Promises, promises

Matthew 6:31-33 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Continuing the themes of anxiety, fear we now turn to that of worry in the context of God’s promise. Many people will spend today planning advertising campaigns, selling clothes, promoting brands. Jesus does not question what is necessary for life but shows us how we can become preoccupied and distracted. Jesus sees that people easily become insecure, doubtful and disappointed and invites us to consider what is of real and lasting importance. 

Jesus shows us that worry undermines faith. I bring my worries before God and ask for help to bring them into a truer perspective.As a consumer, I may allow my values to be set by others. Perhaps I need review my wants and desires and ask God's help to be happy with the good things that I enjoy, to resist being wistful about what I am told I lack.

One day John Wesley was walking with a troubled man who expressed his doubt as to the goodness of God. He said, “I do not know what I shall do with all this worry and trouble.”

At the same moment Wesley saw a cow looking over a stone wall. “Do you know,” asked Wesley, “why that cow is looking over the wall?”

“No,” said the man who was worried.

Wesley said, “The cow is looking over the wall because she cannot see through it. That is what you must do with your wall of trouble—look over it and avoid it.”

Worry and prayer are both forms of meditation. When you pray, you are focusing on God. When you worry, you are focusing on something else. The answer to anxiety, although easier to say than practice, is to replace it with trust. Jesus told us not to worry about tomorrow.

Generous God,

in abundance you give us things both spiritual and physical.

Help us to hold lightly the fading things of this earth

and grasp tightly the lasting things of your kingdom,

so that what we are and do and say

may be our gifts to you

through Christ, who beckons all to seek the things above,

where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit. Amen.