Our lord jesus christ in Mathew 6:34 reached the climax of His teaching on the problem created for the believer by his relationship to the things of this world. That problem is one confronting all believers or Christians. In this passage, the Lord, after enjoining the believer in verse 34 to “… seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you” goes further to add what could at first sight and thought be seen as an anticlimax in verse 34: “Take therefore no thought for the morrow for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil there’
“Thought” in Greek is “marimoa” meaning “to care for; to be anxious about; to think earnestly upon” In old English to take thought meant “to worry” or “to be anxious” Here as in verse 25 of the same chapter, our Lord is saying “Take no thought for” He is assuring Christians to whom this teaching and the conditional promises of the preceding verse 33 are directed specifically, that they can be free from anxiety in the midst of the most distressing circumstances, fully assured that He who does everything well (of Mark 7:37) will make all things “work together for good” (Rom. 8:28). God knows all about tomorrow; and we know not “what a day may bring forth” (Prob. 27:1). And He who knows all about tomorrow bids us to trust in His continued watch-care and to take no (anxious) thought concerning its problems and perplexities for, when tomorrow comes its anticipated troubles often prove to have been wholly imaginary. Too many people permit themselves to be hunted by the imaginary ghost of tomorrow before tomorrow ever comes.
Christians must always remember that God does not bestow help for tomorrow’s burdens until tomorrow comes; and it is their privilege to learn each passing day, the truth of Christ’s words to Apostle Paul “my grace is sufficient for thee” (II Cor. 12:9 cf. Matt. 4:16). “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” means. Why worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will take care of itself when it comes. Each day brings its own measure of toil and care, and wise is the man who learns not to try to bear tomorrow’s burdens today, in addition to today’s own trouble, (cf. Prov. 27:1)
The problems of man’s relationship with thing of this world confronts man in different ways. Some people are tempted to be governed by worldly possessions in the sense that they want to hoard and amass wealth. Others are troubled by worldly problems in the sense that they are worried about them; it is not the problem of superabundance in their case, but the problem of need. However, spiritually, the problems of this world, as regards our relationship to the things of this world and of this life are one and the same problem. And our Lord Jesus Christ takes great trouble to work out the argument as regards the problem the human problem with the relationship to worldliness. He brings this consideration to an end in His statement: “Take therefore no thought” He considers the statement so important that He uses it deliberately three times, and in particular with regard to food, drink and clothing. And now brings the argument to a firm conclusion in what might seem an anti-climax, having reached such a wonderful climax in verse 33 (the preceding verse) where He concentrated His positive teaching in the memorable words: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you” This appears like one of those final statements to which nothing can be added. There does not seem any other thing higher that can be added to amplify this. It simply implies, according to the Lord: “Be right about the things of God, and then you have no need to worry about any other thing; they shall be added unto you: you are to be right with God, and, God will look after you”. But then, He goes on to say, ‘Do not be anxious about the morrow – the future; for the morrow shall take thought of the things of itself. “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. On a little further reflection, one will find that this is not an anticlimax; that there must be some good reason for it’s addition. Our Lord, Jesus Christ never utters vain words, nor for the sake of doing so. Having given us the wonderful positive teaching of verse 33, He returns to it, and puts it in the negative form. He them ends on the negative, and this, at first sight and thought constitutes the problem.
Again, on still more in-depth consideration, one finds that this is necessitated by the need for an imperative extension of His teaching on the subject of human relationship with things of the world and this life. It is not mere repetition nor just a summary. It is more than that. In adding this (verse 34), He carried the teaching one step further. Upto this point, He has been looking at this problem as it concerns man in the immediate present; now in this verse, He takes it on and covers the future also. He extends it, and applies it to cover the whole of life. And if one may use such language and expression with regard to our blessed Lord and Saviour, He shows His profound understanding of human nature and of the problems with which man is confronted in this life. It is a universally accepted fact that there is nowhere else one can find a more thorough analysis of worry, anxiety and the anxious care that tends to kill man in this word, than one can find in this paragraph (Matt.6:34).
