December 14th, 2025: Our Heavenly Father | Matthew 6:24-34

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. (1 Corinthians 6: 19-20).

Who are you?  No laughing - who are you really?  Who is that person that you deal with when no one is looking?  Are you a pretender - talking a good talk but walking crooked and broken?  Are you fearful that if people knew you, the real you, they would disown or disallow you?  Have you believed the lie that you cannot really trust anyone or anything, and in doing so, you have built up walls that prevent you from truly seeing anything that looks like love, mercy, or grace? Are you arrogant and prideful, choosing to ignore the word of God? Are you even real with yourself, or do you prefer to avoid thinking about those things? 

You can’t really know who you are without knowing your Father. Stay with me, this is a very important fundamental of faith. Earthly fathers come in all different shapes and sizes, attitudes, and various levels of good, worthless, and non-existent.  However, you do have a Heavenly Father.  Someone you should get to know. He is not like anyone here on earth. Earthly fathers fail. The Heavenly Father will not. Stop comparing the two or blaming one or the other for your situation. Open your heart to the idea that there is a God, a heavenly  Father who loves you. Yes, even you, faults, flaws, and all.  He is just waiting for you to turn toward Him instead of rebelling,  demanding your own way, and refusing to be called by His name.   

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

The choice is between God and self. Who do you serve? This is a most basic tell to your personal relationship with Jesus, or at least it should be. In the church world today, we have fallen prey to the standards of those around us instead of having confidence in our Heavenly Father. God is not against prosperity or having nice things.  He does not demand that we live in poverty or want. However, He is against judging our worth by what we own instead of by our relationship to Him.  As believers, we have been bought with a price.  A great price, the blood of Jesus. We are not our own. We belong to God.  By belonging to our Heavenly Father, He has the right to do with us as He sees fit.   It is the foundation of who we are, the standard for how we act. We are to serve God and let him bless us in abundance. Just for the record, His abundance is in much more than just riches, money, or fame.  

Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain. (Proverbs 30: 8-9).

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

These verses can become very familiar. Jesus gives these words during the Sermon on the Mount. He is teaching in a way that causes the crowds to be amazed at His authority. But what exactly was He saying? We fear and worry over things pertaining to us. Yet Jesus’ answer here is much like Job’s answer from the whirlwind. The birds are fed every day. They do nothing, no works to speak of,  to deserve this, but the Heavenly Father cares for and feeds them. They have enough. They are certainly not fed because men everywhere remember to feed them. God decorates the fields with color, trees, flowers and beauty.  This also is not the result of man tending to every plant to make sure it survives.  The Heavenly Father is more than able to take care of all things, including each of us. 

Just prior to these verses, Jesus said  Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matthew 6: 19-21). In other words, don’t worry about the wrong things. Where is your heart?  What are your treasures? The treasures are more than things or riches. The people we influence for Christ. The light we shine in a dark world by our witness.  The service and obedience to the Heavenly Father.  Oh ye of little faith.  Little faith. The pagans, the non-believers worry about such things as clothes, food, shelter, but the church?  The bride of Christ believes in the Heavenly God of the Bible!   

 For clarity, this is not to say that believers don’t have to work or plan or take care of the necessities of life. But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel (1 Timothy 5:8). It is to say that believers are under the direct supervision of their Heavenly Father and can trust in confidence that he knows what they need.  But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. (Matthew 6:6-8).  

Most importantly, everything we do should be to the glory and honor of God. There will come a day when our Heavenly Father will welcome and reward us for our faithfulness to His word.  And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. (Colossians 3:8-9).

In summary,  our Heavenly Father is trustworthy, gracious, and faithful. He is true and righteous.  In everything we commit to Him, we get much more back in blessings and abundance. Who are you? As a believer ,you are a child of the King. The Creator of everything. The one that holds it all together. There is no need to take thought of tomorrow, or panic about today. Don’t listen when the world tells you to fear - you trust in something they don’t know about.  Read His word.  Trust Him.  Do the next right thing. Allow the Holy Spirit to help keep your priorities in order.  He is a good Father. Send your treasures to Heaven.  He has a home prepared for you there!

 Paul said it like this to the Philippians: Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. (Phillipians 4:5-8). 

Keep your mind focused on the ability and authority of your  Heavenly Father!

Thank you for studying with us! God bless!