Jesus sees anxiety as pivotal to our cravings for wealth, etc. People who call themselves Christians these days have become so obsessed with wealth as if everything depends on wealth, power etc. Many of us also behave as if there shall not be any opportunity to make it tomorrow or that they control the future.
Why must we avoid anxiety?
In Matthew 6:25-34 Jesus said we should not be anxious about tomorrow for tomorrow will take care of itself. Jesus said we cannot add a strand of hair to our hairs even if we are or remain anxious. No one knows what tomorrow will bring so why be anxious of what we do not know. If we must be anxious, it must be to serve and please God through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour.
Must we be anxious about tomorrow?
We often value the pleasures of life more than life itself. Jesus had cause to caution us about our misplaced priorities. In addressing our source of cravings, Jesus said in Luke 12:22-29 that we should not be anxious about what we shall eat or wear because life is more than meat or raiment.
Jesus gave examples that God feeds the ravens who neither sow nor reap; nor have a storehouse or barn; how much more are we not better than the fowls? Jesus said we cannot even add one cubit to our stature by being anxious. Referring to the lilies, Jesus said they do not toil or spin yet their array exceeds the glory of Solomon. Recognition therefore does not come from wealth or anything but from God.
Being anxious about priorities
We sometimes worry as to whether we must provide for ourselves rather than wait on God. We assume God’s position or role in haste to our peril. Jesus therefore said what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his soul? Or what shall a man give in return or exchange for his life? Matthew 16:26; Mark 8:36; Luke 9:25. To Jesus our souls are more precious than wealth or pleasures. Our priority must first be to satisfy God and his righteousness then all things shall be added to us, Matthew 6:33.
Being anxious about God’s responses
Our cravings also stem from our unstable minds. We doubt whether God will provide for us and if so when, how and how long? Based on our unstable minds, we sometimes chase the world which runs us into irreversible destruction. We do anything that will guarantee our tomorrow though we do not have control over tomorrow.
Jesus said in Matthew 6:10-21 that where your treasure is, there your will heart be also. Paul says God shall supply our needs according to his riches in heaven through Jesus Christ, Philippians 4:19. God is not man that he should lie, Numbers 23:19. He says we should ask and it shall be given, Matthew 7:7; 21:22. If we ask with the right attitude and condition, God will faithfully answer us.
Our anxiety to preserve our wealth
We cannot guarantee whether or not our wealth can be protected or preserved as we intend it to be. Jesus knowing our thoughts said in Matthew 6:19 -21 that we must not lay our treasures upon earth where moth and rust does corrupt them or where thieves break through and steal but in heaven which is protected from the risk. Our earthly wealth is thus only temporary so we must not struggle for it as if same is permanent.
Our source of wealth
Our wealth comes from God’s business, Acts 19:25. We acquire our wealth through suffering for Christ Jesus which is greater than the treasures of Egypt, Hebrews 11:26. God’s wealth to us is one of liberality, 2 Corinthians 8:2. We should therefore not be lovers of money but of God, 1Timothy 3:3.
Our perception of wealth
Life should not be predicated on money. Hebrews 13:5 says keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for God has said, I will never fail you nor forsake you. It is only God who will give us our inheritance, Colossians 3:24. We are reminded that the perishable cannot inherit the imperishable, 1 Corinthians 15:50. God’s inheritance is imperishable, 1 Peter 1:4.
This is the blessed assurance against the cravings of perishable and corruptible worldly pleasures to know that the Lord is our inheritance, Deuteronomy 10:9; 18:2. Let us therefore resign our lives to him and his service with delight and he will make our wants his care.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, teach us to know that our inheritance is in thee and not in earthly wealth so we may preserve our wealth in heaven as you have instructed us. Thank you for an answered prayer, Amen!!!
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