Post #638361

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? -Matthew 6:25 Christ has told us that you cannot serve God and money. This is to say, you must choose whether you will put God first in all things and make Him your chief priority...or you will choose something else in His stead, something that will not save. Now He discusses a chief source of sin, the sin of anxiety. This is not to say that all worrying is sinful. If you are driving in the middle of a terrible storm, then it is good to drive slowly so that you do not get into an accident. That sort of "worry" is mere caution, a recognition of risks. The book of Proverbs is all about living a cautious and forward thinking life: save money, don't take reckless oaths, don't put yourself in unnecessary danger, etc. The sinful sort of anxiety which Christ condemns here is not mere caution. It is sin in our hearts telling us that everything is doomed because we don't have what we want, a temptation that rises within using desperation as a mask. Sinful anxiety tells a man that his money problems need to be solved *right now* and he maybe ought to rob someone to do it. Sinful anxiety tells a woman that if she does not sleep with that man she just met then she will be lonely forever. Sinful anxiety tells children to disobey their parents because an early bedtime or a time limit on gaming means they'll never have fun again. Christ speaks much concerning anxiety, so we must take a few days to meditate on it and come back to this topic frequently. The first thing we must realize is that Jesus is showing us compassion with this teaching. Someone who is plagued with panicky thoughts might consider it cruelty - "I can't help it! Why shouldn't I be anxious about these bills/my kid's school/societal problems?" But worry worts like this need His words the most! He says that life is more than food or clothing my friend. Our anxieties are not just part of our sinful nature rising up to tempt us: that sinfulness also seeks to prevent us from living the good life. Someone beset by this sort of worrying will be half alive at best, spending most of their time trying to medicate, sin, and distract away the feelings they suffer from. Christ, who arrived that we may have life, condemns this sin out of compassion. As He speaks to us further about it, His words are the medicine we need to live life more fully and joyfully.