In the original Greek the phrase “span of life” literally means “18 inches” which is roughly the distance between where you stand right now and the next physical step you will take.
In Matthew 6:25 – 34 Jesus says…
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
What do you worry about? Why do you worry about that? How is Jesus the fulfillment of your worries? What we worry about reveals why we worry, which gives us the opportunity to trust in Jesus.
In the opening verses of this passage Jesus uses the word “life” three different times as he challenges us not to be “anxious” or not to be worried. The reality is we worry about our lives but the problem with our worrying about life is that we reduce life’s worries to worrying about physical needs and we neglect of our spiritual needs.
Jesus begins by saying “therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life”. To put it differently, Jesus says “based upon what I have just said a few minutes ago… let me say that you have no need to worry about your life”. In previous verses Jesus taught us that “Our treasure is what we fix our eye upon and what we fix our eye upon becomes our master”. Then as Jesus brought that teaching to a close he applied the principle to each of us by saying that we must make a choice to serve God or money. We must choose whom we are enslaved to. If we are enslaved to money then we have much to worry about. But if God is our master then we have nothing to worry about. This is the reason that Jesus can say, “do not be anxious about your life”.
But we still struggle with worry. We worry about life because we reduce life to physical needs alone. But Jesus instructs us not to worry about our lives in the mere physical sense by worrying about “what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on”. In other words, Jesus says don’t reduce your life to mere physical needs and then spend your life worrying about them.
Jesus asks this question, “Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” In other words Jesus is like “hey, life consists of more than just your physical needs”. Our lives cannot be reduced to the need for food and our bodies cannot be reduced to the need for clothing. Food and clothing are important but if we reduce our lives and our bodies to mere physical needs then we miss other important needs like spiritual growth. We reduce ourselves into inanimate utilities like spoons and knives in our kitchen drawers. Life does not consist merely of our physical and financial needs.
Life is about so much more than just the need for food and clothing. Jesus says “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” Think about the birds. Birds don’t sow or invest in anything. Birds don’t reap a benefit from their investments. Birds don’t gather stuff into barns or put things into storage for later or save money in bank accounts for rainy days. Birds don’t stockpile food in refrigerators and freezers. Birds don’t have the privilege of looking at God and saying you’re my Heavenly Father.
The truth in this passage is that we are more valuable to God than the animals around us and if he provides for animals who haven’t been created in His image and whom he did not send his son to die on a cross for then we have no reason to worry. A bird’s life does not consist of much more than food but our lives consist of far more than just the need for food. Life consists of much more than our physical and financial needs.
Jesus also asks, “which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” In the original Greek the phrase “span of life” literally means “18 inches” which is roughly the distance between where you stand right now and the next physical step you will take. In other words, Jesus is saying “hey… you can’t even add the next foot step to your life.” Your next step is out of your control. You and I can’t do anything to ensure the quality of the next step of our lives.
What do you worry about? Why do you worry about that? How is Jesus the fulfillment of your worries? What you worry about reveals why you worry which gives you the opportunity to trust in Jesus.