25 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the sky, that they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather crops into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more important than they? 27And which of you by worrying can add a single day to his life’s span? 28And why are you worried about clothing? Notice how the lilies of the field grow; they do not labor nor do they spin thread for cloth, 29yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30But 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! 31Do not worry then, saying, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear for clothing?’ 32For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you.
Matthew 6:25-34
34 “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
The Well Off Hear & Follow God First, Before anything else.
Lacking Leads To Anxiety
We lack. To be human is to not have enough. The acute knowledge of our inability to provide everything we need leads to anxiety.
Jesus moves from hoarding and consumption to teaching us about how to lack without anxiety.
For me, anxiety comes through trying to produce. I’m always worried, “Do I produce enough?” or “Do I do enough?” Last night, I sat down to watch a movie with no ulterior motive than to just watch the movie. And I had to fight off the voices in my head, “You’re not doing anything right now. There has to be something that you need to be doing. Stop watching this movie and get to work!”
The underlying fear is if I don’t produce today, will income come tomorrow? To let these voices take over is to let anxiety take over my life.
Leaders are constantly living in tomorrow. Vision requires it. But to let the voices tangle us up in anxiety does no one any good.
Hoarding and anxiety over lacking seem to be two different issues. Actually, they are different sides of the same coin. They’re both about consumption. One is about consuming all we have. The other is about worrying about what we will consume next.
Remedy for Anxiety
The remedy to anxiety over what we lack is to Hear & Follow God, First, Before anything else.
God knows what we need. The fields are adorned with beauty. The birds of the air are fed. Humans are the pinnacle of God’s creation. If he takes care of nature and animals, then won’t he take care of us?
You worry over what you lack because you look into tomorrow and say, “Well, I lack this today. Tomorrow doesn’t look any better. So I don’t know how my situation will change.” The cycle continues until we’re so tangled up in anxiety, we don’t know any other way to live.
Again, leaders have to live in tomorrow, but you do not have to let the lack of what you need to accomplish your vision lead to anxiety. Hear & Follow God today. If he gave you the vision, he knows what you need to make it happen.
God doesn’t lack. Seek first the God who doesn’t lack. Then you realize God will provide everything you need when tomorrow becomes today.
Trust God’s Provision
Now, sometimes what happens, is God opens our eyes to what he has already provided. This is when we think we’re strapped for cash and we recognize our $500 per month Starbucks bill could be cut down. Boom! God provides through opening your eyes to the provision he gave already!
Sometimes what happens is that we don’t know how God will provide in the future. Because you Hear & Follow him First, Before anything else, you step through doors you have no idea how he will provide for you to get through the next door. And yet, as you step up to the next door, everything you need is provided one way or another.
When you worry over what you lack, you will find anxiety. Anxiety has increased over the last decade. Through modern technology, we continuously face what we lack. Far off fears of war. Close up fears of reaching some imaginary level of worthiness amongst our social media “friends.” And we fear everything in between.
“Trust God and it will all go away,” you say with skepticism. Correct. Simple doesn’t mean easy. The pressures of everyone else’s anxiety leads us to fear what we lack. Also, you may be so tangled in anxiety over what you lack, a few prayers won’t bring relief. You’ll go through a journey with others (maybe professional others) to help untangle the fear of tomorrow.
The Well Off don’t have less things in their life to worry about. Everyone lacks. To be human is to lack. The Well Off recognize what they can do is trust God for what they lack today so that when tomorrow becomes today, it will take care of itself.
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