(This passage is also referenced in Luke 6:37-42)

The Sermon on the Mount is the Lord Jesus talking to His disciples and telling them how to live in the Kingdom of God. It is His instructions to His followers on how to behave. We saw in the first fifteen verses of chapter five how to conduct ourselves in His Kingdom, and now we are being taught what our character should be like. A wise man once said, “character comes before conduct, because what we are determines what we do”. In this passage in Matthew we are firstly told not to worry, verses 25 – 34.

George Muller said, “When anxiety begins, faith ends;

                                       When faith begins, anxiety ends.”

Father God does not want us to worry about anything; we were not made to carry worry or anxiety. So, if we know that God does not want us to worry about anything, we have to ask ourselves the question, “Do I trust Father God with my life?”

If we can answer ‘yes’ to this question, then we know we can leave everything in our lives to Him; we don’t need to worry about anything. We do not need to carry the heavy weight of anxiety around with us all day. We still should plan and weigh things in our lives, but we should never be anxious. Instead, we are told to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then everything we need will be provided for us. This is part of the character of one who lives in the Kingdom.

In the first 6 verses in chapter 7, we are told not to judge. Again, this is Kingdom character we are talking about.  This does not mean that we cannot weigh up what is going on in a situation; later in this chapter we are told by Jesus, “by their fruits you shall know them”. We are to assess situations and people, but we must not judge the intent of someone’s heart, God alone can do that because He knows the secrets of every heart.

Kingdom living is not easy and can only be done by the power of the Holy Spirit, however, we are called to live this way, and as our character grows in our daily walk with the Lord Jesus, we will build this character.

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Lord help me today to trust You and not be anxious. Amen.