Many times, we have worried about the basic needs of life. Whenever we experience the lack of food, clothing, shelter among other basic necessities in life, we tend to worry about how to get these things. Homelessness and its attendant issues can sometimes be traced to the lack of basic necessities of life. What do you do when you wake up to find that there is nothing to eat, drink, wear and you stand the chance of being evicted from your house? These things as basic as they are can cause one to lose focus in life. It is important we do our best to provide our basic needs in life, but we shouldn’t miss the fact that sometimes life can present unexpected turns of events.
In His popular sermon on the mountain, Jesus addressed this issue of dealing with the basic necessities of life. He said in Matthew ̈6:25 that “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?” Jesus knew that the basic needs of life can cause worry and He therefore appealed to His listeners not to allow the lack of clothes, food and drink to cause them worry. Jesus’ reason is this:
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?” (Matthew 6:26-30).
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33)
Worrying doesn’t add anything to our lives, it rather takes away our time, energy and even our vigor. Our lack of things should not open us up for pain and shame. According to Jesus, we shouldn’t worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. (Matthew 6:31-32). Life is more precious than these things. There is a better approach according to Jesus and that is to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Matthew 6:33). Thus, if our lives are lived on the mantra of “God first” in everything, God shall provide for us the things we need in life. He will always bring helpers our way. He will provide us with the basic necessities of life and we shall not be at the mercy of worry. Sometimes, our real worry is not about the fact that we don’t have these basic needs.
Our real worry is about the desire to have what others have and be at par with them. Our real worry mostly centers on our wants, not our needs. It is not worth it crushing our brains because we want to wear purple dresses but we have blue dresses. These are things unbelievers struggle with in life. We should be content with what the Lord graciously provides for us each day.
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