Matthew 6:27-30

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 can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry 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 clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?

There's a trust implicit in this verse that the ecological system and the economic life of those addressed is such that, by and large, it can be taken for granted that there are the means of survival present. I am not at all sure that we should take this promise out of that context. The main point of these verses is to encourage us to put first things first and not to become too preoccupied with bread and butter matters that we lose sight of God and God's agenda.



However, we should recall that God's agenda is one which is reflected in the world that God has made; that there should be provision for its peoples and its creatures; this is the point of looking at the birds of the air and the grass of the field; to admire and learn from the ecosystem. In fact, we know, that without an ecosystem there is no provision. We have to honour God's provision if we are to love our neighbour. We have to value the ecosystem as -at least- God's normal means of provision. God's agenda implies that we should be able to feed the hungry and clothe the prisoner, and to do that we need to ensure that the way we go about things respects God's provision and makes sure that it is available to those who need it. So while we should sit light to anxiety for ourselves, we should be very concerned at how the human systems of which we are part do or don't make it possible for others to participate in God's gracious provision of an ecosystem and its goods.

Crosswalk.com - Matthew 6:25-34