Matthew 6
BolesMatthew 6:1-18
- AGAINST IN
, PRAYER, AND FASTING
1 Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men, to be seen of them.—Jesus now turns to the motives for doing things; he has exposed the corruptions or erroneous interpre-tations of the law; he has taught the right interpretation and application of some common phases of the law, but now turns attention to “righteousness.” He has told his disciples that their “righteousness” must “exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees” or else they would have no place in the kingdom of heaven. In this section he presents the three great forms in which self-righteousness and hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees manifested itself they were “almsgiv-ing,” “prayer,” and “fasting.” These were the three principal manifestations of practical piety among the Jews, and were abused by the Pharisees to exhibit their own superior piety. The Pharisees thought that they had attained the highest emi-nence in these three phases of their religious life.
Jesus now instructs his disciples to “take heed” that they do not perform any deeds of righteousness to be seen of men. “Righteousness” is a broader term than “alms”; it includes almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. He does not condemn doing works of righteousness; he had just told them to let their lights so shine before men that others may “see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16.) We are to live before others so that they may see the beauty of the Christian life; what Jesus condemns here is the motive of doing righteousness to be seen of men. There is al-ways danger in worship and in the religious life of having the wrong motive; man is prone to do things to be seen of others and receive the praise of others. (Exodus 23:13; Deuteronomy 11:16; Matthew 26:41; 1 Corinthians 10:12.) When the righteousness is done just to be seen of men, and men see it, no other reward may be expected; the citizens of the kingdom of heaven must al-ways have the right motive in serving God.
2-4 When therefore thou doest alms, sound not a trumpet before thee.—Jesus here takes up one of the elements of “righteousness.” He commends doing good and giving to help the distressed; but he condemns sounding a trumpet before doing a good deed and calling attention of men to the deed. Some have taken this literally and said that hypocrites sounded a trumpet before doing a good deed; it was customary to call people together by a trumpet to see a great spectacle (Numbers 10:3; 2 Kings 9:13; Psalms 81:3); but others think that these hypocrites did not have literal trumpets, but only called attention to what they were doing; that is a proverbial ex-pression of the habit of self-laudation and display of good works in general. Jesus condemns all ostentation in worship and service and the blowing of trumpets may be taken either literally or figuratively. It was revolting to Jesus to see the display and read the motives of the hypocrites of that day. They were doing this for display “that they may have glory of men”; they had received the praise of men and were not enti-tled to any other reward.
But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.—Jesus not only condemns unworthy motives in doing things, but he also teaches his disciples how to give alms. It is a pleasing figure or picture that Jesus presents here; it suggests a man passing one who is in need, and with his right hand giving alms in so quiet a way that even his own left hand does not know what is going on. The mo-tive should be to help the needy in the name of Christ; the motive should be to glorify God and not to receive glory for self. When one does have the right motive there will be no display, no parade, no self-laudation; but there will be the quietness of spirit and simplicity of purpose to honor and glo-rify God. God sees such, as there is nothing kept secret from him and “thy Father who seeth in secret shall recompense thee.” One may do a good deed in public with the right mo-tive; God looks at the motive and rewards according to the motive. When people do things to be seen of men, they are feeding their own vanity and defeating themselves, as they will receive no reward from God. There is a sense in which good deeds may be published with the right motive; Jesus published the liberality of the poor widow. (Mark 12:41-44.) The liberality of Barnabas was published (Acts 4:36-37), but this is not done to honor and glorify Barnabas, but to encour-age others to do good.
5, 6 And when ye pray, ye shall not be as the hypocrites.— Jesus now takes up the second element of “righteousness” prayers. The praying of hypocrites which Jesus here con-demns was not the prayer of public worship, but of private de-votion; it was not prayer in which the people were expected to unite, but was the personal, individual prayer of the Pharisees. The hypocrites are described as those who “love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men.” The Pharisees used a public place in the synagogue and even at the street corners as places of private devotion; they sought out conspicuous places to pray that they may be seen of men. The Jews fre-quently stood in prayer (Mark 11:25), especially in the syna-gogue and at the crossings of the street, where there was a great crowd of people. Here again Jesus condemns the mo-tives of these hypocrites;they were praying to be seen of men and they had received their reward. It is said that the Phari-see took care to be at the cross streets and in the public places when the crowd was the largest, in order that he might be seen; he was displaying a false piety; Jesus severely con-demns this by telling his disciples that they should “not be as the hypocrites.”
