Which Race

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

WHICH RACE

Matt 6:28-34

28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 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, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

NIV

This is the rest of what Jesus said about not worrying about this life and what clothes we are going to wear. We already quoted what he said about seeking first his kingdom, yet here is where he is saying it. Again, He already mentioned food, drink, and clothes, he expands on the concept of clothing quite a bit. This must be one of those areas in life that are more difficult to overcome. We do not think there was a fashion industry in the time of Jesus, however, we do know the Pharisees were very concerned about their appearance. We know that Jacob made a very fashionable coat for Joseph far above anything his brothers had. So, perhaps people were concerned about their clothing, but we do not think it was as much as what has happened in our lifetime. The fashion industry has gone wild, and our culture is along with it. We are bombarded with new styles and fashions that if we are going to be in the “In group” we simply have to be clothed right. In addition, Surely Jesus meant all the accessories, which today would be all the skin, hair, and nail products that flood the market. Everything to make us look younger, tanner, more beautiful, or whatever other appearance we desire to enhance the way we are seen by others. In some sense, many are just like the Pharisees in that they feel the need to dress to impress. Sure, we should take care of ourselves, and not wear rags, but we cannot be like the pagans, who run after, who spend so much time on how they appear, what they are going to eat, drink, and their clothes. We cannot get sucked into this chaos of the world and its constant need of wanting more, wanting better, and wanting everything new. Let them run that rat race and they will be the first at the finish line of perishing. No, we left that race, and now we press on toward the kingdom, we seek first and foremost the kingdom of God, that is our only goal, our one, and only desire. We are fixated on the kingdom, who cares about if we have the best of foods, the tastiest of drinks, or the most impressive or most fashionable of clothing, we have Jesus and we have eternal life. However, there is a silver lining of less importance than eternal life. That is because we have decided to seek the kingdom of God above all other things, and let the pagans chase after them, God will make sure that we have all that we need, good food, tasty drink, and fairly nice clothes to boot. In addition, we need not ever worry about tomorrow. It has been said that yesterday is a canceled check, tomorrow is a promissory note, but today is cash in the hand. We need to be spending all of the cash today, for we can do nothing about yesterday, or for that matter, we have no promise of tomorrow. We only have to once again consider that rich farmer who thought he had all his next tomorrows covered by storing up all his wealth, and God said he was a fool for that very night his soul was required of him. No, we are going to leave the pagans to that rat race, we are going to stay the course, run the race, seeking the kingdom of God.