Matthew 6:25-34 Consider the Lilies
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: February 9, 2019, Matthew 6:25-34
Note 1: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
Note 2: I debated about taking out some of the intimate information in this devotion, but after I thinking about it, I decided to leave it in because a devotion should not be a whitewashed emotionless routine. Many times, the Holy Spirit will be striving with your heart and teaching you that past experiences cannot dictate your present relationship with God. Sometimes, those lessons can be heart wrenching, but they are necessary so that we can heal and become whole. Reading the Bible is more than reading words. It is about communication with God and learning how to love and be loved.
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
(Understanding the Text) Jesus has just finished speaking about the evil of placing material wealth, i.e. worldly treasures, at the center of our focus and efforts. He has said that working toward these treasures will darken our whole being and that it is impossible to serve God when we are serving money. Now, Jesus answers the unspoken fear that if we don’t have money, we will not survive.
(Application) Jesus has been telling me not to be anxious about my life for a while now. I don’t have a big problem with worrying about the daily necessities, but I don’t know if that’s because I have trust in my family or if that’s because I have trust in God. I pray that it is that I have trust in God. I do, however, have a big problem with trusting God for results. I have always had this problem in my Christian life. I was told to witness and then when I did what I was told to do, I didn’t see any positive results, but I saw lots of negative results. What I didn’t realize then was that the people who were telling me to witness were confused themselves. First, they were giving me the wrong idea of how to witness. Witnessing is not just passing out literature or telling someone about Jesus in a one time speaking engagement. Witnessing is living with Jesus day-in and day-out and letting Him lead you where He chooses rather than where a program says to go. Secondly, they gave the impression that I should see giant results because of MY witnessing. That places me at the center of the process. It is the Holy Spirit that leads and the Holy Spirit that brings results and those results are not necessary for me to know. Results do not magically appear when I do something like the comic I saw where Moses and another guy are fishing, and Moses is parting the water so that the other man can’t fish. That is the arrogance of thinking that I am in control of the situation. Instead, I need to let God control the situation. The only results I need are knowing that God is pleased with me, and that comes through faith and listening for the Spirit’s leading.
(Understanding the Text / Application) Jesus’ logic in these verses is that there are other creatures/living organisms/nature out there which are much more beautiful, better fed, and more secure than I am with my added intelligence and resourcefulness. When I’ve read this in the past, part of me has always objected and said that the lilies are exposed to the elements and the birds go hungry and die; I was missing the point. I am less secure than these natural flora and fauna even with all my worrying and striving and conniving and work. They have better protection from life (even if there is still risk) without work than I have with all my efforts to achieve the same thing. Jesus was trying to tell me that all my work is meaningless when it comes to food, clothing, shelter, and success. It doesn’t mean that I don’t go out and work to get these things, but I have to have faith that if I couldn’t work that God would still take care of me. Material security is not about what I do; it’s about God taking care of me.
The other lesson that Jesus is teaching me here is that there is more to life than food, clothing, and shelter. If that is my only focus, then I am missing out on the greatest, most satisfying portion of life. If I am focusing on my needs, I am stunted mentally. My life is meaningless. However, if my whole being is focused on Jesus, my life is full–full of love, full of purpose, full of joy, full of peace, full of friendship, full of security, and yes full of whatever I need physically. I won’t be deprived of beautiful stuff if I focus on God. Instead, I will be able to appreciate the beauty around me more because I am not ignoring it in my desperate attempts at providing for myself.
(Application / Revelation of God) I also have a problem with worrying about tomorrow. I survived for years by always planning ahead so that I could counteract whatever curve ball my husband threw at me. I could adapt to his sudden changes because I had already considered options, and my brain was geared to consider more options to deal with the unexpected changes he brought when I least expected it. In a way, that was a good skill to develop, a talent, but now God is teaching me to trust Him to care enough about me not to throw me any curve balls that are bad for me. My husband didn’t care enough about me and the kids to alter his plans. He expected us to figure out how to survive his decisions on our own. I could never trust him to consider me and my feelings in his plans. I have to learn to trust that God is not using me without consideration for my feelings. I have to learn to trust that I am so valuable to God that He won’t place me in a situation where He is not there cradling me in His arms. I always enter into a situation trying to stand on my own two feet instead of realizing that I am being embraced and strengthened as I meet the challenge in front of me.
(Prayer) I pray to know that You are there, holding me, loving me, supporting me, focused on me. Help me to know that.