Hunkered Down Devotion

Luke 12:22-31 (Voice)
22 (then, to His disciples) This is why I keep telling you not to worry about anything in life—about what you’ll eat, about how you’ll clothe your body. 23 Life is more than food, and the body is more than fancy clothes. 24 Think about those crows flying over there: do they plant and harvest crops? Do they own silos or barns? Look at them fly. It looks like God is taking pretty good care of them, doesn’t it? Remember that you are more precious to God than birds! 25 Which one of you can add a single hour to your life or 18 inches[a] to your height by worrying really hard? 26 If worry can’t change anything, why do you do it so much?
27 Think about those beautiful wild lilies growing over there. They don’t work up a sweat toiling for needs or wants—they don’t worry about clothing. Yet the great King Solomon never had an outfit that was half as glorious as theirs!
28 Look at the grass growing over there. One day it’s thriving in the fields. The next day it’s being used as fuel. If God takes such good care of such transient things, how much more you can depend on God to care for you, weak in faith as you are. 29 Don’t reduce your life to the pursuit of food and drink; don’t let your mind be filled with anxiety. 30 People of the world who don’t know God pursue these things, but you have a Father caring for you, a Father who knows all your needs.
31 Since you don’t need to worry—about security and safety, about food and clothing—then pursue God’s kingdom first and foremost, and these other things will come to you as well.

If you are planning on joining us for worship on Sunday, this passage and devotion is a perfect primer.  It is a different passage, from a different Testament, but the overall theme is the same: what you focus on matters.  It matters a lot.  

The point that Jesus is making here as he draws attention to the birds and the grass, etc and the natural beauty in the world and their freedom in comparison to our worried hearts and minds is partly about what our minds are occupied with: worry.  But even more so, it is about the things that there isn’t room for in our hearts, minds, and lives when we are preoccupied with worry: God’s kingdom.

God isn’t asking us to run headlong, foolishly into the world, not thinking or caring about the consequences, or to go through life without planning or anything like that.  Check out Matthew 10:16 – where Jesus tells his disciples to be both innocent like doves and shrewd as serpents.  

But what Jesus is saying is that the primary motivating factor in our lives should not be worry or fear or doubt.  It should not be the pursuit of power or money or things.  It should instead be about pursuing the kingdom of God.  As that old, beloved campfire song goes: seeking first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, so that all these things might be added to us as well.
As we all know, tomorrow has enough problems of it’s own, but we won’t face them alone.  For today, let us seek God, his kingdom, and his righteousness together.

Sharing God’s Love,
Chip  

Prayer:  Lord, help us not to be filled with worry or doubt, but instead to first seek your kingdom and your righteousness. Amen.