May 5,
2003
DO
NOT WORRY ABOUT YOUR LIFE
"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?... Do no worry,
saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or
'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles
seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these
things" (Matthew 6:25, 31, 32, NKJV).
"He
who has given you life knows your need of food to sustain
it. He who created the body is not unmindful of your need
of raiment. Will not He who has bestowed the greater gift
bestow also what is needed to make it complete?
"Jesus
pointed His hearers to the birds as they warbled their carols
of praise, unencumbered with thoughts of care, 'for
they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns;' and
yet the great Father provides for their needs. And He asks,
'Are you not of more value than they?'
(Matthew 6:26).
"It
is He who made the flowers and who gave to the sparrow its
song who says, 'Consider the lilies,' 'Behold the birds.'
In the loveliness of the things of nature you may learn more
of the wisdom of God---. On the lily's petals, God has written
a message for you, written in language that your heart can
read only as it unlearns the lessons of distrust and selfishness
and corroding care. Why has He given you the singing birds
and the gentle blossoms, but from the overflowing love of
a Father's heart, that would brighten and gladden your path
of life? All that was needed for existence would have been
yours without the flowers and birds, but God was not content
to provide what would suffice for mere existence. He has filled
earth and air and sky with glimpses of beauty to tell you
of His loving thought for you. The beauty of all created things
is but a gleam from the shining of His glory. If He has lavished
such infinite skill upon the things of nature, for your happiness
and joy, can you doubt that He will give you every needed
blessing?
"Consider,
says Jesus, how the lilies grow... When the life of God, hidden
therein, unfolds at His call in the rain and the sunshine,
men marvel at the vision of grace and loveliness. Even so
will the life of God unfold in every human soul that will
yield itself to the ministry of His grace, which, free as
the rain and the sunshine, comes with its benediction to all.
It is the word of God that creates the flowers, and the same
word will produce in you the graces of His Spirit.
"God's
law is the law of love. He has surrounded you with beauty
to teach you that you are not placed on earth merely to delve
for self, to dig and build, to toil and spin, but to make
life bright and joyous and beautiful with the love of Christ--like
the flowers, to gladden other lives by the ministry of love."--Thoughts
From The Mount OF Blessing. pp., 95-98.
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