First Presbyterian Church – Willmar
November 18, 2012
Matthew 6: 25-33
“What Do You Seek First”
I’ve been living in Minnesota for about 15 months, and I’ve
noticed some things that I had never encountered before. One of them is pre-buttered bread! In the past when I’ve had bread served at a
meal, the bread was empty leaving you with the choice to butter it or not. In this part of the world the habit seems to
be to serve bread that has already been coated with butter.
You probably are familiar with Murphy’s Law: If anything can
go wrong, it will. There are several
corollaries to it that are interesting:
If anything just cannot go wrong, it will anyway! (Sounds a little like
“too big to fail!”) Another is: “In
nature, nothing is ever right. Therefore, if everything is going right ...
something is wrong.”
That brings
me back to buttered bread. One more
variant of Murphy’s Law is: "Buttered toast, when
falling to the floor, will always land buttered side down."
Well, one day, during a church dinner in Minnesota, a slice
of buttered bread fell to the floor and – to everyone’s amazement – landed buttered
side up!
Physicists from the University of Minnesota were called in
to investigate this phenomenon. Did it
mean that Murphy''s Law was wrong? The scientists secured the area, brought in
their equipment, measured, weighed, and analyzed everything. They created a
model of the scene and put it on the computer. They finally concluded that
Murphy's Law had not been broken. The toast had simply been buttered on the
wrong side.
Pessimism was redeemed! Sometimes I think that we are
happiest when we can confirm that something that we are convinced in wrong is
proven to be wrong. Pessimism and
negativism haunt us. Sometimes we laugh
about it and think that it’s harmless, but it really isn’t harmless at all. It’s at the root of ingratitude.
In the Gospel lesson this morning Jesus talks about
“worry.” The Greek word is merimna.
It’s a strong word. It refers to
anxious worry, the kind that can invade and capture your mind - and
your soul. It’s fed by nagging
negativism and pessimism.
In this brief Gospel passage – which is part of the Sermon
on the Mount – Jesus refers to it five times, always in a negative manner. This
was one of the very familiar words employed by Jesus. If God gave each of us
life, He told His disciples, surely we can trust God for the lesser things as
well. Worry robs life of all joy and cannot add anything meaningful or
important to existence. In essence, to be anxious is to be distrustful of God.
We know this is true, of course, but we worry nevertheless.
Perhaps that is because life is so indefinite, and that is the source of
anxiety. When we do not know what to expect, when we are not certain just
exactly what will happen, we become anxious. Like Samuel’s mother we feel that the world
has crushed us.
Augustine wrote in the fourth century, "Hard times,
troubled times; these are what people are saying. But let our lives be good,
and the times will be good. We make our times; such as we are, such are the
times."
The perspective and resources with which we view our burdens
and fears will determine the condition and response of our hearts. We find
peace of mind not by cowering away from all the pressures of life, not by
taking more stimulants or depressants, not even by looking for peace itself. It
is our perspective that matters.
We find peace of mind and heart only when we wrap ourselves
up in something bigger than ourselves. Peace is a by-product of being committed
to the kingdom of God and the resources God gives for this journey of life.
What were those words of Jesus?
“But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all
these things will be given to you as well.”
Christ wasn’t saying that there were no things in this world
that should trouble us or even cause us anxiety. Christ was saying that the things that we
place value upon, the things we give high priorities, the things we pursue with
all our might: these things will
determine what will make us anxious. And
if you are pursuing the Kingdom that Jesus keeps saying is near, then we have
no need to become anxious about these things that the world says are so
important.
Jesus teaches us that choosing the right priorities can bring a foundation for peace
and purpose in our life's journey.
People who have nothing but faith in Christ soon discover
that faith in Christ is more than enough. They realize that if God has called
you to do a task, then He will provide the resources for that task.
The power of worrying often magnifies the challenge that is
before us. We exaggerate the problem. Often we surrender our priorities in life
because we attempt to solve problems relying only on ourselves. If we have not developed a habit of prayer, we
don’t know how to begin. Like Samuel’s
mother we feel abandoned by God when it is we who have failed to turn back to
God.
The tragedy of most of our lives is that we worry so much
about tomorrow that we never claim the resources, the riches and the joy that God
has provided to live today. TODAY!
Don't let the mountain of your life scare you from beginning
the first step of the journey. Don’t
turn away from God and then convince yourself that God is nowhere to be
found. In light of the worries and
anxieties which life in the Twenty-First Century will set before us, let our
response to them be based upon the affirmations and promises that Jesus shares
with us in this great scriptural verse from Matthew's gospel.
“But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all
these things will be given to you as well.”
Today is the day God
has called us to live, but not as worry warts but as His children, redeemed and
born to new life and in daily conversation with God through prayer.
Jesus shares the
penetrating truth that we will never know peace if we overlook our relationship
and commitment to God and the kingdom that Jesus ushered in.
To paraphrase the old
hymn, if His eye is on the sparrow, I know He watches me.
Poet Elizabeth Cheney wrote a wonderful little poem to
remind us:
Said the Robin to a Sparrow,
"I should like to know
Why these anxious human beings
Rush about and worry so."
Said the Sparrow to the Robin,
"I think that it must be
That they have no heavenly Father
Such as that cares for you and me."
[Overheard in an Orchard, by Elizabeth Cheney]
Our faith begins in the realization of all that God has
given us and all that God has done for us.
From that realization we are moved to gratitude, a deep thankfulness
that informs all that we do in life. When we fall into anxiety and despair we cease
to recognize what we have been so freely given.
This Thanksgiving, recognize what you have received through
the grace of God. With gratitude commit
your life to the pursuit of the glory of
God’s kingdom. God will provide you with
the resources and the strength that you need to reach that joyous goal.
Jesus reassures us: “… your heavenly Father knows that you
need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his
righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
Comments
Post a Comment