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thine inner chamber.—The contrast that Jesus draws here is very forceful; he puts in contrast the public display of the hypocrites and the private devotion of his disciples; the difference between the two is the motive; the teachings of Jesus take hold of the heart and would direct the action by controlling the thoughts, motives, aspirations, and purposes. Jesus directs the motives of the heart in praying acceptably to God. Jesus instructs his disciples to go “into thine inner chamber,” and after going into the “inner chamber,” they are to “shut thy door”; God can see in secret; he sees even the motives of the heart, and will reward according to the motives. The soul must be seri-ous before God; nothing should interfere with the freest out-pouring of thought, emotion, desire, of the heart; hence the importance of going into “thine inner chamber.” Every child of God has seasons of communing with God in which no other person can be present; there should be seasons when the soul of man is in constant communion with God alone.
7, 8 And in praying use not vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do.—Jesus now corrects certain errors that were common in prayers at that time; they are warned against “vain repe-tions”; the Gentiles frequently used “vain repetitions”; possi-bly the emphasis is put on “vain” and not on “repetitions.” Jesus repeated the same prayer three times (Matthew 26:44); hence it is not the mere “repetition” of petitions or words that is condemned here. What makes a prayer vain? or what makes repetition “vain”? The Greek from which we get “vain repetitions” is “battalogein,” which means to stammer, stutter, then to babble or prate, to repeat the same formula many times as did the worshipers of Baal and Diana of Ephe-sus. (1 Kings 18:26; Acts 19:34.) Literally Jesus tells his disciples not to “battologize” which seems to be an onomato-poetic term, and may have given the name to Battus, the Cy-renian prince, who stammered; to Battus, the silly poet, who made prolific hymns full of tautology. Such vain repetitions impeached the wisdom and goodness of God and was there-fore forbidden. The “vain repetitions” and “much speaking” were used by Gentiles in heathen worship and lose sight of the true motive in praying to God; these are condemned. Christians should be careful to restrict the use of their words in prayer and should use great simplicity and not high-sound-ing phraseology; we are speaking to God in our prayers and should be careful of our speech.
Be not therefore like unto them.—Jesus frequently warns his disciples against being like the Pharisees, hypocrites, and Gentiles. The heathen have not the true motive in prayer, the hypocrite hides his motive in prayer, and the Pharisee is syn-onymous with the hypocrite;the disciples of Jesus must avoid such chattering, prating, and running off mere words in prayer. The disciples of Jesus are to avoid such folly and sin as belonged to the Pharisees, hypocrites, and heathen. Our Father knows our needs; he is willing to supply them accord-ing to his own will, but he wants his children to ask him for them. We feel more keenly our indebtedness to God when he, in answer to our prayers, gives us those things which we need.
[Jesus warns his servants to avoid seeking honor of men in the acts of kindness and favor they do to their fellow men. If we do these works to secure the favor of men, we put their approval in competition with the favor and approval of God, and that which is done to please men is taken from what is due God. God refuses to accept divided service. Christians are not to give alms, pray, fast, or do any other service before men to get honor or glory of men, but they are to perform these services to God. If a man does these things to get glory of men, none will reckon it a glory to him, to God, or to oth-ers .1
9 After this manner therefore pray ye.—The Greek shows that the emphasis should be on “ye.” Jesus had just warned his disciples about praying as did the hypocrites and Gentiles; he now instructs them how they should pray. They are to pray “after this manner,” which means that the prayer which followed is a model prayer; this prayer as recorded by Luke was given at the request of his disciples when they said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, even as John also taught his dis-ciples.” (Luke 11:1.) Others in their prayers used “vain repetitions” and “much speaking,” but the disciples of Jesus are to pray according to this pattern or according to these words, “after this manner.”
Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.— Here we have the invocation; many prayers of the Bible begin with a very solemn address to God, which we call the “invoca-tion.” This was a new form of addressing God; this invoca-tion is calculated to inspire reverence and confidence; God is “our Father.” Under the Old Testament God is addressed as the Creator, Almighty God, Jehovah, and the Great God; God’s people were recognized under the law as servants, but in Christ they are regarded as children, hence they can address God as Father. “Our Father” is “in heaven”; this shows that the real object of our prayers is a personal God and that he is located in heaven. The Bible recognizes the omnipresence of God, that he is everywhere, but when regarded as Father his personality is located in heaven. “Hallowed be thy name” means that his name is to be treated as holy; it is to be spo-ken reverently and due respect is to be given unto God as a Father. We can come into the true spirit of prayer only as we hallow the name of God.
10 Thy kingdom come.—While Jesus was on earth, he was preparing material for his kingdom; he preached that the “kingdom of heaven is at hand,” that is, it was soon to ap-pear; hence he taught his disciples to look forward to the coming of his kingdom and to pray for its appearance and establishment on earth. Since his kingdom has been estab-lished, his children now pray for the “spread of the kingdom.” We can pray for the perfect obedience and allegiance of all created beings to the will and word of God, hence that the kingdom come in that sense.
Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.—The disciples of Jesus are to pray that the will of God be done here among men as it is done in heaven among the angels; they are to pray that the will of God be done everywhere, at all times, and by all beings. In praying that the will of God be done on earth, the disciples of Jesus commit themselves to the doing of his will and to the teaching of his will to others and encourag-ing them to do it. There is nothing to oppose the will of God in heaven, so there should be nothing to oppose his will on earth; for the will of God to be done there must be perfect obedience to God’s law in every realm of life. For the will of God to be done on earth means to expand the kingdom of God on earth and all men to be brought into that kingdom as loyal subjects.
[The Old Testament is the account of the efforts of God to get man to obey and follow him and of the failures of man to do so. The great end of God’s creating and dealings with man is to bring him to honor and to obey God, that through this training and obedience man may be made like God and be made a fit companion to dwell with God forever. All the training of the ages was to train and fit the people to obey and honor God. The end of the training was to fit man to follow God, to obey God so faithfully that God’s will “be done, as in heaven, so on earth.” When God’s will is done by men on earth as it is by the angels of God in heaven, men will be equal to the angels of God and the earth will become the dwelling place and the home of God with man.]
11 Give us this day our daily bread.—Jesus taught his disci-ples to pray for their “daily bread.” The word translated “daily” has given commentators trouble; it occurs only here and in Luke 11:3. Some think that it simply means our “nec-essary sustenance,” which includes all of our physical needs, as Paul said to Timothy, “but having food and covering we shall be therewith content.” (1 Timothy 6:7.) This would mean that they were to pray for what was necessary for their physical welfare. Others have given a spiritual meaning to it and hence, they say that his disciples were to pray for all the spiri-tual needs of this life. It seems evident that only the physical needs are included in this petition. The disciples are to be de-pendent on God for even the physical food; and surely they are dependent upon him for all spiritual food.
12 And forgive us our debts.—In Luke 11:4 it is “and for-give us our sins”; this is the same in meaning. Obedience is due to God, and by failing in our duty we become indebted to his justice, which demands the execution of the penalty of the law; when we are forgiven our sins that obligation is dis-charged. The Greek word translated “forgive” is the same translated “left” in Matthew 4:20; Matthew 4:22, and “left” in Matthew 13:36, and “leaving” in Mark 4:36, and “leave” in 1 Corinthians 7:11-12. It carries the idea of absolute putting away of sins. The con-dition that God is asked to forgive “us our debts” is that “we also have forgiven our debtors.” We have forgiven those who have trespassed against us, and therefore ask God to forgive us. There is implied here that God will not forgive us if we have not forgiven others.
13 And bring us not into temptation.—This condition is for God not, to bring us into a state of trial and severe testing. It is another way of saying “suffer us not to be led into tempta-tion”; it is a plea for God to shield us from being tempted above that which we are able to bear. God does not tempt us to do evil (James 1:13), but he may exercise his care over us in such a way as to lead us into circumstances which become the means of testing us. Rather the disciple of Christ prays to be delivered from the evil one; he prays to be able to es-cape the severe temptations that the devil may present to him. The petition is not merely to be delivered from evil, either in the moral or physical sense, but to be delivered from the devil who is the author of the temptations.
14, 15 For if ye forgive men their trespasses.—This verse does not belong to the prayer; it is added by Jesus to show why the petition for forgiveness of sins must be conditional. The one who cannot forgive others or who will not forgive others puts himself where he cannot ask God to forgive him. “Trespasses” means offenses, or the sins that our fellows com-mit against us. Jesus emphasizes the fact that God will for-give the forgiving, but will not forgive the unforgiving. It does not mean that our forgiving others merits God’s forgiv-ing us. It does make a forgiving spirit the condition of our re-ceiving forgiveness from God. Our forgiving spirit towards our fellows stands on the same footing with our penitent spirit for our sins toward God.
This has been called “the Lord’s prayer” because it is a model prayer which he gave to his disciples; some object to calling it “the Lord’s prayer.” This prayer embodies the es-sential desires of a praying heart; it is simple in form and comprehensive in its scope. It is generally arranged or di-vided into three parts: the invocation or preface, the petitions, and the conclusion, doxology. The petitions are naturally di-vided into two parts: the first, respecting the glory of God; the second, the wants of men; hence “thy” in the first part and “our” in the second. The first part presents a descending scale from God’s name to the doing of his will on earth; the second, an ascending scale from “daily bread” to final deliver-ance in glory. The spirit of the prayer implies obedience, loy-alty, dependence, faith, and the spirit of forgiveness. The seven petitions imply an obligation to carry out on our part that for which we pray.
The “doxology,” “for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen,” is omitted by the best authorities.
16-18 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites.— We now come to the third division of Jesus’ teaching here the other two were almsgiving and prayer. “Fasting” was common as a religious act among the Jews. The word means to abstain totally from food for a given time on a religious ac-count. Fasting among the Jews was both public (Zechariah 8:19) and private (2 Samuel 12:16; 2 Samuel 12:21.) Jesus neither enjoins fasting nor forbids it, but rather assumes that it will be done sometimes for moral and spiritual purposes. He is warning his disciples against a hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees. They fast with the wrong motive; they appear with “a sad countenance”; they assume a gloomy, sad appearance to ex-cite the sympathy and pity of men. Sometimes “they disfig-ure their faces, that they may be seen of men to fast.” Literally they deform their faces by letting the hair go un-trimmed, putting ashes on the head, and assuming a woebe-gone expression; this was all done to be seen of men, to at-tract attention to their assumed piety.
Jesus warns against all deceptive “make-ups” as they have in them the seeds of hypocrisy. These hypocrites were fasting “that they may be seen of men to fast”; “they have received their reward” when seen of men and need not expect to receive a reward from God;their motive for fasting was impure.
But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head, and wash thy face.—Jesus not only condemns the impure motive that the hypocrites had, but he teaches the true motive for all service to God. They were to “anoint” their head and “wash” their face; they were to appear as at other times. The Jews anointed and washed regularly, except on days of humiliation.(Rth 3:3; 2 Samuel 12:20-21; Ecclesiastes 9:8; Daniel 10:3.) Jesus enjoined the usual care of the person so that there should he nothing apparent before men to indicate the fasting; his disci-ples were to manifest their fasting only to God. He means to say to his disciples that if they have sorrow of heart and de-sire to fast, they should let no thought of man’s presence or eye intrude , their fasting should be known only to their own soul and God. God will reward because he knows the motive and the secrets of the heart.
