Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
—Matthew 6:26
I’ll tell you something I’ve come to believe with all my heart: in this life you really have only two options, and they are worship or worry. Those are the two roads, and every one of us is traveling one or the other at any given moment.
Here’s how I know which road a person is on. If you are worrying about something, if worry is a perpetual, grinding problem in your life, then I can tell you one thing is true: Jesus isn’t first. Because when Jesus is truly first, and we are genuinely seeking Him, we worship rather than worry. The two can’t share the same throne.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus points us to the most ordinary of teachers. “Look at the birds of the air,” He says. They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds every one of them. Then comes the line meant to lift your head: “Are you not of more value than they?” The God who runs a reliable breakfast line for the sparrows has not forgotten you.
Jesus goes on. “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” The wildflower doesn’t strain and fret about its wardrobe, and yet it’s dressed more gloriously than the richest king who ever lived. “Now if God so clothes the grass of the field,” Jesus asks, “will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”
Notice what Jesus does there. He doesn’t scold the worrier as wicked; He gently calls it “little faith.” Worry, at its root, is a faith problem. It’s living as though God were not really watching, not really able, not really a Father. And the cure is not to clench your jaw and try to feel calm. The cure is to lift your eyes to the birds and the lilies and remember who’s running the universe.
So, Jesus draws the conclusion: “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.” The people who don’t know God chase after these things in a panic. But you have a Father who already knows exactly what you need.
That’s why the very next words out of Jesus’ mouth are “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” Seeking Him first is what moves you off the road of worry and onto the road of worship. You can’t do both at once, but you can trade one for the other.
So which road are you on today? If it’s the worry road, lift your eyes. Look at the birds. Remember your value to your Father and let worship crowd the worry out.
IN LIFE YOU HAVE TWO OPTIONS, WORSHIP OR WORRY. LOOK AT THE BIRDS, REMEMBER YOUR FATHER, AND CHOOSE WORSHIP.
