The images we have of God in our heads determine the degree of worry we feel in our souls. No tool or set of steps—no matter how catchy or innovative—can pry us away from worry if we don’t live in this truth: God is with us and for us. Please read that again. It is one of the most important aspects of Jesus’s life and teachings. Jesus wants us to think of God as Abba, the compassionate and fully present One who cares for his children.
On many Saturday mornings, I make pancakes: delicious pancakes from scratch, as God intended. My family loves them! My children eat more than I can count. It’s almost like they believe there’s an endless supply. Their trust—that Dad will provide more than enough—reminds me of these words from Richard Foster, who describes making pancakes for his children:
Not once did I see them slipping some into a pocket, thinking, “I don’t know about Dad; I’d better put away a little stash so that I can be sure of pancakes tomorrow.” As far as they were concerned, the reservoir of pancakes was infinite. . . . All they needed to do was ask and . . .they would receive. They lived in trust.
When Jesus arrives at this part of his kingdom manifesto, he wants us to know something about God: He is trustworthy. This is a truth we need to hear again and again. Our Father has an endless supply of love and compassion for us. As someone who grew up without much financially, I can easily slip into a state of worry, believing that God’s resources will run out on me. But hear Jesus’s encouragement: God has an endless supply of goodness aimed your way.
Let’s unpack some of the breathtaking truths about God’s provision. First, Scripture teaches that God’s generosity extends to everyone: “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good” (Matthew 5:45, NIV). God is a merciful, forgiving parent who pours out love on prodigal and self-righteous sons alike. Jesus committed his life to showcasing what God is like. When we look upon him, we behold the Father. He wants to make sure the world knows the care and concern that permeates the heart of God.
Second, though God is infinite in knowledge and power, he cares for the minute details of his creation. Instead of coldly observing the cosmos, the Creator lovingly tends to it. Even little birds, insignificant in the scope of the universe, are fed by their heavenly Father (see 6:26). The unseen God extends his cosmic hands to provide for pigeons. The same is true of the grass and flowers: Every blade and petal is handcrafted and sustained by the Provider. Like he does for the birds and flora, God actively holds our lives together. In fact, he’s much more involved with us.
Is there a false image of God you’ve embraced—one that denies he can provide? Be reminded, he delights in providing! Through Jesus’s words in the Sermon on the Mount, the Holy Spirit can heal the false images of God warping our reality. I love how author Brennan Manning put it:
The Spirit of God is the great unmasker of illusions, the great destroyer of icons and idols. God’s love for us is so great that He does not permit us to harbor false images, no matter how attached we are to them. God strips those falsehoods from us no matter how naked it may make us, because it is better to live naked in truth than clothed in fantasy.
I know what it’s like to have images of God in my mind that don’t align with what Jesus taught and embodied. I had a youth pastor who had an uncanny ability (if that’s what you want to call it) to discern why a person fell upon hard times. His formula was quite simple: If something bad happened to someone, he claimed that the judgment of God was visiting them. If a brother from the church fell ill, this “prophetic” person would explain, “That’s what happens when you stop going to church.” I became paranoid that if I sinned, God would turn on me and crush me under his celestial thumb.
The images we carry live deep in our subconscious. In fact, I’ve discovered them in surprising ways. When my two-year-old son was hospitalized with febrile seizures, one of my first thoughts was, My son is sick because I haven’t prayed enough. I know that is not true. Still, that image of a punitive God was stored away and surfaced under deep stress. When I contracted a strange case of tuberculosis in my lymph nodes, I wondered if it was some kind of divine punishment.
I don’t ruminate on these images and scripts consciously, but they live in me. Deeply. Through practices of spiritual formation and discipleship, these lies can be rooted out of our theology. Maybe you carry worry and anxiety about God’s posture toward you. I did for years. Slowly but surely, I’ve realized that Jesus doesn’t cause worry; he removes it. He longs to do the same for you.
Jesus wants you to know him as tender, not terrorizing; cruciform in love, not capricious; compassionate, not condemning; attentive, not aloof. Maybe you’ve lived for a long while with an image of God in your head that causes anxiety. Please, behold Jesus and his tenderness. Today you can begin a new journey of seeing God. His love for you is steadfast and unrelenting.
The sad truth is, worry steals time. Jesus says, “Can anyone of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (Matthew 6:27). Translation: Stop worrying and start enjoying. The more you worry, the less time you have. Helpfully, Jesus doesn’t merely say to stop worrying; he tells us to seek his kingdom.
