EXPLORE THE TEXT
Placing too much priority on material possessions leads to worry and anxiety.
25 “Therefore I tell you:
Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink;
or about your body, what you will wear.
Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing?
26 Consider the birds of the sky:
They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns,
yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Aren’t you worth more than they?
27 Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying?
28 And why do you worry about clothes?
Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow:
They don’t labor or spin thread.
29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these.
30 If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field,
which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow,
won’t he do much more for you-you of little faith?”
Identify the sources of worry Jesus mentioned in the passage
(food, drink, clothes).
These were legitimate concerns in the first century.
Share this content from page 53 of the PSG:
The common people in Jesus’s day lived under a heavy burden of taxation.
It became a struggle to obtain items like food and clothing.
In fact, most people ate one meal a day, and meat was served once a week at best.
Their daily existence was trying to scrape up what was necessary to sustain life.
As Jesus addressed these circumstances, He told His followers to stop worrying about these things.
The word “worry” is a key word in this section that is repeated six times.
Worry is doubting God’s faithfulness and ability or willingness to provide.
Jesus told His followers to replace worry with trust in God.
Jesus’s questions were not for information but for reflection.
The examples of birds and flowers reminded His listeners that they could trust God to take care of their needs, eliminating the need for worry.
God is the source of all blessings, temporal and spiritual;
all that we have and are we owe to Him.
(See Luke 12:16-21; Philippians 4:19.)
Properly trusting God could have an impact on their ability to be faithful stewards of what God provides for them.