Rest Or Worry Part 3

Rest Or Worry PART 3

“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? 26 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? 27 Which of you by WORRYING can add one cubit to his stature? 28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the LILIES of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of LITTLE FAITH? - Matt 6:25-30 (emphasis added)

Resting is about recognising our value as God's beloved sons and daughters. When we worry, we are saying, "Father, I am not really valuable to you. I need to work out the solutions. No one is helping me. I must do something."

But when we rest, we are saying, "Father, I am so valuable to you. I am more valuable than the birds and the lilies. My value is the value of Your beloved, treasured, favoured and begotten Son Jesus Christ. In fact, I am so valuable that You gave Him up to live IN me. So I can trust You to provide for me."

As mentioned in part 1 and 2, the remedy for worrying is simply resting. It is an activity of the heart. Resting is about affirming your value and your identity in Christ. However, you can't simply tell someone NOT to worry and simply REST without giving him/her something to replace worrying with.

In the following verses, God lovingly revealed how we can practically REST in Him.

“Therefore DO NOT WORRY, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the GENTILES seek. For your heavenly Father KNOWS that you need all these things. 33 BUT seek FIRST the KINGDOM of God and His RIGHTEOUSNESS, and all these things SHALL BE ADDED to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about TOMORROW, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. - Matt 6:31-34 (emphasis added)

"DO NOT WORRY, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'" 

Again, worrying is always the revelation that we are looking to the external, temporal and visible. These are the material things that the world (gentiles) seeks - they pursue them; they give their time, energy, focus, mind and whole being to pursue the external.

Yet the Father KNOWS that we need all these things. He is not saying, "Don't bother about the external. You don't need them. You just need the spiritual." He knows that we live IN the world and we NEED them. But the only way to stop us from worrying is to simply DIRECT our attention to something else.

"BUT seek FIRST the KINGDOM of God and His RIGHTEOUSNESS..."

For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. - Rom 14:17

The kingdom of God is opposite from the kingdom of the world. The latter focuses on external - eating and drinking. But the former focuses on the internal - righteousness, peace and joy.

God is showing us the way to practically REST - by focusing on the internal - Righteousness, Peace & Joy. When we know our right standing (Righteousness) before Him, we will be AT Peace with Him and BE filled with Joy. Peace is life for the soul, just as joy is life for the body (a cheerful heart is good medicine). God is concerned with our soul and our body. When we affirm our right standing with Him, we find rest for our soul and health.

The second part says, "seek... His RIGHTEOUSNESS". What does that mean? 

1 Cor 1:30 says, "But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us... Righteousness..."

Christ is Our Righteousness. The word 'seek' in Greek is to 'pursue, aim at'. Hence, to seek His Righteousness is to pursue and BECOME like Christ. If we want to practically pursue something, it is not pursuing the material (the external). It is pursuing Christ (the internal) to become like Him and manifest Him.

When we focus on Christ and manifest His kingdom, God says that the external things that we need will be ADDED to us. How awesome that is!

How can we NOT worry about the external things? By practically focusing on becoming like Christ and manifesting His kingdom. In doing that, we are resting in our true value and trusting God to take care of our needs. #identity #rest #supply