Matthew 6:19-34
- AGAINST RICHES AND THE
CARE OF THE OF LIFE
19, 20 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth. —The “treasures” of the people in the East were of two kinds –the precious metals and clothing; the clothing was better adapted for accumulation then than now, because nothing went out of fashion then; the precious metals might suffer from rust and their clothing from the moth; their best earthly treasures were perishable; their houses were of such material that thieves could easily “break through and steal.” Jesus does not prohibit the accumulation of property here, but the prohibition of hoarding; the first reason for not laying up our treasures upon earth is that the moth and rust will destroy them;again they are temptations to thieves. One of the most common forms of riches in the East was garments, which were liable to moth (Josh. 7:21; 2 Kings 5:22; James 5:2, 3);the rust would consume the precious metals; and the owner would put his trust in his riches.
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.—This means that we should prefer heavenly treasures to earthly ones , the laying up of treasures in heaven is to be preferred to laying treasures up upon earth , we should make our earthly trea-sures the means by which we lay up heavenly treasures. There are many reasons why we should lay up treasures in heaven; they are not subject to moths and rust, neither can thieves “break through nor steal” them. The treasures in heaven are secure; they are put in contrast to earthly trea-sures. How may we lay up treasures in heaven? We do this by living as God teaches us to live; we go about as did Jesus doing good, and in this way were laying up treasures in heaven.
21 For where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also.— “Heart” here means the affection and includes the thought and volition; our hearts go with our treasures. The heart is spoken of in the scriptures as the seat of affections; the thoughts, feelings, and will power are all involved in the “heart”; it is the seat and center of man’s life, especially the desires and aspirations, out of which are the issues of life. (Prow. 4:23.) If we lay up our treasures on earth, our de-sires and aspirations, and our life will be of the earth earthy.
[Laying up treasures in heaven means to live so that God keeps blessings in store in heaven. The same word is here translated “lay up treasures” as is translated “lay by in store” in 1 Cor. 16:2. It is used in the same way in Luke 12:21. No investment can be found on earth so safe, so permanent, or that pays so good dividends as laying up treasures in heaven. It is the only investment on earth that will pay dividends in the next world.]
22, 23 The lamp of the body is the eye.—All the light and vision of the body come through the eye; the eye supplies for the whole body the benefits of light and vision. “If therefore thine eye be single” means that the eye does not see double or does not look at two objects at the same time. The picture is that of a piece of cloth or other material neatly folded once, and without a variety of complicated folds; the idea of sim-plicity or singleness is here expressed; in a spiritual sense the eye is not diseased, is not impure; it is sound and in good con-dition if it sees single or gives a perfect vision. Since the eye is the only organ to furnish sight and vision to the body, if it be in good condition, then the “whole body shall be full of light.”
But if thine eye be evil.—For the eye to be evil is for it to be in a diseased condition so that light and vision are blurred or obscured; in a spiritual sense if the eye be evil the power of distinct and clear vision of spiritual things is lost and the whole body in a spiritual sense is full of darkness. If the spiritual eye is evil, all spiritual vision is distorted and one does not understand; one is in darkness. If the organ which functions for light and vision is impaired, then the whole body will be in darkness, for there is no other organ to furnish light to the body. This figure used by Jesus has direct reference to laying up treasures; he who lays up treasures upon earth has an evil eye, but he who lays up treasures in heaven has a clear vision and the whole body is full of light.
[ The organ that carries light to our body is the eye. If the eye be kept single and free, receiving only the word of God, the true light of the world, how well the body is lighted! But if the eye is double, filled with error, how dark does the body become! Wealth and riches cannot bring earthly or spiritual happiness; wealth and earthly honors and fleshly gratifica-tions are short-lived, deceptive, and despoil us of true wisdom and a true goodness. They serve to distract our attention from a higher good and more lasting blessings and leave us to perish forever; this plunges us into total and eternal dark-ness.]
