By: Eli McCutchen
Matthew 6:25-30: 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 than food, and the body more 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?Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
Last week with the Confirmation class we visited Second Baptist Church of Boulder, a largely African-American congregation, and this is the scripture that Rev. James Ray preached about. Not only is it one of my all-time favorite Bible verses, it is uniquely needed in our world today.
This passage speaks to me of the true nature of God’s care and love for us. Have you ever really considered that God could literally bring to you, in material or spiritual form, ALL that you need? Have you ever let go of the details of your life enough to let God tend to your needs? What if God can – and WILL – take care of these things for you?
As Rev. Ray told us on Sunday, it’s not just the day-to-day anxieties Jesus is speaking about. He’s talking about the BIG things. Insofar as what we will wear or what we will eat. It’s easy to understand this verse when things are going O.K., but what about when we are pushed beyond average anxiety? I think these words speak to a deeper truth – that we need much less than what our thinking minds believe we do. A big house, fashionable clothes, full bellies all day – these are things we more or less take for granted, but could it be more than we need? I certainly think so.
For much of my early twenties I revered the life of ascetics, those who had a faith and spiritual desire so deep that they renounced the world and lived on what the Spirit brought into their path. At its truest level, that is the life that lives with God at the center, not with ego at the center. Sometimes it takes a total letting go of EVERYTHING you think life is about to find the deep workings of God.
Now, that particular path isn’t necessary to find God, because each of us can find that level
of devotional release within our own lives. It takes a lot of inner work to “Let go, and let God.” Our lives will look and feel completely different when we truly TRUST God to care for us in the ways we need. Where in life can you let go – in a big way – and let God work magic in your life?
