In another illustration in Matthew 6, Jesus talks about his provision for the grass of the field. Students who are in Christ are children of God. The answer is, “Yes!” Students need to understand that, not only is God the Creator and sustainer of all things, but He cares for us especially because we are His children. “Are you not of more value than ?” he asks. God’s people have a special standing with God that Jesus points to.

Understanding and putting faith in the goodness of God will help us to be less anxious.īut God doesn’t only care for us as if we were any other part of creation.

Ultimately, Jesus says that worrying can’t add a single hour to our lives, but we do it anyway. Rather than relying on Him, trusting that He will care for us, we pore over all the possible outcomes in our minds. When we worry about assignments or anything else, we are demonstrating unbelief in the goodness in God. Why? Because God cares enough for the birds, and all the rest of his creation, to provide for them. They simply know that their food will be there for them. Birds don’t need to run around worrying themselves about food. In teaching his followers to guard their hearts against anxiety, Jesus points first to the character of God. “They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them” (Matt. “Look at the birds of the air,” says Jesus. But the Gospel is Good News to the heart bound by anxiety. Their day-in and day-out is, even if not intentionally, fueled by competition and merit. Our students live in a world that says that they are defined by their performance. Whether you are a student trying to finish a homework assignment, an adult getting ready to do a presentation at the office, or a minister preparing a sermon, we can all be paralyzed by having to turn something in. Eventually, unable to sleep, he gets back up to work on it some more. He lays there, heart pounding, turning the paper over in his mind. He turns off the light and starts to make his way to bed to catch a few hours of sleep. After making several changes, he is exhausted. “What if my arguments aren’t any good?” he thinks to himself. Mark sits with his head in his hands, scouring the pages for typos. The paper is due first class on Monday morning.

I need to finish my homework