I’m working on an article
about emergency preparedness and many state and federal organizations suggest
the importance of having an emergency supply kit on hand in case of a natural
disaster. Generally speaking they all recommend that you should have enough
food and water to last each person 72 hours. Certainly the Lord wants believers
to be prudent, but not to the point of worry. Jesus said, “So do not worry,
saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we
wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your
heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first
his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as
well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow
will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matt 6:31-34
NIV).
1 comment:
Gail;
-----The kingdom of heaven is buried under a giant pile of conflicting books describing it as everything from a simple mental state to simply the church. No wonder we have to search for it. But in as much as it is presented both as the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God (which leads some to think these are two different concepts,) and that it is presented as indeed a kingdom, I consider its description to be quite simple. Like all other communications, its description is found in the words used to express it. Kingdom is a very real concept. It’s also a very big concept. Within that concept is not only the matter of a ruler and the ruled, there is the matter of a social orderliness, conventions, and shared processes. Kingdoms of mankind see their social systems structured greatly by the whims of their rulers. The amount of rationale involved varies greatly. Similarly, God rules the kingdom of God. And righteousness is its social system and processes of achievement. We not only know from Isaiah that God is highly rational, but the perfect degree of His reasoning bursts forth from the entire message of the Bible. Therefore, the social system and processes of His kingdom are highly reasonable.
-----In an iffy world where today might hold plenty and tomorrow none, good reason will store and save. Nor does good eating inherently grow out of the ground. Today we must plant so tomorrow we can eat. And as the social system and processes mankind has developed in order to supply itself with good eats and places to live, education today becomes required for productivity tomorrow. We live in a world wherein the mind must always estimate the future for what to think today.
-----Because this scripture has been misunderstood by so many, people have tried to escape thinking about tomorrow by joining monastic orders, becoming hermits, homeless, and whatever other arrangements they can imagine to free their minds from tomorrow so the kingdom of God can be sought today. Had more thought been given to what a kingdom actually is and to who God is, they would have realized that by sequestering themselves away from others they were actually abandoning the most of what the kingdom is to find only one of its small aspects. For seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness is not the obverse of planning and being responsible towards tomorrow. It is the obverse of worrying about tomorrow, which worry about tomorrow is the actual consequence of not planning for tomorrow. If you want to get down to brass tacks, accepting the Lord and submitting to His will and Word is something we do for our concern about the tomorrow in which we die. Jesus did not say to pay no attention to tomorrow. In fact, a great deal of attention to tomorrow is found in the processes of His kingdom today.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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