11.26.2025
My freshman year of college, I was a journalism major at the University of Alabama and had one of the worst teachers of my life. She was from Long Island and told us she came to Alabama to prove just how stupid southerners were!
In our Intro to Mass Communications class, she told us our job as reporters was to interpret the facts for people, that we were to put them into a context so they can be understood by the common person. She taught us to use the facts to create a narrative. Now that was in 1980 and since that time a commitment to profit has replaced honest journalism (if it ever existed), and the news media makes a fortune by keeping us stirred up with false narratives and half-truths, carefully selected and packaged facts that feed into our fears. . . and the money keeps rolling in. . . and the result?
We stay anxious.
In contrast to the fake news is the Good News. Look at Jesus’ words in Matthew 6, and pay attention to the “therefores”:
‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry 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 clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed 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. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
Therefore, therefore, therefore . . . do not worry . . . do not worry . . . do not worry . . .
In these verses, Jesus invites us to look up: “Look at the birds of the air!” They are fed by God even though they don’t fret nor plan. And Jesus invites us to look down: “Look at the lilies of the field!” They are beautifully clothed even though they’ve never been to either a Bloomingdale’s or a Kohls. And what is Jesus’ point? If God takes care of the birds and the flowers of the fields, then God will surely take care of us. It’s not just a matter of not worrying about luxuries, we do not even have to worry about the basics.
God knows what we need, and he will provide.
I can hear you now: that’s nice and everything; sure, birds and flowers don’t worry about food and clothing, but they also don’t have mortgages and car payments and hospital bills and kids in school to keep them awake at night.
Jesus says, “Look at the birds!” and we say, “Yeah, and look at the bills!”
But Jesus isn’t saying for us to be like the birds and the lilies. He’s emphasizing the difference. Compared with human beings, the very image of God placed in this world, birds are insignificant creatures and flowers are just weeds (“the grass of the field”).
If God cares for inconsequential creatures, how much more will God provide for us!
Now, there’s a kind of worry – concern is the better word – about tomorrow that’s healthy: our students have finals in a couple of weeks. “Do not worry about tomorrow,” does not mean just waltz into your classroom unprepared! No, we have to prepare for all of life. But “do not worry about tomorrow” does speak to something deeper, a basic fear that something is out there in the future that is stronger than God’s care, a fear that the light in the tunnel will be an oncoming train.
No, Jesus says, “Do not worry – the future is in God’s hands.”
Jesus concludes this passage with, “Today’s troubles are enough for today.” The KJV is pretty wonderful: “sufficient for the day are the evils thereof.” When we know that God summons the sun to rise, we can be confident that, whatever tomorrow brings, God will be there first, in control of what happens. So, in faith, we should be content to leave tomorrow’s trouble to tomorrow, to roll up our sleeves, and as children of God, face the problems that walk through the door today.
God holds the present in his hands, and holds the future in his hands. We know this because we can look back over the past and see how God has provided. When King Solomon was dedicating the temple, he prayed: “Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel according to all that he promised; not one word has failed of all his good promise. . .”
Not one word has failed according to all that he promised. All.
We can look back on all God has done for us, and we can rest assured that God will take care of our present and our future. And, so instead of living in fear and anxiety, we live in trust . . . and in gratitude. We say “Thank you.”
I hope and pray you all have a blessed Thanksgiving with your family and friends! I am thankful for all of you!
Blessings,
Pastor Terry