Back to the Basics- Do Not Worry
March 2023
Recently, the more simple lessons have really been hitting home for me. Every now and again it is good to go back to the basics and refocus and retrain on the fundamentals. I heard this analogy from one of my favorite preachers- “what are you watching when you watch the World Series for baseball or the olympics or the Super Bowl? You are watching people that are masters of the fundamentals of their respective sports.” Those people that mastered the basics, the fundamentals, the simple stuff of their sport have become the best at what they do. In every sport there are fundamentals. In every industry there are fundamentals. In every field of life there are fundamentals that are specific to that area that make it up and make it work well. Fundamentals are the basics, the core, the foundation. And sometimes we need to go back to the fundamentals and refocus. The fundamentals can seem simple or even “less deep”, but the “simple” things lead to deeper things.
One of the fundamentals of the Christian walk that spoke to me this week can be found in Matthew 6. Let’s read Matthew 6:25-34, TPT, “This is why I tell you to never be worried about your life, for all that you need will be provided, such as food, water, clothing—everything your body needs. Isn’t there more to your life than a meal? Isn’t your body more than clothing? “Consider the birds—do you think they worry about their existence? They don’t plant or reap or store up food, yet your heavenly Father provides them each with food. Aren’t you much more valuable to your Father than they? So, which one of you by worrying could add anything to your life? “And why would you worry about your clothing? Look at all the beautiful flowers of the field. They don’t work or toil, and yet not even Solomon in all his splendor was robed in beauty like one of these! So if God has clothed the meadow with hay, which is here for such a short time and then dried up and burned, won’t he provide for you the clothes you need—you of little faith? “So then, forsake your worries! Why would you say, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For that is what the unbelievers chase after. Doesn’t your heavenly Father already know the things your bodies require? “So above all, constantly seek God’s kingdom and his righteousness, then all these less important things will be given to you abundantly. Refuse to worry about tomorrow, but deal with each challenge that comes your way, one day at a time. Tomorrow will take care of itself.” Jesus gave no ifs, ands, or buts here. He said “never be worried”. Jesus is the truth and if He gives a command to do something that means that 1.) He means it and 2.) it is possible to be done. Jesus never wastes words just to say something that sounds good. He means what He says, and He speaks with purpose. So when we hear a command from Jesus, we need to take it seriously and apply it to our lives. Because we know that we know that it will produce fruit.
Think of someone in your life that is completely trustworthy and reliable. Someone that you know always follows through on their word and is always there for you no matter what. Think of someone that if they said they would help you move, or give you an amount of money, or make you dinner, or watch your kids, no matter what it is you know that they would follow through. So many times it is easier for us to trust the reliable people in our lives to follow through on their word than it is for us to believe that our heavenly Father will follow through on His Word. The Bible says that God is not a man that He should lie (Numbers 23:19). Let’s read in Hebrews 1:3, AMPC, “He is the sole expression of the glory of God [the Light-being, the out-raying or radiance of the divine], and He is the perfect imprint and very image of [God's] nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty word of power. When He had by offering Himself accomplished our cleansing of sins and riddance of guilt, He sat down at the right hand of the divine Majesty on high,” Everything everywhere for all of time is held together by the integrity of God’s Word. He spoke everything into existence as we can read in Genesis 1. If God does not follow through on even ONE of His Words, everything will cease to be. So that alone should be enough for us to be able to take Him simply at His Word and trust that we do not need to worry because He will take care of our lives.
So going back to the command of “do not worry.” God wants our complete focus to be on the kingdom of God. He does not want our focus split between a million different things always trying to make sure life is taken care of. He wants our eyes fixed on Him and on the things of His kingdom. He knows that as humans we have needs and wants. I believe He knows if we were left as the sole providers to make those things happen, then we would have little to no time to focus on the things that hold eternal value. God has made it HIS responsibility to take care of our needs and wants that we have as humans. Jesus is coming back soon so we have to be about the work of the kingdom of God at a level like never before. God needs our sole attention on the kingdom and doing the work to expand it. We need to be hyper focused on getting people saved and spirit-filled and living the kingdom life that God has for them. We cannot do that successfully if we are so focused on our own lives and our own needs. We have to get back to the basics. Let’s make it simple again and get our minds uncluttered. Let’s take God at His Word and believe for real that if we seek FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness, then all the less important things in life will be given to us in ABUNDANCE! Not just barely and not just enough. He said in abundance. I propose that He said this because He knows that when we have just enough we will constantly be concerned that if that “just enough” drops just a little below enough we will be right back over there trying to figure out how to get more. Then we will be distracted and unfocused. God goes the extra mile to give us more than enough- He gives us ABUNDANCE.
“So above all, constantly seek God’s kingdom and his righteousness, then all these less important things will be given to you abundantly.” ABOVE ALL, CONSTANTLY. That is where we HAVE to switch our focus. Get our eyes back on the kingdom and off of what we need. Seek the kingdom. What is God telling you to do for His kingdom? Is it being generous with your money to expand kingdom work? Is it giving of your talents to help someone in need? Is it telling the people in your sphere of influence about Jesus? Is it laying hands on that sick or hurting person at the store and praying healing over them? These things are supposed to be on our minds; not, the water bill or the rent. And not, how can I get those shoes I want or how can I pay for my groceries? And not, how is this situation going to work out? And so on…I challenge you to consider your life. Are you above all else seeking His kingdom? If not then what is it you're focused on? When you figure that out, lay it down at the feet of Jesus and CHOOSE to sit back and trust that God said, when we seek first His kingdom, He will take care of everything else in our lives ABUNDANTLY.
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