Don’t Worry

“When you fast,” said Jesus, “don’t look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they’re fasting. Truly I tell you, they’ve aleady received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it won’t be obvious to others that you’re fasting, but only to your Father, who’s unseen; and your Father, who sees what’s done in secret, will reward you.

“Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin don’t destroy, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“The eye’s the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you’s darkness, how great is that darkness!

“No one can serve two masters. Either you’ll hate the one and love the other, or you’ll be devoted to the one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and money.

“Therefore I tell you, don’t worry about your life, what you’ll eat or drink; or about your body, what you’ll wear. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they don’t sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you much more valuable than them? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They don’t labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow’s thrown into the fire, won’t he much more clothe you—you of little faith? So don’t worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Matthew