SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/7/2021 1:02 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
“Worry About Clothing”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
6:28-30
Message of the verses: “28 “And why are
you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do
not toil nor do they spin, 29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his
glory clothed himself like one of these. 30 "But if God so clothes the grass of the
field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will
He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!”
We
begin to look at the third illustration and it has to do with clothing, using
flowers as a model. To be sure that some
of those who were listening to Jesus preach this sermon did not have much to
wear and so this may have been uplifting to their hearts. Jesus again points to the surroundings as He
talks about the flowers of the field to assure them of God’s concern and
provision.
It
is possible that when He said “The lilies of the field” that this may have been
a general term that was used of the wild flowers, for there were many wild
flowers in the area where Jesus was preaching this sermon.
Wild
flowers do not make any effort to grow; they just grow the way that God planned
them to grow. Sometimes their seeds are
scattered by the birds of the air that Jesus spoke of earlier as they were a
part of their food and I won’t go into detail as to how they are spread, but I
think you can figure this out. Jesus
does go into detail about how there is no effort for these flowers to grow as
He says “They do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you even Solomon in
all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these.” Sometimes it would be easier to be a bird of
a wild flower than to be a human being, but as humans we are all made in the
image of God, and so one way or the other we will live forever the choice is
whether you trust Jesus Christ as your Savior and are willing to confess your
sins to the Lord and then desire to follow Him.
John
MacArthur writes “Even the naked eye can see much of the amazing detail,
shading, and coloring of a flower. Under
a microspore it shows itself to be even more marvelous and intricate than
ancients could ever have imagined. Yet
even ‘Solomon,’ one of the most resplendent kings the world has ever known, ‘in
all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these’ little flowers which
anyone there that day could have picked by the dozen.”
I
have to admit that clothes are not things that I lust after, and probably never
did with the exception of in 1980 I bought two suits within two weeks. Clothes to me are just something to cover up
my body with although my sister-in-law did send me a beautiful blue sweat shirt
from her home in Hawaii for Christmas, and I have to say that I truly love that
sweat shirt.
The
problem with flowers is, although they are beautiful, once they are picked they
don’t last long and even if left to themselves in the field they still don’t
last very long as Jesus says that they are “alive today and tomorrow thrown
into the furnace.”
John
MacArthur writes “Klibanos (furnace)
is better translated ‘oven.’ Such overs
were made of hardened clay and were used primarily for baking bread. When a woman wanted to hurry the baking
process, she would build a fire inside the oven as well as under it. Fuel for the inside heating was usually
composed of dried grass and flowers gathered from nearby fields. Once the flower’s beauty was gone it had
little use except to be burned up as fuel for baking. Then it was gone.
“But
if God bothers to array the grass of the field with beautiful but short-lived flowers,
how ‘much more’ is He concerned to clothe and care for His very own children
who are destined for eternal life?”
“Don’t
worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need,
and thank him for all he has done” (Phil. 4:6 NLT). Jesus stated that those who worry have “little
faith” and so we can conclude, as mentioned before that worry is a sin. MacArthur adds “A person who worries about
those things may have saving faith, but he does not have faith that relies on
God to finish what He has begun. It is
significant that each of the four other times Jesus used the phrase ‘O men [or
you] of little faith,’ it was also in relation to worry about food, clothing,
or life span (see Matt. 8:26; 14:31; 16:8; Luke 12:28). ‘You believe that God can redeem you, save you from sin, break the
shackles of Satan, take you to heaven where He has prepared a place for you,
and keep you for all eternity,’ Jesus is saying; ‘and yet you do not trust Him
to supply your daily needs?’ We freely
put our eternal destiny in His hands, but at times refuse to believe He will
provide what we need to eat, drink, and wear.”
I
suppose that there is not a believer alive who has not committed the sin of
worry, as worry is not a trivial sin, and the reason is because it strikes a
blow both at God’s love and at God’s integrity.
MacArthur writes “Worry
declares our heavenly Father to be untrustworthy in His Word and His
promises. To avow belief in the
inerrancy of Scripture and in the next moment to express worry is to speak out
of both sides of our mouths. Worry shows
that we are mastered by our circumstances and by our finite perspectives and
understanding rather than by God’s Word.
Worry is therefore not only debilitation and destructive but maligns and
impugns God.”
It
is important for all believers to be in the Word of God each day so that we can
have His Word in our hearts and in our minds so that we don’t give Satan an
opportunity to fill our minds with worry and other sinful thoughts. We will conclude with what Paul wrote to the
Ephesians “18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so
that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the
glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the surpassing greatness
of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the
working of the strength of His might” (Eph. 1:18-19).
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I have been told that there are times when
there seems to be a great distance between my head and my heart when in fact it
is a short distance, and so knowing what the Word says about worry, and then
living it out has to be for me a matter of prayer.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I pray that
God will strengthen me to be able to continue to trust Him in what lies ahead. 1/7/2021 1:55 PM
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