Take No Thought

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.  Matt 6:34 (KJV)

I’ve always craved a reckless faith, say, like Abraham’s or Joseph’s or Paul’s, and I’ve wondered; what would a reckless faith look like in my life?

All we need is to look to Jesus for the answer.  The one who had reckless faith unparalleled by any of the others says in Matthew we are not to worry.  How?; by never taking thought.  If we would have reckless faith we need to see how Jesus abstained from worry.

We worry because we like to use our brains to handle problems.  We are actually obsessed with “thinking about” the future.  We think we can handle things better if we think about what “might” happen in the future right now.  And if we don’t worry we feel like we’re not doing anything about the fates awaiting us. We actually create many negative possibilities with our worry.  What if a terrorist attack annihilates us?  What if this economy eliminates my job and my family ends up frozen under a bridge? The scenarios are endless; I’m sure you could add a litany all your own. How much time do we waste in worrying about tomorrow?  If I could retrieve all the time wasted on worry I think I might live a few more decades.

Why do we think worry accomplishes anything?  And why does Romans 12:2 tell us to make a living sacrifice of our faculties (or minds) to God in order to be completely transformed by the renewing of our minds?

The more we think the more we sink.  We become paralyzed by our brains and can’t act as we’d like to.  We’ve stuck ourselves in the muck and the mire over and over and still we keep trying to un-stick our selves by thinking!  Are we insane?  Are we deluded and deceived?  Do we believe a lie?  You bet we do.  Hook, line and sinker we worry ourselves sick…I mean literally SICK by taking thought.  Thoughts produce chemicals in our brains that can actually produce the conditions we fear.  What if the terrorists don’t annihilate us? We don’t need them to; we will annihilate ourselves with worry.  And Satan knows this.

Jesus isn’t making a suggestion with “take no thought;” He’s giving an imperative.

Let’s look at how He overcame the Lie with the Truth.  Jesus wasn’t born with a full knowledge of the truth.  He was born one-hundred-percent human.  He had the Old Testament as a plumb line to guide His thoughts.  He learned the Old Testament like any other Hebrew.  He memorized it, heard it in the synagogue, and because of the work of the Holy Spirit in Him He understood what He read better than any rabbi.  In the Old Covenant He read about Moses who asked God what His name was. “I AM WHO I AM.” He was saying, “Moses, you bring me a problem, I AM.  You have a need, I AM.  You want peace, I AM.  You need water, I AM.  Imagine God saying I AM followed by a blank space you fill in.  Jesus noticed how David picked up on this.  When David felt lonely and abandoned he turned to his covenant God and said, “The I AM is my Shepherd.” David filled in the blanks.  When he felt helpless he said, “The I AM is my strength” and so on.    The need is proof that the supply was here in “I AM” long before the need was known.

Reckless faith is “not taking thought,” for when we are thinking our way through problems we do not believe.  Believing is resting.  “Labor to enter My rest.”  Hebrews 4:13.  Our labor is to stop thinking and trust God! If we are trying to believe, murmuring Scriptures to ourselves, praying loudly, etc., we are trying too hard.  Belief rests in complete trust, just like a child.  Jesus was childlike, for in abandonment to I AM He had nothing but thanks left to give God.

Jesus didn’t deny problems; He just didn’t think of problems as being the final state of anything.  He saw problems as a necessary part of getting somewhere.  He didn’t put His faith in the problem because He didn’t believe the problem had the power to accomplish anything.  Thus, He never worried.  He recklessly put His faith in I AM, for I AM existed before the problem did.  Jesus gave thanks in everything.

Before Lazarus was raised Jesus prayed, “thank you that you always hear me” John 11:42.  Jesus prayed “thank you” prayers instead of “help!” prayers.  He saw how supply always precedes need.