GRACE SUFFICIENT FOR TODAY'S REALITIES

“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?  26 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 which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?  And why are you anxious 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 arrayed like one of these.  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”  Matthew 6:25-34 ESV
Imagination can be an amazing tool or a great hindrance to your life. How is your imagination? We imagine many scenarios and in that imagination we can worry about many things that will never happen. I like the definition of worry I recently came across: Worry is interest paid on a debt we may never owe. That’s a definition worth remembering because it exposes the futility of worry. Is it no wonder why three times our Lord commanded us not to worry in Matthew 6:25-34 (Verse 25, 31, 34)
Today is Wednesday, not Thursday. How much of Wednesday have you spent imagining? I do not mean the good use of imagination: wondering, dreaming, and thinking up new possibilities. I mean the negative use of your imagination: mentally rehearsing difficult or stressful circumstances from your make-believe future. Have you been wasting Wednesday by mentally “trying on” what it might be like to get through your forecast for Thursday?

When we worry we become fearful, burdened, stressed out, and ineffective in the present. What is this dynamic of worry about? Do you have some future fears about family, work, health, relationships, ministry, or the economy? When we worry, we lay out imagined scenarios and forecasts. Do you have imagined scenarios of homelessness, loneliness, abandonment, failure, rejection, uselessness, demotion, purposelessness, severe trials, persecution, sickness, or painful death? The more we think about our imagined forecasts, the more troubled we become.

Someone once said, “God doesn’t give us grace for our imaginations.” In other words, God does not give you grace for your imagined futures. This is one of those fundamentals we seem to always forget. Paul wrote, “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Corinthians 12:7). God gives us grace for today, grace for what’s right in front of us. Today is
Wednesday . And today God has given us the supply of grace we need for navigating Wednesday, June 8, 2016. The writer of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 4:16, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in (our present) tie of need.”  In short, today’s mercies are for today’s troubles, not tomorrow’s imagined troubles. Psalm 46:1 says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help (in our very present time of) trouble.” Notice in both passages that the promises are for now, today, Wednesday. ut today, Wednesday, God hasn’t given us the grace to handle Thursday or our imaginations of Wednesday.


Stop for a second. Where has your imagination been all day? What have you been imagining about tomorrow, next week, or next year? Those imaginations have made you heavy because God doesn’t give you grace for your imagination. He doesn’t work that way. He works this way:
“Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day” (Exodus 16:4).
God’s grace is like manna. Just like God gave manna to the Jews in the wilderness, God gives us “a day’s portion every day.” This is why Jesus taught us to pray to ask the Father for our “daily” bread, not “next week’s” bread in Matthew 6:11.

When we worry and fear we are a lot like chipmunks. Have you ever watched one at work? They spend their days constantly running around stuffing their cheeks full of acorns not for today, but to store up for the future. Brethren, we are not chipmunks! We don’t need to try and stuff our cheeks with today’s manna, anxiously storing up fuel for the nasty winter we imagine around the corner. God doesn’t give us grace for our imaginations; He doesn’t give us grace for our chipmunk approach to life.

Hear the good news: today God has given you today’s portion of grace. You can quit wasting Wednesday with all your imagining and cheek stuffing. If you've trusted Christ, you have a Sovereign Lord who sits on a big throne in heaven (Read Revelation 4+5), exercising detailed oversight over both your Thursday and your Friday so that you can devote your full attention to what he has called you to do today: Wednesday June 8, 2016.

 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”