So after warning us yesterday to focus on God rather than things, Jesus advises us today that we can do that by not worrying... we should trust God to provide what we need.
Where have you heard that before?
Basically everywhere... the world has a huge industry which aims at trying to get us to follow this particular teaching of Jesus (even if they don't acknowledge His idea). Just now while thinking about this concept, suddenly Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy" song popped into my head (it's from way back in the 80s). Walk through the self help aisle at the bookstore and see if you can't find several books aimed at getting us to "live in the moment". Examples are everywhere.
Here we have two teachings of Jesus... focus on God and not on things, and don't worry because God knows your needs and will provide everything you need - just like he does for the birds and flowers.
How are these two related? I find that sometimes my worry about my things (all the "guitars" in my life) becomes a sort of substitute for God. I end up "worshiping" my ability to provide for my family (both the food/clothing/shelter, and all the toys) and all the things I buy are mini "celebrations" of that god. This worship of a god other than God is no different than the ancient people grabbing a nice looking hunk of stone and calling it "god" and worshiping before it. Both practices rob God of his power in our lives and separate us from Him.
How do we get out of this cycle? I like the thoughts of Anthony deMello. He was a Jesuit Priest who died about 20 years ago (most of the guys in our Men's group like his works). Anthony advises that we first need to think of all our things and realize that they are the causes of our ups and downs, our thrills, disappointments, anxieties and eventually our boredom (which causes us to go out and get more). Our second step is to realize that all these things really cheat us out of the freedom to live and love in the moment - which is a huge loss to us. The third and final part is to realize that it is our history and internal programming that causes us to value these things with a value that they simply don't have. When we see this and meditate on it, we become aware of our false attachment to our things and can begin letting go and trusting God to provide for all our needs - just like He does for the birds and the flowers.
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