igniteyouth – it has started

Hey,
This is one of the times in a school/uni/tafe year when exams are serious and in your face and lame. They put me under stress, they make me feel overwhelmed, they send me into meltdowns. Can any of you relate?

Fortunately for us, followers of Jesus, we have a King who loves us incredibly. He does not maintain his kingship, or his rule, through keeping us in anxiety. He isn’t a dictating sort of King who keeps us on edge or who keeps his monarchy firm through fear in his subjects. God’s kingship is based on the opposite, we do his bidding, in faithful obedience, because we are free from fear and anxiety! Matthew 6:24-34 teaches 8 things about why we don’t need to be anxious or fearful.

The Main Point
Verse 25: “Do not be anxious about your life.” Verse 31: “Do not be anxious, saying , ‘What shall we eat?’” Verse 34: “Do not be anxious about tomorrow.” So one thing should ring loud and clear at the end of this post, “Jesus does not want me to be anxious.”
But that’s a negative way of saying, “Seek first God’s kingdom”. In other words, in everything make God the King. In every situation and affair, give God recognition for the kingly power which is His. Do his will with the confidence that he will work for you and meet all your needs.

Alright: 8 Quick Points

1. Life Is More Than Food and Clothing
Verse 25. What does food and clothing get you?
a. Pleasure. (Food tastes good, looking good is sweet, worldly things are pleasurable)
b. Human Praise. (That look that you get when you nail an exam, or have nice rims on your car)
c. Long life. (The protection from the winter, the nice house, the medical attention)

2. The Birds of the Air Work, and Count on God.
Verse 26. You dont see the sparrow, in its small brain-ness, storing for tomorrow, or next week. It goes day by day, knowing or trusting, that there will be provision. When the sun comes up tomorrow, God will still be God. Just as God feeds the birds, so He will provide for us.

3. Anxiety won’t get you anywhere.
Verse 27. That’s just it. Anxiety doesn’t get you anywhere. It’s useless.

4. God delights to Adorn things.
Verse 28-29. What the? Adorn? Shove adorn up your pipe Royce.
Alright let me explain. God loves to give. God loves to reveal his glory in the beauty of creation, including you. But someone may protest: God has not made me good-looking, God has not adorned me! I would only ask this question: Where have you ever seen a disciple of Jesus who did not have the adornment he needed to do what God had called him to do? Be careful. Do not measure the perfection of God’s provision by some standard below his calling. And do not forget that when we have finished carrying our crosses on torn shoulders in this life like Jesus, there will be kingly robes for us all.

5. Unbelievers are anxious about food and clothing.
Verse 32. In this verse are the following two reasons. Worrying, like someone who does not know Jesus, shows we have exactly the same concerns as them. Ask Russell, does the Lord want us to be free from concern? You can bet he will say yes. Anxiety over the things of this world, places us in the same world as the world that unbelievers live in. Is it the things of this world that make us happy, content? They ought not to be.

6. Our heavenly Father knows what we need.
By worrying, you are saying that God either; doesn’t know what you need, or that He doesn’t have the heart of a loving Father and won’t give you what you need. Lean on Him, leave Him on the throne! The world has nothing eternal to offer, and your loving heavenly Father knows your needs now… and forever.

7. God will carry your burdens, when you seek Him.
Verse 33. The best reason to stop being anxious is that when you do, God starts being anxious for you. It’s such a foolish thing to insist on carrying anxious burdens which God has promised to carry for us when we put him first in everything we do. God works for your best, and provides all your needs.

8. Tomorrow will be anxious for itself.
Alright I don’t want the last point to be complicated, or too much of a stretch. Just know this. God has appointed to each day its own pleasures and troubles. Dont bring tomorrows troubles into today, it will only take the form of anxiety. Each day, God is God, God is good.

Come to Jesus Forget your allegiances. Chase Him, and chase Him first, this is the only way to losing the grip of anxiety in your life.

Keep trusting Jesus, Royce.