but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor Rust Doth Corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.” ([Matthew 6], Ver. 19,20.) 

A most solemn test for examining ourselves by. 

“For where your treasure is, there will your Heart be also.” (Ver. 21.) 

We may detect where we are by that which our thoughts chiefly rest upon. If they are heavenward, blessed are we; but if earthward, we shall find that those very things upon which our hearts are set will prove a sorrow one day or another. The Lord traces all this to one grand root—you cannot serve two masters. You have not got two hearts, but one; and your hearts will be with that which you value most. Everything is thus followed up to its source: God on the one hand, and mammon on the other. Mammon is what sums up the lusts of the heart of man as to all things here. It may manifest itself in different forms; but this is the stock—covetousness. You cannot serve God and mammon.” 

“Therefore I say unto you, take no thought (be not anxious) for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body what ye shall put on.” 

The great point is indifference to present things, or, rather, a peaceful trust about them; not because we do not value the mercies of God, but because we have confidence in our Father's love and care about us. So the Apostle Paul shows us the most beautiful expression of this when he says, 

“I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” 

He had known changes of circumstances—what it was to have nothing, and what it was to have abundance; but the great point was his thorough content with God's portion for him. This was not a thing that he passed through lightly, but he had learned it. It was a matter of attainment—of judging of things in the light of God's presence and love. The blessing is, to be looking onward with this thought—our Father is dealing with us now with a view to glory; as the apostle adds, 

“My God shall supply all your need, according to His richness in glory by Christ Jesus.” 

How sweet that is! 

“My God” 

—the God that I have proved, whose affection I have tasted. I can count upon Him for you as well as for me; and He 

“shall supply all your need,” 

not merely according to the riches of His grace, but 

“according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” 

He has taken you as Christians from this world: He is going to have you the companions of His Son above; and He deals with you now according to your place and position then. Whatever is suitable to this great plan of His glory and love, the Lord will give us to taste the consequence of that.

May the Lord strengthen us, that we may accept this with thankful hearts, knowing that we are not our own masters! The Lord will preserve us from the dangers, the snares, the pains, which haste or willfulness on our part as to outward things brings with it. He shows us in this chapter the exceeding folly of it, even as to the body. He takes an instance from the outward world, as to the utter uselessness of it; and shows how God may be confided in to accomplish His own purposes best. And more than that: He reminds us that these outward things, on which we are tempted to lay such great stress, are only the things that the Gentiles seek after. A Gentile was a term used in speaking of a man without God, in contrast with a Jew who had God in an outward manner in this world. A Christian is a man who has God in heaven. 

“Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” 

Therefore, as our Father knows this, why should we doubt Him? We do not doubt our earthly Father; much less then should we doubt our heavenly Father. 

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” 

It is not that we are to seek them—first to seek the kingdom of God, and then these things; but seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all the rest will come. There is no seeking about it, except of what pertains to God and to God's righteousness. 

“Take, therefore, no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.” 

That is, He prepares us for this, that the anxiety which dreads an evil thing on the morrow is nothing but unbelief. When the morrow comes, the evil may not be there; if it comes, God will be there. He may allow us to taste what it is to indulge in our own wills; but if our souls are subject to Him, how often the evil that is dreaded never appears! When the heart bows to the will of God about some sorrow that we dread, how often the sorrow is taken away, and the Lord meets us with unexpected kindness and goodness! He is able to make even the sorrow to be all blessing. Whatever be His will, all is good. 

“Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”

William Kelly, excerpt from Remarks on Matthew 6