He Knows What I Need!  (Matthew 6:25-34)

Pastor Dave Monreal, Lead Pastor

One of the issues that many believers who struggle with ongoing temptation is the feeling of being isolated and alone. As Christians we have the tendency to live lives of quiet resignation afraid to open our lives to other people. The fear of rejection or judgment is too strong to drop our guard and risk bringing our struggles into the light. We tell ourselves that we must keep up appearances so we can’t let others know what we are going through or struggling with. We learn to do it ourselves and rely on no one. It is a short step from deciding to do it ourselves to thinking that we are alone and can’t rely one anyone. I have done a fair bit of pastoral counseling over the years in all sorts of areas. So often I am the first person they have opened up to even if they have been in the church for decades! I can’t help but wonder, “Didn’t you have someone you were close to that you could have been sharing these burdens along the way?” Because of this many people struggle feeling like they are all alone and no one cares.

We not only feel we are separated from others, but we also feel like we are estranged from God. We hear stories of orphans in third world countries who are on their own to fend for themselves. Their parents are gone and because of neglect or poverty they are left on their own without protection or care. Sometimes we feel like those orphans wondering if God has abandoned us and he has left us on his own. There is a disconnect between the theology we profess and the theology in our hearts. We can know in our heads that God is our Heavenly Father who will provide for us, but if we are honest with ourselves, in our hearts we feel like we are on our own.

“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?” (Matthew 6:26)  Notice what Jesus does here, he goes from the lesser to the greater. The birds of the air may seem insignificant and common, but despite this God watches over them and provides for them. You are so much greater and more valuable in God’s eyes!

Because of our ongoing struggles with temptation, we feel like we are unwanted stepchildren in God’s family. We tell ourselves, “Yeah, he may have brought us into his family, but we are too broken for God to really treat us like everyone else. God has his favorites, and we are not it.” This is to misunderstand both how sinful all people are apart from grace and how great is the lavish love of the Father. We think that Jesus came to earth to convince a reluctant Father to love those whom he saved. But it was the Love of the Father which moved him to send his Son for you and for me! There are no second-class citizens in God’s kingdom. It sounds paradoxical but each one of us is his favorite child! Because you are in Christ, he loves you as much as he loves Jesus. This is the very reason why we can open ourselves to others. If our Heavenly Father knows everything about us and accepts us, we don’t have to worry about our reputation or what others think. We can drop our guard and be honest with others because we know we are fully accepted in the Beloved. We are not shocked by the sins of others because we know how sinful we are and in need of grace. And we can be honest with others about our sins and struggles because they are fellow strugglers also in need of grace.