p. 171 | Take no Thought

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 21, 1859

“Take no Thought.”

MATT. vi, 25. “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat,” etc. The best critics agree that the phrase, “Take no thought,” is badly rendered in our common translation. The original signifies, “be not anxiously solicitous,” be not distrustfully concerned. I have no doubt that this is the true rendering of the original. Learned criticism and common sense both demand this correction. Jesus very naturally alluded to the universal plea of mammonites:—We must provide for the coming necessities of ourselves and families; otherwise what shall we eat, and drink, and wear? “Money answereth all things.” If we make sure of this, we shall not suffer want. If not, alas, what will become of us and our dependents? This is pleaded as frequently by the rich as the poor. It is the common excuse for getting and withholding money contrary to the principles of divine justice and charity. I must live; my family must live; I must take care of myself and my children; we are in danger of coming to want, etc., etc.

There is a just, laudable and wise concern for the needs of the morrow, both temporal and spiritual. What is this holy concern? It is to do faithfully the duties of to-day as God has made them known to us, and implicitly trust in his providence that all else will certainly be overruled for the best. We may rest every thing here, and feel perfectly at ease. Why? Because the duties of to-day are a perfect righteousness for to-day, to-morrow and all futurity. The duties of to-day are best and safest for to-day, to-morrow and forever. God has taken care that this should be so in all possible cases. This therefore should be our only concern, our implicit confidence. If it be our duty to sow to-day the seed which cannot return its harvest till next year, let us sow without anxiety or distrust. Let us not worry and fret ourselves about the result. The future will certainly come around right, if the work of the present be properly done. This is the sound, rational and blessed doctrine which Jesus taught.

But the mammonites are not satisfied with such doctrine. They cannot trust in divine providence, nor in the safety of righteousness. Peradventure there is no God, or but an unreliable one. Peradventure human cunning and expediency will work better in some cases than strict adherence to the principles of justice and love. Is it not more prudent for a man to trust his own shrewdness, to look out carefully for himself? Who knows that lying, and cheating, and extortion, and grudging, and even kidnapping, robbery and murder are not best sometimes? Do we not see that some such persons prosper, and are rich and honored, whilst scrupulous people are sometimes left to beg, starve and perish? We will just trust in our own wits, and in the money which we can command. We do not mean to starve, nor beg, nor suffer for the necessaries of life. We will be as honest and charitable as the times permit, but have no fancy for nice scruples and trusting to God's providence in money matters.

Here you have the real mammonite and his moral code. Watch him closely, and you will find that he is a restless, anxious, never satisfied, ever worrying, miserable being. He trusts in himself and in mammon; but his very trust is perpetual distrust. He grows more and more afraid of his fellow-men, of the elements, of what the morrow may bring forth, of death, and of that unknown hereafter whither he cannot carry a mill of all his wealth. All things are uncertain with him. His riches have wings and may fly away. If they remain, he has to work like a slave to watch over and take care of them. Or else they even deprive him of the power to enjoy them.

Verses. 26-34. To illustrate the reasonableness of cherishing implicit confidence in divine principles and providence, Jesus refers to the animal and vegetable tribes—“the fowls of the air,” and “the lilies of the field.” They are all sustained out of the vast resources of the common Father. They are clothed with surpassing beauty. There is a wonderful providence over and for them all. It is freely bestowed on them without any forethought of their own. God is good and delights in the welfare of his humblest creatures. How much more then in man, the noblest of them on earth! “Your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?” “If God so clothe the grass of the field, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” “Therefore take no [anxious, distrustful] thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? (for after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” Be concerned only to know the laws and will of God, and to obey them faithfully each day as it brings its own proper duties. Then all will be well. Nothing can happen amiss. Even if in extreme cases you encounter want, distress, persecution, death itself, in this daily work of righteousness, it shall only highten your virtue and promote your immortal blessedness. Your heavenly Father will never cease to embosom you in his angelic guardianship. He will cause all things to work together for your highest good. Fear nothing but sin and wrong. Do the proper duties of the present day and hour, without the least distrust or anxiety about the events of to-morrow. “The morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto each day is the evil thereof.”

Such is the simple but heavenly and profound wisdom which Jesus taught and exemplified. Compared with it the popular wisdom of this world is the veriest folly. Its fruits are “vanity and vexation of spirit.”