Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.  

Matthew 6:34 

How will worry influence tomorrow’s outcome? Christ is turning the thoughts of His audience from the earthly and temporal to the spiritual and eternal. He is addressing natural human thought. It is natural to worry about the future. Christ makes the pithy remark, ‘Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.’ He is essentially saying that whatever tomorrow brings, worry will not change it. He is contrasting worry with faith that brings us to seek first the kingdom. He had already illustrated His point by saying, ‘Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they.’ He went on to use the glory of the lilies of the field as another illustration of God’s provision. All throughout the passage Christ is turning our thoughts away from fearfulness about the future to faith in Him Who holds the future. What comes tomorrow will come whether we worry about it or not. ‘Tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.’ We have the privilege to know the Lord of tomorrow. He knows what we will face tomorrow and all the outcomes. If we can trust Him with our soul’s salvation, we can trust Him with everything that will occur. Therefore, we need not worry about tomorrow.  

Great God of Wonders, 
we rejoice that You see the end from the beginning. 
We praise You that all that will occur 
is in Your Almighty Hands. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.  

Matthew 6:34 

What about tomorrow? As Christ is preaching His Sermon on the Mount, He addresses the issues that matter most for time and for eternity. He puts into perspective what is important and give us His perspective in order that we may, learn to view things as He does. The heart of true spirituality is seeing things as God does. This causes us to behold reality in such a way which will be different from anyone who takes the human perspective without regard for God’s view. To take the solely human perspective leads to high anxiety regarding the future. That is the ‘tomorrow’ of which Christ is speaking. Does this mean we should not have a savings account, insurance policy, or retirement plan? No, it is not a prohibition of any of these provisions. Rather, it is Christ’s way of bringing us to look to Him as the One Who holds all our tomorrows. We have no genuine control over tomorrow. We cannot know what it will bring. We could not control the events of tomorrow even if we did know what they are. Christ does know what tomorrow brings and has control over every event. What do we know? We know we can trust Him. This reduces our anxiety significantly. We know Him Who holds tomorrow.  

Our Wise and Sovereign God, 
we rejoice that You control all our affairs. 
We praise You that You work  
everything together for our good. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 

Matthew 6:33 

Christ emphasizes what matters most in life. His Sermon on the Mount is full of statements which run strongly counter to normal human thought. Having begun the section from which our text derives with, ‘Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal,’ He proceeds to tell His audience they cannot serve both God and money; they should not be anxious about their food and clothing, and they should trust God for the provision of all these things. He follows this counsel with the words before us, ‘but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.’  How is it we shall ‘seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness?’  Should we despise normal provision for the necessities of life? That is not His point. As He indicated in the beginning of the section, it is very much a matter of our attention and affection. It is what matters most to us that is at issue. To seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness first is to address the matters of the spiritual and eternal as being most important. This will bring us to Christ first. He is the only Way for us to have the righteousness of God. He is the King of the Kingdom of God. When we begin there, the other more mundane matters assume their place of lesser priority.  

High King of heaven, 
we rejoice that You rule overall. 
We praise You that You have given to us the privilege 
of seeking Your kingdom first.  

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  

Matthew 6:19-21 

Where is our heart? As Christ concludes His summary statement about what matters most, He remarks ‘For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’ He is using the word ‘heart’ as the seat of our affection and devotion. He is saying if we become preoccupied with the tangible and temporal, they will become that which holds our affection and devotion. By contrast, if we become preoccupied with the spiritual and the eternal, those things will hold our affection and devotion. By His Own example, Christ occupied Himself with the spiritual, and eternal. He went about doing good without even having so much as a place to permanently dwell. He busied Himself with the souls of others, lived for them and died for them. If He contrasted all the wealth of the world as being of less value than the soul, then what would be the value of many souls? All these souls are eternal. Therefore, to live to do good to all these people must be the highest purpose. As those treasured souls gather together in the eternal kingdom, Christ is in the midst of them. His heart is where His people are. They are His treasure. As we learn the imitation of Christ, we learn to treasure what He values. Our perspective changes as does our preoccupation. Our heart follows our treasure.  

Our Glorious, Living Christ, 
we rejoice that You value what is eternal. 
We praise You that the end result of that 
is our salvation.  

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning