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“take no thought” The title of this article is taken from a statement made by Jesus Christ: (Mat 6:25) "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" The same message may also be found in Luke 12:22. What does Jesus mean by this statement? First, we see that Jesus said, “Take no thought for your life.” Surely Jesus did not mean that we are to live a careless and reckless life wherein we put our lives in danger; so what does He mean? We know that prudent care is never forbidden by Jesus. The message He is telling us is that we must not be anxious so as to distract the mind. To be anxiously careful about how we shall have enough to eat and sustain the body would draw our minds away from the important things of life, [i.e. doing the will of God]. If we were to be anxiously careful we would be prone to forget about the things which God so generously gives to us. Do not think for one moment that the God who gave us a body and breathed into our nostrils the breath of life would refuse to give us what is necessary to sustain life if we ask in humble confidence. On the other hand if we strictly rely on the providence of God that would actually be tempting God. Jesus said “Take no thought of what you shall eat.” I know that my wife does take thought as to what she will prepare for the meals that she sets on the table [as other cooks do whether they are male or female]. However, this is not contrary to the commandment made here by Jesus. Jesus is simply reminding us that God has promised to provide the things that are necessary to sustain life. Later in the discourse of this teaching Jesus said: (Mat 6:33) "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." If you go back two verses you will see that Jesus is telling us that God will “add” the things that are needed in our lives: (Mat 6:31) "Therefore take no thought, saying, What we shall eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?" As a matter of fact God already is aware that we have need of those things: (Mat 6:32) "(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things." In Matthew chapter six, verse 31 through thirty-three Jesus is confirming what He taught in verse twenty-five; [i.e. we are not to be anxious about what we are going to eat, the clothes we are to wear or a roof over our heads. Jesus is earnestly warning about the sin of distrusting God concerning the things of this world. Here Jesus is giving a command; He does so as a Lawgiver, as our Comforter and as our Helper. Jesus is arming his disciples by commanding them to do the things that are pleasing to God. We must take notice of all of Jesus’ commandments and this deserves no less attention than any other commandment of Jesus. Matthew chapter six and verse thirty-four should also catch our attention: "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Again we find Jesus using the same phrase “Take no thought.” However, this time He is warning us about be overly anxious about the “morrow”. Here Jesus is making reference to: (Prov. 27:1) "Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." There is not a single person who will read this article that can assure themselves of even having a tomorrow. Friends, we need to trust and rely on God as Jesus has instructed all of His disciples to do so. Let us remember that this is a commandment; not a request!
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