Day 6 | It’s All About Trust

Read: Matthew 6:16-34

On fasting and lasting treasure

16 “When you fast, don’t be gloomy like the play-actors. They make their faces quite unrecognizable, so that everyone can see they’re fasting. I’m telling you the truth: they have received their reward in full. 17 No: when you fast, tidy your hair and beard the way you normally do, and wash your face, 18 so that others won’t notice you’re fasting—except your father, privately. Then your father, who sees in private, will repay you.

19 “Don’t store up treasure on earth. Moths and rust will eat it away, and robbers will break in and steal it. 20 No: store up for yourselves treasure in heaven! Moths and rust don’t eat it away there, and no robbers break in and steal it. 21 Show me your treasure, and I’ll show you where your heart is.

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is honest and clear, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is evil, your whole body is in the dark. So, if the light within you turns out to be darkness, darkness doesn’t come any darker than that.

24 “Nobody can serve two masters. Otherwise, they will either hate the first and love the second, or be devoted to the first and despise the second. You can’t serve both God and wealth.”

Do not worry

25 “So let me tell you: don’t worry about your life—what to eat, what to drink; don’t worry about your body—what to wear. There’s more to life than food! There’s more to the body than a suit of clothes! 26 Have a good look at the birds in the sky. They don’t plant seeds, they don’t bring in the harvest, they don’t store things in barns—and your father in heaven feeds them! Think how different you are from them! 27 Can any of you add fifteen inches to your height just by worrying about it?

28 “And why worry about what to wear? Take a tip from the lilies in the countryside. They don’t work; they don’t weave; 29 but, let me tell you, not even Solomon in all his finery was dressed as well as one of these. 30 So if God gives that sort of clothing even to the grass in the field, which is here today and on the bonfire tomorrow, isn’t he far more likely to clothe you too, you little-faith lot?

31 “So don’t worry away with your ‘What’ll we eat?’ and ‘What’ll we drink?’ and ‘What’ll we wear?’ 32 Those are all the kinds of things the Gentiles fuss about, and your heavenly father knows you need them all. 33 Instead, make your top priority God’s kingdom and his way of life, and all these things will be given to you as well.

34 “So don’t worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow can worry about itself. One day’s trouble at a time is quite enough.”

Consider:

Even though the specific subjects of this section are money, worry, and judgment, they are also filtered through the larger theme of learning to live in the overlap of heaven and earth, which is all about trusting God.

How can we trust God in a world where it’s so easy to be consumed by possessions, especially a mindset that values consumption for our benefit, often at the cost of others? Jesus’s words are shockingly relevant to our modern culture 2000 years later. Jesus is building on teachings in the Psalms, which advise, “If riches increase, don't set your heart upon them.” In other words, outward circumstances come and go, so possessions are not the most important part of life.

Christians should not live as if possessions are the be-all and end-all. Nor should they live in a boasting way as if possessions are to be shunned, as this only further replicates the mindset of putting minor things ahead of the focus on God as our heavenly Father. Jesus says, store up treasure in heaven. Again, this is not a moralistic test, as if good behavior in the present will somehow accumulate for us heavenly possessions in the same consumeristic manner, just postponed. Heaven and Earth are already overlapping. The focus on possessions distracts from our learning to be God’s children, living the Beatitude kind of life.

The same lesson applies to the well-known saying, “You can't serve God and Mammon” (Mammon is the god of money). This isn’t a teaching meant to make us feel guilty about money. It’s another instance of Jesus’s repeated teaching about learning to live as children of God. If our focus is on money, it can’t also be on God.

Likewise, Jesus says, “Do not worry about your life.” It’s all about trust. If you are consumed with worries and hassled about the basics of life, you're less capable of living in the overlap of Heaven and Earth. You are also less likely to remember that the overlap has already begun in Jesus. He is the heaven and earth person. He is the one in whom the God of heaven has become human to live in our midst and to summon us to share in his kind of human life.

This is both an individual and societal directive. Jesus has shown how to live with your neighbors - to be Beatitude people. In 7:12, Jesus rounds out the call to live as Beatitude people. “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” What would you have them do? Jesus gives a perfect example of how we might like to be treated and how we might want to act to inspire others to follow suit.

This is the law and the prophets. This is God's purpose for his people. This is what Israel was called to be in and for the world, and this is the point of the Sermon. Now that Jesus is here, we can be that people.

Reflect:

Identify one area of your life where you can focus less on your possessions, plans, etc. Examine where you might redirect that focus for God’s purposes.