Daily Reading for Personal Growth, 40 Days with God

¹⁹ Do not want to have many valuable things here in the world. Insects or water can destroy those kinds of things. Or people may come into your house and they can rob you of those things. ²⁰ Instead, you should want to have valuable things in heaven. Insects and water cannot destroy anything there. Men cannot rob you of your things there. ²¹ Then you will be thinking a lot about heaven, because that is where you keep your valuable things.^[a]

²² Your eyes are like lamps and your body is like a room. Make sure that your eyes are like a clean lamp, then your whole body will have light. ²³ If your eyes are not good, then your whole body will be in the dark. If the light in you has become dark, you will be living in a very dark place.’^[b]

²⁴ Jesus said, ‘Nobody can work as a slave for two masters at the same time. Maybe he will hate one of the masters, but he will love the other one. Or he will work well for one master, but he will think bad things about the other master. God and money are like different masters. You cannot work for both of them.

²⁵ So I tell you this. You should not worry about how to stay alive. Do not worry about the food and drink that you need. Do not worry about the clothes that you need to wear. Your life is more important than the food that you eat. Your body is more important than your clothes. ²⁶ Think about the wild birds. They do not plant seeds in the ground. They do not cut down plants to eat. They have no buildings to store food. But God, your Father in heaven, gives them food to eat. You are much more valuable than the birds. ²⁷ Even if you always worry about your life, you cannot make it as much as one hour longer!

²⁸ You should not worry about your clothes. Think about how the wild flowers grow. They do not work or make clothes for themselves. ²⁹ But I tell you this. Even one wild flower is more beautiful than King Solomon was. And King Solomon wore the most beautiful clothes. ³⁰ It is God that gives beautiful clothes even to the grass. One day the grass is growing in the field, but the next day people will cut it and burn it.^[c] God will certainly take care of you, much more than he takes care of the grass. You should trust him more than you do!

³¹ So do not worry about these things. Do not always say, “What will we eat?”, or “What will we drink?”, or “What will we wear?” ³² People who do not know God are always trying to get these things. But as for you, your Father in heaven knows that you need them. ³³ Instead, always think about the things that are important in the kingdom of heaven. Always do what God shows you is right. Then he will also give you the things that you need each day. ³⁴ So do not have trouble in your mind about what might happen tomorrow. Tomorrow will have its own problems. It is enough for you to be thinking each day about the problems of that day.’