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#DailyDevotion What Is Life & The Body?

#DailyDevotion What Is Life & The Body?

Luke 12: 22“That is why I tell you,” He said to His disciples: “Don’t worry about what you’ll eat to keep alive or what you’ll wear on your bodies. 23Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24Look at the crows. They don’t sow or cut grain, they have no storeroom or barn; and yet God feeds them. You’re worth much more than birds. 25And can any of you by worrying add anything to your life? 26If you can’t do even the smallest thing, why worry about the rest? 27See how the flowers grow. They don’t work or spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory didn’t dress like one of them. 28If that’s how God dresses the grass, which lives in the field today and tomorrow is thrown into a stove, how much more certainly will He put clothes on you — who trust Him so little? 29So don’t just think of what you’ll eat or drink, and don’t worry. 30The people in the world run after all these things, but your Father knows you need them. 310nly seek God’s kingdom, and you’ll get these things, too. 32Don’t be afraid, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.

This is from Jesus’ sermon on the plain. It has a lot in common with his sermon on the mount in Matthew. One of the things is has in common is Jesus points us to nature as to a reason why we shouldn’t worry about food and clothing. So the crows don’t do a whole lot of agriculture and God feeds them. You are worth more to God than birds. The grass in the field which is here today and food for the fire the next, God clothes with lilies which if better than all of Solomon’s finest clothes. God will clothe you.

Jesus reminds us that life is more than food and the body more than clothes. Well what are they then? What is life if it is more than eating? What is the body if it is more than being clothed? Life is supposed to be communion with God and communion with one another in God. That is the life Jesus came to bring us. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. He promises us life in his name, life when we believe the Father sent him. He gives us life when we participate in his death in baptism. So part of this life Jesus gives us is communing with God. We commune with God when we trust, in Jesus name, that he will take care of us, he forgives us our sins and he calls us sons. We commune with God when we pray to him, entrust all our cares to him and believe he will take care of us. We commune with God when we listen to his word, believe it and live our lives according to it. The life he gives us also brings us into communion with one another. We commune with one another, in Christ, when we treat others as having more honor than ourselves. We commune with them when we take our Father’s place and care for them even as he cares for us. We commune with them when we see them as the image of God and treat them as such.

The body is meant for far more than clothes. Our bodies are meant to be the very temple of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father and the Holy Spirit. As the temple of God, Jesus clothes us with his righteousness, his holiness and his glory. The world treats the body as if it is only a material thing and as such something to be discarded. But the body is more than just a shell. Our Father created it to be his dwelling place among us.

So we have this command to seek first the kingdom of God and these things food and clothing will be given to us. Make being a child of God, listening to his Word, participating in his sacraments, participating in prayer, public and private, providing intercession for others and having mercy on others for the sake of Christ Jesus your number one thing and the cares of this world will slip away. They may call for you, but you have a promise from Jesus to wash away your cares and fears.

More than food and clothing, the Father wants to give you the kingdom, the new heavens and new earth where righteousness reigns and which endures forever. This age and its cares are quickly slipping away and are not worth the time we give worrying about them.

Merciful and Kind Father, grant us your Holy Spirit, that we may believe in the words of Jesus and not be anxious for the things of this world but for your kingdom. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

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Rev. Guillaume J. S. Williams, Sr.

The Reverend Guillaume Williams is the Pastor of Hope Lutheran Chapel of Osage Beach, Missouri. His pastoral ministry with Hope began in 2005 where he preaches the Christ crucified.

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