burn high school blog

Matthew 6:25-34
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 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.”

Im really anxious right now. My wife Robin and I are expecting our first child any day now, and I can’t wait. I mean, I’ve been praying for, preparing for, and waiting to meet this child since January! It’s about time for it to get here already! If I’m honest with myself, I get anxious about a lot of things in my life. Will the Red Sox make it to the world series? Will they win it if they do? I don’t feel good, is it serious? What will I do tomorrow, what will it look like? When my child arrives, will I be a good dad? Will I be able to provide for my family? What if I let down my church, or my family? There’s another word for being anxious, it’s called worry. It’s something I do quite often, and I bet that you do to. I’ve been there, things like “What does my future look like?” “What college will I go to?” “Are my grades good enough?” “Will I ever get a date?” Things like that are things we carry with us all the time. But we don’t need to , God tells us that we are to give our worries, our burdens and our concerns to Him, cause He cares for us. But often times I don’t.

But my struggle to rely on God for all of my needs isn’t because I think I can do things all on my own, but because I refuse to live out the fact that He is Lord over my life. I used to turn to this portion of scripture whenever life got crazy, or when I needed God’s word to make me feel better in a rough time. I turned to it when I finally admitted that I needed God’s help. It was always made me feel good to read the line in about how God cares for me more than the gress!

But even though that verse makes us feel comforted, it is not the main point of Jesus’ teaching. It’s the result of what happens when we obey Him and do His will. It’s what happens when we live our lives for His glory, and not for ours. It’s what happens when we live our lives burning to be consumed, not being a consumer of God. This passage starts with the phrase “Therefore I tell You…” What? There’s a reason Jesus is about to tell us this stuff. You see, if you check out the verse before this passage (verse 24), it says “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”

The thing Jesus is trying to get across to us, is that when we worry about our problems, when we stress out over things, or when we get anxious about things we can’t control, we miss something.  The reason we worry, isn’t because we have a weak faith, it’s because we are weak in our service and devotion to God. There’s something in our lives that we’re serving, that were more devoted to than God. It could be a sport, school, a job, friends, a boyfriend or girlfriend, family, T.V., internet, whatever… When we worry, when we’re anxious, it’s because we’re focusing more on our own selves rather than on loving and serving God.

Do you want more peace, more patience in your life? I know I do. Let’s examine our lives, what’s taking the lead, what is our top priority? Is it God or ourselves? I challenge you to spend more time with God, than you do on the phone. Spend more time with God than you do on the internet. Spend more time with God than you do standing in line at Starbucks!

This choice to spend more time with God, to seek Him first will have a HUGE impact on your stress level, on your anxiousness, and on how much you worry.

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33)

love, live, burn.

Kerry