Let’s read from Matthew 6:24-34

²⁴ “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

²⁵ “Therefore I say to you, do not worry 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? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

²⁸ “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; ²⁹ and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

³¹ “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

This is a passage from the Bible that you might have read uncountable times; a beautiful reminder to set your priorities right. No one can serve two masters. You cannot serve God and the world. In the first place, we cannot put both God and money, God and work, God and family, God and friends, or even God and ourselves. 

Mark 12:30 says “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.”

We cannot put God besides something else. God is a jealous God; He doesn’t share His glory with another. There is no one like Him nor beside Him. He is the Maker of all things, by His will we were created and have our beings (Revelation 4:11). So it’s all about His desire and not ours, His will and not ours, His plans and not ours, His ideas and not ours. It’s never been about us, it’s always about Him.

Once we realize that, we move on to verse 31 that says, “therefore”. And what follows? Do not worry about your life, what you eat, what you drink, what you wear. Why? Because we live because of His will. He created us because He wanted to. If we live because of Him, then our lives are His and not ours; He is the one who takes the full responsibility. And because He owns our lives, the consequence is: “do not worry”. Why? Because we know who He is. He is the Creator of heaven and earth, and everything in it. Everything belongs to Him. He is the Master of time and seasons. He holds the whole world in His hands. He is Alpha and Omega, He has no beginning and no end. His wisdom is unsearchable. We cannot comprehend the immensity of His plans from beginning to the end. He knows what He has planned for us, thoughts of peace and not evil, to give us a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11).

He could’ve put a full stop there and said nothing else. He could’ve just said that as His creations we have no right to worry. But He didn’t. Though He doesn’t owe us anything, He wants to provide and care for us. Though He doesn’t owe us any explanation, because He loves us, our Father tried to give us a reasoning that we may understand. 

1. V25: Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
   1. Again, God teaches us to realign our priorities, to focus on what is important. Life is more important than food. The body is more important than clothing. Let us focus on what is important without worrying about the extras.
2. V26-27:  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
   1. Pay attention to the verb: look. Look what God has done. Look how He takes care of the birds. Look how He takes care of the wild animals. Look how He takes care of the whole creation and keeps things in order. 
   2. Then Jesus said, are you not of more value than they? Remember that God created everything by speaking, except for humans that God created with His hands, and breathed His breath into our lungs. If they, who were created by His word, are well taken care of, isn’t He going to take care of us – who are made in His own image – even better? Jesus said that we are of more value than they. See the order of things according to the priorities that God Himself has set.
   3. We cannot add one cubit by worrying. We can’t change or produce anything by worrying. So why waste our effort?
3. V28-30: Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
   1. After looking, Jesus tells us to consider. Consider how the lilies grow. Consider how short-lived they are, and yet God adorns them so beautifully. Consider how beautifully He crafted different parts of the world, sometimes with no visitor, only for His pleasure. Consider how meticulous and creative God is, even for things that people do not see. If God can do that much, how much more would He care for us? Consider how much God has helped and taken care of you in the past… Why would you think that He will not do it again? If He could provide then, why wouldn’t He do it again?
4. V32: For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
   1. I like how Jesus keeps reminding us that He is our Heavenly Father; who will provide what we need, and not what we want; who will not withhold any good thing from those who walk uprightly (Psalm 84:11); who knows the best time to give only what is best to His children; who will not give anything that will destroy His children.
   2. All these things the Gentiles seek, but our Heavenly Father knows that we need all these things. All, not part. He knows all that we need, even before we say it. Even when we can only cry, He knows. He knows how to provide, and He will provide. But we shouldn’t fall into this trap of chasing the same things as them. Let’s not fall into the trap of comparison, because we have a different order, different law, and a different rule, for we belong to a different Kingdom. 
5. V33-34: But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 
   1. Pay attention to the first word, “but”. So instead of worrying about things that the Gentiles seek, instead of being the same as the people out there worrying, instead of putting our effort and wasting our time chasing these things that our Heavenly Father knows that we need, let us seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. 
   2. Seek first. It’s not something that appears automatically, naturally, or effortlessly. Seeking means that we need to put effort, we need to set aside some time, decline some invitations, and rearrange our agenda. There are so many distractions, but again, we need to prioritize. Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near (Isaiah 55:6-7). 
   3. Seek first. It doesn’t say ‘seek only’ the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. It says, ‘seek first’. Of course, we can work to provide for our family, buy food and clothes etc but we ought to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Again, set your priorities right. Let Him be the first. Let not the Kingdom of God be less important than your food. For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). Let not His desire be less important than yours. Let not His plan be less important than yours. Let His will be done, on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10).

So today, I would like to remind all of us of who God is, and who we are in His eyes. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, Maker of the universe and everything in it. Remember He doesn’t owe us anything, instead we owe Him our lives. He redeemed us by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on our behalf, so we can have a new life as His beloved sons and daughters. We became co-heirs with Christ, inheriting all His promises. So what do we need to worry about? Let’s give Him the first place He deserves. Let’s not put Him beside another. Let’s seek His Kingdom first, and His righteousness. As He promised, all these things that Gentiles seek shall be added. All these things, food, clothing, whatever it is that the world seeks, they are just an addition. Let’s not be distracted by the extras and lose sight of the Only One that is essential, the very Reason for our being. Let’s set our priorities right and focus only on the One who matters. Amen.