There are six statements on this subject in Matthew 6 which Jesus made that are worthy of our attention. The first one is in verse 25: “ Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, or about what you shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment ?” Here is an argument from the greater to the lesser. Can you give life? No. God has given life. An Omni potent Creator has given life. This is His preroga tive. This is His function. This is what He alone can do. He says, “ Is not life more than meat?” If God has given you life, do you think He cannot give you food and meat to sustain the life? If He has given the greater, can He give the lesser? No you can’t, but God can! Don’t you suppose this wonderful Creator who made these marvelous or ganisms — our bodies — can provide some clothes to put on that body? If God has done the greater, can He not do the lesser? The second is in the verse 26: “ Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into the barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?” Some in His audience were skeptical and saying, “ Yes, He can but will he?” He can do the greater or lesser but will He do the lesser? There’s a won derful, warm touch here that blesses my heart: “ Your Heavenly Father feeds the birds.” He feeds that which is among the lowest of His creation. But you are a purchased possession who has been bought by the redemptive price o f the precious blood of Jesus! Any Heavenly Father who goes around feeding the little birds whom He did not die to redeem, is certainly more likely to take care o f those for whom He has paid such a great price as the sacrifice of His only begotten Son — an argument from the lesser to the greater. The third is in verse 27: “Which of you by being anxious, can add a cubit to his stature (age) ?” The Greek word here can be translated either age or stature, although the measurement of a cubit goes better with translation of stature. Let’s read it this way first: “Which of you by being anxious can add?” The answer to that ques tion is nobody! If the question had been worded: “Which- of you by being anxious can subtract?” , the answer to that question would be everybody. Some times even the body bends beneath the weight of care and anxiety. Certainly, this subtracts from a man’s age. Undoubtedly there are graves in ceme teries all over America where lie the sleeping bodies of truly believing people who cheated God out of 10, perhaps 15 or more years of life, be cause they worried themselves into their graves ahead of time. In verse 32 is the fourth: “After all these things do the Gentiles seek.” The word Gentile is the same as heathen. Everybody outside of God’s covenant ii
lived on the plane of the natural? Since when were believers supposed to do “what comes nat urally?” I remember a true story of a man going into a bicycle shop in Toronto, Canada, to purchase a bicycle for a missionary friend in a remote part of the world where there were transportation prob lems and where a bicycle would have added to the effectiveness of his work. He went into the shop and told the salesman why he was there, what he was purchasing, who it was for, and where it was going. “ You mean to say that this friend of yours left the comforts and conveniences of America and went out to this God-forsaken place (as he put it) ? Do you mean to tell me that he left here all of his loved ones, his parents and family and went out alone? Why, that’s not natural!” The man who was there to make the purchase said, “No sir, it’s not natural — it’s supernatural!” You see, there are those normal and understand able human reactions to the changing experiences of life but above and beyond that there ought to be what is a distinctively Christian reaction. When financial loss comes there is a natural and under standable human reaction. There ought to be a Christian reaction ! When bereavement comes, there is a natural human reaction. There ought also to be a Christian reaction! Such a reaction will be observed and noted by the world, and it will make its impact felt. Going to pieces under pressures of life loudly tells the world that our Christian faith isn’t doing much for us. The non-Christian beholds and says, “You do not have anything more than we unbelievers do because you crack up under pressure like the rest of us. What do you have that we don’t have?” This is the tragedy of lost influ ence and testimony which too often happens. The Book of Proverbs says that, “ if thou faint in the day o f adversity, thy strength is small.” What a verse! Who can’t be a Christian when family health is good, the pay checks are coming in, you have a job tomorrow morning, a bed to sleep in tonight, good meals today? What about when the roof caves in, times get rough, and you’re under the spotlight of the world? That’s when un believers have their eye on you to detect if there is anything that helps you through this that they don’t have. Let’s remember this is destructive of a Christian testimony to say nothing of the health of our body, the temple of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled nei ther let it be afraid.” He spoke in a great prophetic sermon about the tremendously tragic times that would come upon the earth and He said when these things come to pass “ see that you be not troubled.” The implication is that life is so built and the world is so made that almost automatically we will have troubled hearts. The very nature of life tends to crack us up, break us down, disturb the soul, and stir up our minds. APRIL, 1967
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