we worry we are by definition unsettled and in no position to make well thought out plans. Much less ought we worry after the fact, or about things over which we have no influence. In such matters it is best to let God be God and trust him. At a glance the state of the world might make us think that God's protection isn't enough and that there is after all a lot about which we should worry. But faith assures us that he is at work, and making all things work for together for the good of those who love him. This doesn't assure us that nothing bad will ever happen. Rather, it is a promise that even when bad things do happen they can never separate us from his love.
Learn from the way the wild flowers grow.
They do not work or spin.
But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor
was clothed like one of them.
Jesus didn't say that we are to stop working and expecting God to magically provide everything we need. What he meant to address was our doubts about his ability to provide for us. The laws that he made to govern the universe allow birds to consistently find the food they need and let the flowers of the field become beautiful without striving for beauty. We too have been intentionally willed and created by him. But unlike the flowers or the birds we are made with immortal souls, meant to spend eternity with him. The regularity with which birds find food and flowers become beautiful are meant to be reminders of the steadfast love that was the motivation of the creation of the universe. Birds are sometimes caught by hunters or predators. The flowers of the field are sometimes trampled underfoot or burned. But "whoever does the will of God abides forever" (see First John 2:17).
We can learn to stop worrying by not investing in the things, like mammon, that make us worry, and instead investing in the one sure thing: the Kingdom. The servitude we impose on ourselves by pursuing our own projects at any cost makes us old ahead of our time. But "they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength" (see Isaiah 40:31).
When we take Jesus at his word we gradually come to believe the words of the psalmist: "For ever I will maintain my love for my servant". We say with John, "we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us" (see First John 4:16).
Newsboys - Million Pieces (Kissin' Your Cares Goodbye)
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