Good Monday morning! Can you believe that June is almost over? Today is our last Bible study this month. The time has flown by, but I have really enjoyed my time with you. Hope you enjoy today's study! "I don't have a THING to wear!" Have those words ever come from your lips? Join me as we study Matthew 6:27-28.
#153: Beyond Fashion from Mark Pierce on Vimeo.
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“I don’t have a THING to wear!” Have those words ever come from your lips? Stay tuned for Bible Study #153: “Beyond Fashion.”
READ: “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow:they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” Mathew 6:27-28
NOT TALKING ABOUT ANXIETY DISORDERS. We must be sensitive to the fact that there are very real and very physical disorders that have the symptom of anxiety - Panic Disorders, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders, along with other Social and Specific Phobias that are caused by some type of brain dysfunction. For this and other types of mental health diseases, we should be sensitive - Advise to seek medical attention, medication, and certainly to pray for healing like we would any other physical disease.
JESUS IS TALKING ABOUT the kind of anxiety that is created by our own worry, which in turn, in created by (1) treasuring the wrong things and (2) not trusting God to take care of us. Being worried about what we will eat or drink or what we will wear. In today’s economy especially, it could be an easy matter to worry about those things that we don’t have control over - like whether we lose or keep our job.
JESUS GIVE FIVE STATEMENTS OF ADVICE:
- It’s just not logical. “Who by being anxious can add a single hour to life span?” Obvious answer. No one. Not a single person has control over the end of his/her life. If anything, modern science tells us that anxiety, and it’s manifestations, will likely kill us off sooner than otherwise.
- Anxious over the wrong things. Clothing? Really? Don’t think for a minute that the people of Jesus’ day were worried over whether they’d have anything to wear or not. Clothing has always provided a fashion sense and a pecking order. People dress to their station in life. And if you can’t dress in a certain way, then life won’t be as sweet.
- God’s Fashion Sense is Perfect! Jesus tells us that even Solomon wasn’t arrayed like the lillies in the field. Easy to miss the point here... It’s not that Solomon didn’t have the finest clothes, He did! It’s not that he didn’t have better clothes than anyone within earshot of Jesus (including Jesus.) He did! And it wasn’t as if Solomon wasn’t “arrayed” more magnificently to the human eye. He was! The point is this: how did he look to God? We should be much more concerned about how God sees beauty than how people see beauty! His fashion is perfect!
- God does value you more! With today’s societal concerns of global warming, environmental concerns and Earth First thinking, it’s worth remembering that God does value his creation of man and woman more than anything else. Jesus reminds us, “Will [God] not much more clothe you?”
- Where is your faith? General anxiousness (not anxiety disorders) are a matter of worrying about the wrong things - because we treasure the wrong things... and we don’t trust God to value us enough to care for us. This doesn’t mean we sit back and wait to do anything. Faith in action means looking to God to give us the direction, to inspire us... to think, to act, to plan, to work, to accomplish... but all from the seed of faith and confidence that even the idea of how to care for ourselves comes first from God because of his great love for us!
WEDNESDAY: First Bible study in July - #154: Our Highest Priority
