“Do Not be Anxious for Tomorrow!”

“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 6:33-34 ESV).

Chapter 6 of Matthew’s Gospel is full of wonderful teachings about how God knows our hearts and that we should not try to impress people with our devotion to God, but to keep our devotion between us and Him. It is not an easy thing to do because who doesn’t like to be complimented by others? We all want to be well thought of, don’t we? What better way to earn the appreciation or compliments of men than by showing devotion to God? But you see, God always turns our worldly priorities on their head. God says we should not seek the approval of men but the approval of God and God alone. Something that we all need to keep in mind.

At the end of this chapter, Matthew shares an astounding statement from Jesus, who said, “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.” Now, to truly understand what Jesus is saying, whenever we see “But, However, and Therefore” at the beginning of a verse, we really need to stop and back up and read the verses that precede these conjunctions. Because they usually show a turning point in the passage. Typically, we see them when we read “they should not do that ….” “BUT “they should do this …”, and that is indeed the case with this passage. Jesus is telling his disciples that they should not focus on things that the “Gentiles” focus on, like what to eat, what to drink, or what to wear, BUT these Jewish followers of the Law should focus on the “kingdom of God and His righteousness”. Once again, he was pointing his hearers away from the outward concerns and telling them to focus on the inward concerns. Reminding them that God looks at and knows the heart and is not impressed with the outward appearances.

We see that verse 33 is a key verse to this passage, first it says that we should not focus on outward things, but on God’s Kingdom, and that if we do that then we can actually live out verse 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Once again, we connect verse 33 to verse 34 with “Therefore”. In other words, I think Jesus is saying that it is only possible to “not be anxious about tomorrow” if we are focused on “His kingdom and His righteousness”. Once we turn our focus away from us and the things of this world, will we be able to stop being “anxious” about what will happen tomorrow?

The word “anxious” means to be “drawn in opposite directions or divided into parts” to the point that causes us to fear, to be obsessed about the future, and spend our time and efforts to prepare for something that we cannot control. It is to worry to the point that it is “pulling us apart” and pulling us away from God and His control of things. What we would call excessive worry or concern today.

We have the same exhortation from the Apostle Paul in the New Covenant letters, “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Phil. 4:6), where Paul is telling all New Covenant believers to “Stand firm in the Lord…” and to live their lives as examples to the non-believing world. Once again, that is only possible if we focus on “His Kingdom and His Righteousness”.

So, my friends, let's turn our attention away from ourselves, what we think this life owes us or what we think we deserve, and focus on serving our Lord and Master, the Lord Jesus. If we focus on Him and fulfill what He asks of us, we will see that “He is the faithful One, He is the promise keeper, He alone is worthy of our trust and praise.”

Keep looking for conjunctions of “But, However, and Therefore”, and find God's wonderful truths for all of us in His beloved Word.

"Living in Grace is not about what I can do, but about what Jesus has already done!"