Unless we are financially independent or recipients of a large sum of money, I think it’s safe to say that we’ve worried whether will be able to pay a certain bill at one time or another. Perhaps we’ve applied for a certain job and are afraid that without it, we will be unable to provide food, shelter, and clothing for those who depend on us. Many worry about their standing at the job site. They worry about ascending the corporate ladder, or whether someone else will be promoted before they will. Not worrying is a very hard thing to do, more so for some than others. The prospect of no job was worrisome to me some years ago when I received a ”reduction in labor is force” letter from my employer, (although, thankfully, I wasn’t unemployed very long). I know that we all have our lives that we worry about. The question is, “How should we handle these worries?”

 In the sixth chapter of Matthew, beginning with verse 25, Jesus says, “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not life more than meat, and the body more than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor do they gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his stature?

 It is very plain by what we’ve just read that the Almighty considers it foolish for us to worry. In fact, excessive worry indicates a lack of faith in God’s wisdom. Those of us with children find these passages even more difficult to take to heart, but we must do so anyway. The message is that God will take care of us, but is that all there is to it? Are there no conditions we must meet? Or course there are conditions, the most important of which is found in this same chapter in verse 33, “but seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” We seek the kingdom of God by putting it first and by following the commandments set forth in the Bible. Jesus says in John 14:15, “Ye are My friends if you do whatever I command you.” By keeping the commandments of God and putting our trust in him, we are seeking first the heavenly kingdom. If we’re doing all we can to support and protect ourselves, our families, and serve the Lord, God will give the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6). 

- The Elders