Matthew 6:25-34

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

The hymn writer Civilla D. Martin (1904) best captures the essence of this week’s scripture when she penned the hymn “God Will Take Care of You.”  The stanzas read as follows:

Be not dismayed what e’er betide, God will take care of you;

beneath his wings of love abide, God will take care of you.

Through days of toil when heart doth fail, God will take care of you;

when dangers fierce your path assail, God will take care of you.

All you will need he will provide, God will take care of you;

nothing you ask will be denied, God will take care of you.

No matter what may be the test, God will take care of you;

lean, weary one, upon his breast, God will take care of you.

Refrain

God will take care of you, through every day, o’er all the way;

He will take care of you, God will take care of you.

It is my belief that the reason for this church’s vitality and very existence is a result of the dedicated members who came before us taking this scripture to heart and acting on it. Whether it was the one hundred and sixty members at Isham Chapel accepting God’s call to move the church to Harmon Road; the one thousand members supporting the move from Harmon Road to our present location; or the membership in the late 1980s committing to the construction of our present sanctuary, the membership in each case was willing to accept the monetary challenge involved in fulfilling what was deemed to be God’s call. Just as those church members had no idea how their commitment would affect future generations (Adopt-A-School, Mobile Food Pantry, Mission Central, Panama, the Congo, etc.), it is difficult for us to understand the impact our commitment, stewardship, and witness will have on future generations. The best that we can do is to prayerfully consider our commitment, including our giving of money, and know that God is with us and will take care of us.