0:00 Yesterday, we rested in Paul's call to find peace through gentleness and prayer.0:06 Today, Jesus speaks to us directly about the root of our anxiety, and offers us a way out.0:14 This is a reading from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter six.0:19 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.0:29 Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?0:34 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.0:44 Are you not much more valuable than they?0:48 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?0:53 And why do you worry about clothes?0:56 See how the flowers of the field grow.0:59 They do not labor or spin.1:02 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.1:09 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?1:23 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.1:39 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.1:48 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.1:54 Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Jesus’s words here are not a command to simply stop feeling a certain way.2:04 They are an invitation to see the world differently.2:09 He points to the birds and the flowers.2:12 He’s asking us to look at the evidence.2:15 The system of the world is held together by a Father who provides.2:21 Worry operates as if that isn't true.2:24 It assumes we are ultimately on our own.2:28 Here's what that means if you're looking at a pile of bills this morning.2:34 The invitation is to acknowledge the reality of the need, but to start with the greater reality of God’s care.2:43 The birds don't ignore their need for food.2:47 They just don't hoard it.2:49 They trust the system their creator designed.2:53 You are infinitely more valuable than they are.2:57 And then Jesus gives us the one practical action item that changes everything.3:04 "Seek first his kingdom." This isn't about ignoring your problems.3:09 It’s about re-ordering your priorities.3:13 Before you dive into the frantic energy of solving everything yourself, you stop.3:19 You take a breath.3:21 And you ask: what does faithfulness to God look like in this first part of my day?3:28 What is one thing I can do right now that aligns my heart with His?3:34 Here's what that means for the day ahead.3:37 It means your value is not determined by your productivity or your ability to solve your own problems.3:46 Your value was established long before you had any problems to solve.3:52 The core task of this morning is not to figure out tomorrow.3:57 It is simply to trust God for today.4:00 The worries for tomorrow will come.4:03 But they are not for now.4:05 Today has its own work, and its own grace.4:09 Your only job is to walk in it.
