[19] Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
The folly of pursuing and treasuring material wealth.
[20] But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
The wisdom of laying up treasures in heaven
[21] For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Our heart follows our treasure and indicates what we truly value.
[22] The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
When our heart is right with God concerning wealth, His light will illuminate our being.
[23] But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
If our heart is not wealth then the illumination that God desires for us is darkness, a great darkness that obscures our spiritual vision from what is truly important in life. To borrow a line from a movie, that speaks of the immaterial becoming the material. What is deemed as immaterial by some will one day be clearly evident as the material.
[24] No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
It is clear that we cannot have divided devotion, Jesus is speaking of material wealth. I believe this principle can be applied to other arenas of life as well.
[25] Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
In this verse Jesus gives the hearers a clear application of this teaching, lest the poor people hearing this message thought that because of their poverty that they were exempt from this teaching. The application is that believers are not to be worried or consumed about the material things of life, even the bare necessities.
[26] Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? [27] Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? [28] And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: [29] And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. [30] Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Jesus gives the reason not to worry, just look around and see how God takes care of His creation. Jesus points out that if God takes care of the animals and plants how much more will He take care of His children.
[31] Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? [32] (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
An admonition not to worry, those without God depend upon themselves to meet their own material needs. However, Jesus points out that our Heavenly Father knows all about our needs.
[33] But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
The focus and pursuit of believers should be God's kingdom and to be in and walk in a right relationship with Him. As believers make that the focus and pursuit of their life it is God who supplies their needs during their stay on earth.
[34] Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. …
Don't worry about the future, there is enough to be mindful about in the present. Worry about the future can rob us of enjoying what God has for us right now and can rob Him of our worship, devotion and service that we should give Him at all times.
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