In this verse, our Lord shows His final understanding of the condition. Worry, after all, is a definite entity; it is a force, a power, and one may never understand it, until, the one realises what a tremendous power it is. We so often tend to think of the condition of worry, as one which is negative, a failure on our part to do certain things. Yes! It is a failure to apply our faith. But it must be emphasized that worry is some positive force that grips and takes control of man. It is a mighty power, an active force. And if we fail to realize this, we are certain to be defeated by it. If it cannot get us to be anxious and burdened and borne down by the state and the condition of things that actually confront us, it will take the next step, it will go on into the future.
It is typical of worry to give the impression that it does not want to be relieved or leave its victim, even though such a victim wants to be relieved of it. This distinction is noticeable in the statement by our Lord Jesus Christ when talks about tomorrow taking thought of the things of itself. This is personalizing worry; He is regarding it as a power, almost as a person that takes hold of you, and in spite of yourself, keeps arguing with you – saying one thing and then another. It leads to that curious perverse condition in which one almost desires not to be relieved and not to be delivered. The terrible thing about worry is that, if it cannot work-up its case on the face of the facts before it, it does not hesitate to conjure up facts. Worry has an active imagination, and it can envisage all sorts and kinds of possibilities. It can envisage strange eventualities, and with its terrible power and activity^ it can transport one into the future and into a situation that is yet to come. And there one finds oneself worried and troubled and borne down by something which is purely imaginary.
Sparing the reader, every exaggeration, it must be clearly stated that the key to the understanding of how to treat the subject is to realize that one is contending with a very vital force and power. There are cases where this condition is undoubtedly the result of the work of evil spirits; we can see clearly that there is another personality at work. But even short of direct possession, we must recognize the fact that what our adversary, the devil, does in various ways, through using a lowered physical condition or taking advantage of a natural tendency is to lead man into over-anxiety, and thus exercise tyranny and power over many. We must understand that we are fighting for our lives against some tremendous power. We are up against a powerful adversary.
To appreciate how the Lord Jesus Christ is dealing with this problem of worry and anxiety about the future, one must not take this passage (verse 34 of Matt. 6) out of the context of what He had been teaching in the proceeding verses. It will be fatal to do so. With all the previous teachings in mind, we then consider within us, the possible question: ‘Why do we allow ourselves to be worried about the future’? And if we rightly and honestly come up with an answer like this: ‘The morrow shall take thought for the thing of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof’. Now we surmise. If the present is bad enough as it is, why go to meet the future? To worry from day to day is enough in and of itself. Be content with that. Worry about the future is utterly futile and useless; it achieves nothing at all. Man is very slow to see this; yet how true it is. Indeed this can be stretched to say that worry is never of any value at all. This becomes very particularly clear when one comes to face the future. Apart from anything else, it is a pure waste of energy, because however much you worry, you cannot do anything about it. In any case, its threatened catastrophes are imaginary; they are not certain, they may never happen at all.
But above all this, you are mortgaging the future by worrying about it in the present. Indeed the result of worrying about the future is that you are crippling yourself in the present, you are reducing your efficiency and concentration with regard to today, and thereby reducing also your whole productivity – mentally – with regard to the future which is inevitably coming to confront you. In other words, worry is something that is due to an entire failure to understand the nature of life in this world. The vital thing is not to spend every day of our life in adding up the grand total of everything that is ever likely to happen to us in the whole of our life in this world. If you do that, it will crush you. That is not the way. Rather you must think and accept that there is, as it were, a daily quota of problems and difficulties in life. Everyday has its problems; some of them are constant from day to day, some of them may vary. But the great thing to do, is to realize that everyday must be lived in and of itself as a unit. You must not go forward to tackle tomorrow’s quota today, otherwise it may be too much for you. You must take it day by day. You must live twenty four hours at a time and no more. Face today’s quota of problems and difficulties, deal with them. Do not think of tomorrow’s problems. You will have tomorrow’s quota when tomorrow comes, but then it will be tomorrow and not today.
(To be continued next week)
