Keep Off the Grass

Last night, I made a bird out of a bird! My eldest came in and asked me why I was shaping a chicken on the kitchen table, and shoving carrot tops into it. He followed up quickly with, "actually, never-mind", as he left me to it. It was the next instalment of The Jesus Story Book Bible dinners of course, and it was a fun one to make, because I had pre-planned it in my weekly shop, making sure I had foliage and bright colours.

Page 228 of the JSBB, finds us at 'The Singer', a chapter derived from The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6. The Sermon on the Mount is probably Jesus' most famous sermon, or preach that He ever gave. Emmanuel, the church I attend, is going through it as a series at the moment, both with the adults and in the kids' & youth work. The whole sermon can be summed up in a sentence; 'how to live a life that is dedicated to, and pleasing to God'. It's a Godly wisdom sermon, looking at our values, our vision and our habits. It was meant to be memorised, recited and and dwelt upon. 

The Jesus StoryBook chapter I read with the kids over dinner, was about the birds and the flowers, which is hopefully clearer from the picture than some previous weeks! Jesus was asking the people who were listening, if the birds have to go shopping for their food, and if the flowers have to store their home-made or shop-bought clothes in a wardrobe?! Of course not, God provides food and shelter for the birds and He provides the beauty the flowers adorn. 

The point Jesus is making, is that God the Father, cares more about us than He does about the flowers and the birds, but look how well He takes care of the flowers and the birds. Surely He will therefore take care of us even more so. Why do we spend so much time worrying therefore, about stuff? Why do we worry about the provision and what we look like? God's got it all in hand. 

"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?" Matthew 6v25 "Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?" v27

Worry adds nothing to our lives, it actually just steals from us. It's a stealer of peace. It can be a stealer of action, of courage even. It's a stealer of trust from God. And the Bible doesn't just teach us not to worry, but to seek God's kingdom, to seek His righteousness, and see Him provide what we need. 

One of my sons said, that it reminded him of when God provided Manna, (wafer like bread), to the Israelites when they had been set free from Egypt, (Exodus 16) and they were only to take the amount that was provided. day by day. They weren't to take more, for fear there wouldn't be any the next day. An excellent reminder of the last blog post, about God giving us today our daily bread. It brought me real joy that He had linked the two, because the drip, drip, drip effect of teaching them the Bible stories is like them memorising the Sermon on the Mount...

In my own Bible reading this morning, I was reminded of how the flesh in all it's beauty, is like the flowers of the field, it will simply fade away. It's like the grass, which will wither away. No wonder we're not meant to worry about the provision for, and the look of our bodies, or indeed the things of this lifetime, because they will come to nothing. Unlike our souls of course, which will go on to live gloriously with God, with brand new bodies! And what won't ever fade or wither away? The word of God, the Bible will stand forever. I think I shall forever taste Spinach when I read Isaiah 40v6-8 from now on. 

"The grass withers, the flower fades...but the word of our God will stand forever".