What Not to Wear

By Matt

I barely made it through a page today before I reached five Q's. Jesus is all kinds of question asking in the beginning of Matthew and, curiously, four out of five deal with appearances. Let's get to the questions! (Most verses are approximate thanks to The Message's numbering system.)

1. "It's obvious, isn't it?" (Matthew 6:20) - Jesus is again being rhetorical, this time referring to the fact that our "treasure" is in constant danger of being destroyed (true story: a few days ago I was throwing some trash in the dumpster when I found a shoe rack, an item I was very close to purchasing last week at Wal-Mart but I was to cheap too; while I was walking back to my apartment some guy exclaimed, "You found some treasure!" It was weird.). So easily destroyed? It's not permanent, that's why. Unlike what God gives us, which is permanent, should we chose to accept it. So, Jesus, the answer is yes.
2. "Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch?" (Matthew 6:27) - Nope, not that I'm aware of. Cue the Eccelesiastes keyword: meaningless!
3. "All this time and money wasted on fashion--do you think it makes any difference?" (Matthew 6:27) - Nope? This one kind of hit me a bit. If you look at me it's pretty obvious that I'm not the most fashion-forward kind of person but I have been buying more clothes than usual lately. I guess that I'm just trying to assemble a wardrobe that actually fits me and that I can use to go to work. Luckily 90% of everything I've bought has been on sale, so hopefully I'm off the hook :)
4. "They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color or design quite like it?" (Matthew 6:29 - "They" and "it" here refer to the wildflowers of the field. God made them naturally beautiful. So, is Jesus' implication here that we're made beautiful as well? I'm not quite sure. Maybe the message is this: it's what's on the inside that counts. Where have I heard that before?
5. "If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers--most of which are never even seen--don't you think he'll attened to you, take pride in you, do his best for you?" (Matthew 6:30) - Aha, there's my answer I was looking for. It's not about being beautiful in any case, it's knowing that God takes pride in you, he watches out for you, and he does everything for your benefit. I think that's a tad bit more valuable myself.

In wanting to finish up this page chapter I read the last verse:

"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes."

What an important verse for me today. Two weeks ago Lisa went in for an ultrasound to find out if there was anything weird going on since she had some symptoms of ovarian cancer. She finally heard back from the doctor yesterday and the news isn't as hopeful as we would have liked, she has a mass on one of her ovaries. We're going back in today to hear more and hopefully it's going to be better than it sounds right now. It's so hard not to immediately jump to conclusions about what's going to happen and it's so hard to remember that, as the verse in question 5 says, God attends us and he does everything for our benefit.

As you can imagine, prayers would be appreciated right now :) Thanks!