25 Therefore I saj^ unto you, take DO thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall driuk ; iior yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the liie more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26 Behold the fowls of the air : for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns ; yet your heav- enly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they ?
27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature i
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the lield, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin ;
29 And yet I say unto you. That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the
grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall Tie not much more clothe you, 0 ye of little foith?
31 Therefore take no thought, say- ing. What shall we eat? or. What shall we drink ? or. Wherewithal shall we be clothed ?
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek :) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness ; and all these things shall be added unto you.
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 thereof.
These verses are a s triking example of the combined wisdom and compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ's teach- ing. He knows the heart of a man. He knows that we are all ready to turn off warnings against woiidliness, by the argument that we cannot help being anxious about the things of this life. '^ Have we not our families to provide for ? Must not our bodily wants be suj^plied ? How can -we possibly get through life, if we think first
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of our souls ?" The Lord Jesus foresaw such thoughts, and furnished an answer.
He forbids us to keep up an anxious spirit about the things of this world. Four times over He says, '' take no thought." About life, — about food, — about clothing, — about the morrow, " take no thought.'' Be not over- careful. Be not over-anxious. Prudent provision for the future is right. Wearing, corroding, self-tormenting anxiety is wrong.
He reminds us of the providential care that God con- tinually takes of everything that He has created. Has He given us " life ?" Then He will suerly not let us want anything necessary for its maintenance. Has He given us a " body ?" Then He will surely not let us die for want of clothing. He that calls us into being, will doubtless find meat to feed us.
He points out the uselessness of over -anxiety. Our life is entirely in God's hand. All the care in the world will not make us continue a minute beyond the time which God has appointed. We shall not die till our work is done.
He sends us to the birds of the air for instruction. They make no provision for the future. " They sow not, neither do they reap." — They lay up no stores against lime yet to come. They do not " gather into barns.'' They literally live from day to day on what they can pick up, by using the instinct God has put in them. They ought to teach us that no man doing his duty in the station to which God has called him, shall ever be allowed to come to poverty.
He bids us to observe thefloioers of the field. Year after year they are decked with the gayest colors, without the