Thanks and Blessing

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? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and 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 added to you.  “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6.25-34 ESV)

Being thankful for what we have and giving thanks to God for al that we have is a lot better than worrying about what you have all the time, isn’t it? We live in culture that tries to reassure itself by sing blindly and timidly, “Don’t worry, be happy!” and we spend much of our time pursuing the stuff that we think is going to make us happy, satisfied, secured. In the verses that precede the Gospel lesson, Jesus calls on his disciples to get away from thinking like the world and from thinking that the pursuit of power and position is what we need to be about.

What we need to worry about is who our Lord is. Yes, we need to know who is at the centre of our life – both personal and corporately. Is it Jesus? Or is it money? Many I am sure expect me to proudly announce that the love of money is the root of evil and blast the capitalist society we live as being a product of that evil... well sorry, I won’t do that. I won’t blast our society for having what it has, but I will push and insist that because we have been blessed we need to bless others. And who have we been blessed by? Is it not the Father? And who have we been sent by to be a blessing in the world around us? Is it not Jesus?

The first thing is to stop and acknowledge who the centre of your life is... and that if it is not Jesus then you need to remove whatever or whomever it is that is at the centre and put Jesus there. It is radical these days, even within the Church to declare “Christos est Kyiros” (Christ is Lord). Much of the worry that we have in our lives comes from having someone or something else at the centre of our lives instead of putting Christ first. We worry about how we are going to have money for this and money for that. We worry about how we are going to make things happen so that we can have that boat, that cabin; that holiday, that car, etc... Jesus reminds us that God knows what we want and what we need. The question is will we seek him first and a relationship with him so that in turn h can bless you hand the relationship that he has with you, that others might be blessed through you.

Reality is, we live in an anxious, impatient and pent up world wondering what is going to happen next. What will happen and will I be okay? Will my family be okay and will it go well for them? If you find yourself worrying, ho do you deal with it? Ask yourself this, who is at the centre of your life? What Master are you serving? Count all the worries you have and then count all the blessings that God has bestowed upon you that you can count and see which list is longer. Then take time to give thanks and to bless God for all that you have and know that he is the Giver, the Donor of all our days. Don't worry, only believe. 

Jason+