"Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? "And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? "And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. "But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! (Matthew 6:26-30 NASB)
Christ is teaching in this section starting at vs. 25 about worry (see last post). His primary focus is to not worry about food or clothing, which are two of the most basic essentials for life. Clearly if we are not to worry about the essentials, we ought to worry even less about the non-essentials. The portion to focus on in this passage is this "Are you not worth much more than they?" They being the birds of the air and the grass of the field. The foundation for lack of worry is faith that the master will provide all your needs. The foundation for this faith that the master will provide is the value which He has ascribed to you. Now, realize that this post is for the believer, the one who has been redeemed by Christ.
We must be careful not to turn this text "Are you not worth much more than they?" into some sort of self-esteem nonsense, but we must see that your value is rooted not in your own worthiness but in the price which was paid for you. People used to trade, buy, and sell baseball cards a lot more than they do now and I remember often going to the card shop to sell or buy cards. The process was pretty simple, you would pick up this magazine that gave you the suggested value of all your cards based on the condition they were in, you would find a few cards that were worth more than the rest and then go try to sell them at the card shop. Now if you had a card that was said to be worth $5 and you took it to the shop to sell it the man behind the counter would usually offer you like $3.50 for it, or less. You could argue that the card was worth more, and that it's stated value was higher, but it did not matter, you were only going to get $3.50. So how much was the card worth? The reality is that something is only worth the amount someone else is willing to pay for it. My baseball card's value was not for me to determine, the only one who could set the value was the purchaser. "Are you not worth much more than they?" Your value is determined not by your abilities, self worth, or anything else... your value is determined by the price paid for you. Do not get confused, you were not worth Christ dying for you, it had nothing to do with you being special, but you do have worth because Christ died for you. It makes all the difference in the world.
Now, in light of the great price Christ paid on your behalf, how can you expect to just be neglected and left to starve to death naked? Are you not worth more than that? If God majestically clothes worthless grass, and cares for little birds, how much more will He take care you... the one for whom His Son died? To eliminate worry, get a handle on who you are, the reason you are valued, and how God responds in light of the value Christ has given you. There is no legitimate reason to worry.
Also realize that this is still a struggle, and you are not reading the post of someone who is worry free, but at the same time my worry is a sin because it casts doubts on the character of God and the work of His Son.
No comments:
Post a Comment