Thursday November 21st, 2019
"But seek first the kingdom [of God] and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil." Matthew 6:33-34
So before this passage, it's saying not to worry about where your food, clothes, or drink come from because God knows we need them. We need to seek his kingdom and honor him and they will be given to us.
This is not always an easy thing to accept, at least not for me. I don't necessarily think Matthew is trying to tell us not to have a job or go out and get new clothes, food, or water. What I think Matthew is trying to get across, is that it's not something that we should spend all of our time worrying about.
We shouldn't be focused on getting a job that pays the most money but that we hate. Or worrying about the newest trends in fashion and spending all of our money on those. Or buying the most expensive and lavish foods with the best wines or drinks. Those things won't bring us joy or peace in our lives.
We do still need to provide for ourselves and for our families, but I think we need to include our spiritual well-being in that. It's not enough to just satisfy our physical beings, we need to fulfill our spiritual needs as well.
This passage also talks about how we shouldn't worry about tomorrow. It kind of ties into my reflection yesterday on waiting for God's plan for our lives. While we should be aware of where we are on God's path for us and whether or not we're following it, we shouldn't be so consumed with it that we forget about enjoying the moments we're in now.
If we spend all of our time worrying about how we will get better tomorrow or what new thing will happen tomorrow, we miss all of the good things happening now. Tomorrow will get here sooner than we know, so just enjoy today. Time doesn't wait for us to stop and smell the roses, we have to make time stop (or rather take the time) and smell the roses ourselves, otherwise we never will.
And that kind of ties into the last bit of this passage: "Sufficient for a day is its own evil." If you look up the word sufficient it means enough or adequate. So being adequate or doing just enough for a day is an evil. It sounds really harsh (a lot of the bible kind of is though), but let's try to unpack this.
If all you are doing for a day is the bare minimum of what you're supposed to do, are you really doing it well? Look at it like this, if you only give 50% of yourself at your job, as a wife, mother, father, husband, does anyone really walk away from that happy? You aren't giving your best and even you feel pretty lousy about it. I know if I were to only give 50% as a wife and mother, a lot of things wouldn't happen at the Boudreau home. That's not to say I do everything, but you'd be surprised I think how big of an impact you have on those around you.
Now, if you were to give your best every day in all aspects of your life, the results would shock you! Going that extra mile to make sure that you aren't adequate but extraordinary. We were not made for mediocrity, we were made for greatness. And when we don't strive for it, we aren't being true to who we are.
Now by greatness I don't mean you have to cure cancer, solve world hunger, or bring about world peace. Those are all great things, but I'm not trying to say you have to achieve those in order to achieve greatness. There are little things that you can do to go beyond adequacy. Pray for 10 minutes instead of 5. Spend an hour in adoration this time. Thank God for the blessings and the struggles in your life. Instead of watching TV, play a board game together.
If we focus too much on having the next best thing or worrying about what will happen tomorrow, we forget about all of the blessings of today and we end up only doing the bare minimum to get us to tomorrow. But if we turn our hearts and wills to God, he will provide us with what we need both physically and spiritually. He will help us transform our adequacy into excellence.
And I'd like to close in prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father,
I come to you today in thanksgiving for the blessings and struggles in my life. Help me to turn my heart and will to you. Let my will align with yours. You provide for me daily by giving me a roof over my head, a bed to sleep in, and food and water in my belly. I only ask that you open my heart to receive the spiritual food you offer me. Help me to never be consumed by the things of this world. Amen.