24 No man can serve two masters.—This is a truism; no man can be the servant of, yield full obedience to, two mas-ters, for they demand different and opposite things; the com-mands of different masters are opposite and no one can obey two contradictory or opposite commands. If a servant obeys one master he must disobey the other; the very act of obedience to one is disobedience to the other. Jesus tells the result of attempting to serve two masters; one will hate the one and love the other, or the other way round, “he will hold to one, and despise the other.” Jesus makes this more emphatic when he says, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” This is Jesus’ application of the principle. God and mammon are of such opposite natures that it is impossible to love either one supremely without hating the other; that which attracts to one repels from the other. The more one loves God, the more he must hate evil. “Mammon” is a Syriac word which means “riches”; it is riches or wealth personified. “Mammon” means the riches of this world; one cannot trust in wealth and trust in God; one cannot serve God and lay up treasures upon earth. Some claim that “mammon” is a name .of an idol wor-shiped as the God of riches; others dispute this.
Jesus does not here condemn riches, but he does condemn becoming a slave to riches. God is a jealous God and will not accept a service that is divided with Satan.
[Two masters, each claiming to rule and guide men, cannot be served by one and the same spirit. All spiritual service must be gladly and cheerfully done. God accepts no service that does not come from the heart. If we seek to serve a dif-ferent master that divides the feelings, the affections, the ser-vice due to God, we deprive God of the service. Mammon is the god of riches, the god which bestows, the worship of whom gives riches and worldly power as its reward and bless-ing, the god of this world, and stands in antagonism to the worship of God. No one can worship the God of heaven and mammon, the god of this world. To love one is to hate the other.]
25 Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious for your life. —The service of mammon leads to anxiety and worry, but the service of God leads to peace, joy, and happiness. Jesus here cautions his disciples against being anxious, overcareful for the necessary things of life. He would not have his people worry and be anxious for the things which belong to this world. Ordinary thought or care is not forbidden (2 Thess. 3:10; 1 Tim. 5:8), but an overanxiety which distracts the mind is forbidden. When thought about temporal things be-comes anxiety, it has become distrust of God. Jesus specifies the things about which we should not be anxious; these are food, drink, and raiment; the three essentials for the body are food, clothing, and shelter.
Jesus would not have his disciples overanxious about these things. The world gives special em-phasis to these three things; in fact, these become the objects of greatest affection and interest. Jesus asks, “Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment?” The ar-gument is, will not God, who has given the greater gifts, the life and the body, also provide the lesser, food and raiment? Since God gave us a body, he will provide in his own way the necessary things of this body.
26 Behold the birds of the heaven.—Jesus had laid down the principle that his disciple should trust in God and not in the uncertainty; that if they would trust in him that he would provide all things necessary for their trusting and serving him. He now illustrates this by “the birds of the heaven.” Man is greater than the birds; the birds do not sow, reap, “nor gather into barns,” yet God has provided for them; he feeds them. He asks, “Are not ye of much more value than they?” If the birds which neither sow nor reap nor store away are cared for in the way God appoints to them, how much more will he care for his disciples who put their trust in him? Men can sow, reap, and store away, and they should do this, but not with anxiety.
27 And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit unto the measure of his life?—A “cubit” was a measure of eighteen to twenty-one inches in length; it was originally the length of a man’s arm from the elbow to the end of the middle finger. No man could add anything to his age or to his stature in an arbitrary way by being anxious about them; it is foolish to give anxiety to these things. Nobody thinks of adding a cubit to his height by any amount of attention given to it; Jesus cites this illustration to enforce his principle that man must trust in God and God will take care of him.
28, 29 And why are ye anxious concerning raiment?—This is another example or illustration that Jesus gives to impress the principle of trusting in God. Perhaps more attention is given to raiment than to any of the three necessary things of the physical life; even the disciples of Jesus are too anxious about clothing. All should dress in as neat and attractive way as their circumstances will permit, but to give so much atten-tion to and be anxious for clothing is a violation of the princi-ple that Jesus has laid down. He enforces this principle by calling attention to “the lilies of the field.” It is claimed that lilies were common in Palestine and that on every hand they were within sight of his auditors at the time he was speaking; some who have visited Palestine have said that in the spring the hillsides of Galilee are clothed with lilies of all shades and colors; they do not work in man’s way for their gorgeous array, yet they are far more beautiful than anyone can make himself by putting on raiment. Jesus cites Solomon and com-pares the beauty of the lilies which give no attention to their gorgeous array to his studied display of royal splendor: “Solo-mon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” Solomon represented to the Jewish mind the ideal of regal magnificence. (1 Kings 10:1-29.) Solomon’s glory was ex-ternal, a glory put on, while that of the flower is a part of its nature, being developed from within. God gives the beauty to the flowers, and he will give such adornment to his disciples as may be best for them.
30-32 But if God doth so clothe the grass of the field.—The point here is that God’s wonderful providence clothes the lil-ies with their beauty and even the short-lived grass of the field, so he will take care of his disciples. Every kind of herb on earth is a product of God’s power and care; he gives to them their different shades, tints, and hues of color; these are far inferior to man; will he not care for man who is so superior to these things? “Shall he not mGod for these material blessings, but we do expect his children to trust him for them. He knows our needs and in his own way will supply them. He is wise enough to know our needs, good enough to supply them, and powerful enough to do so; furthermore, he has promised to do this;hence we can trust him.uch more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” He will provide such raiment as his disciples may need for their service to him. God will care for his peo-ple. But how?
Does he forbid sowing and reaping? It is by our diligent sowing and careful reaping that he cares for us. “0 ye of little faith.” We have a God who can supply us with all the necessary things of life, and he has promised to do so; hence we should trust him for these things. It is a lack of faith in God when we are overanxious about these material things. We should not be like the Gentiles who scarcely know God and who are anxious about the material things of this life. We should remember that our heavenly Father knows how great and real are our needs for food, clothing, and shelter, and he is good enough to supply them. We do not expect the Gentiles or heathen to trust
33 But seek ye first his kingdom.– “Seek” means to search for, strive for, aim; his kingdom should be the chief aim of all; it should be first in time and first in importance. The kingdom of God, which is the church of God, is of greatest im-portance and must be so regarded by all who would follow Jesus. We should seek not to accumulate food and raiment, nor to hoard wealth, but the things which belong to the kingdom of God. Our anxiety should not be for material things, but for the kingdom of God. This kingdom of God has its righteousness. To the one in the world the seeking of the kingdom of God should come first, and to those who are in the church, they should seek the full and rich righteousness of the kingdom of God. If we put the kingdom of God and its righ-teousness first, we have the promise that “all these things shall be added” unto us; that is, all material necessities of life will be given to those who earnestly put the kingdom of God and its righteousness first.
34 Be not therefore anxious for the morrow.—We should not be troubled, distracted, anxious, about the future; our anxiety should be for the kingdom of God and the righteous-ness of God. All worldly things are of minor importance, and as God will supply such of them as are needful, we should not be anxious about future supplies of them. The future day by day will bring its own troubles, and we need not be anxious for it. We should let “the morrow” take care of itself; today has its own responsibilities and sorrows, so we need not bor-row any from tomorrow; each day has enough of trials and burdens, and if we add more by anxiety about the future, we are adding to the present burdens of life; this is wrong and unfits us for present duties. “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Each day brings its own responsibilities and evils; and if we add tomorrow’s evils to today, we have in-creased our burdens unnecessarily. We do this when we are anxious about the material things of this life.
[We are not only told to seek the kingdom of God, but we are also told to seek his righteousness—the righteousness of God. This is but another form of expressing the thought Seek the kingdom of God. The righteousness of God is con-stituted a feature of the kingdom of God; it is the outgrowth and fruit of seeking the kingdom. “Righteousness” means right doing. The righteousness of God means the right doing of God. Seek the right doing of God; seek to do right as God does right; seek then to make God’s ways our ways; this will make his character our character; it will make his standard of right our standard of right. We should make all efforts and labors of life subservient to the higher one of honoring God.
This world is a temporary sojourning place in which we may be prepared to live with God in his eternal home. Let us not lose sight of this high end and be turned aside by earthly ends. To do this is to sell the birthright to immortal honors and glories for an earthly mess of pottage “that perishes with the using.”]