II. Nor does He discountenance earnest activity in the duties of the present. Work is God's oldest law. It is only in wilful blindness or in unaccountable delusion that men can plead this teaching as an excuse for indolence. "If any man will not work, neither shall he eat." Work is often spoken of as a curse; but it is a blessing. With a Christian spirit, it may be gloriously consecrated. It links us in our activity with God who "worketh hitherto," and with Christ who worked His full day.
III. Christ does not even condemn a legitimate forethought in connection with secular interests. There _is_ a legitimate forethought such as this. Nature teaches it. We must sow in order to reap. We must toil to-day for results which cannot come till to-morrow. "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 unbeliever." The faith to live by is that which prompts not to sitting down and doing nothing, but to trustful and persevering enterprise. Keep in mind the distinction between forethought and foreboding. It is forethought in a man which leads him to sow for a future harvest; it is foreboding that would fill his heart with fears that the harvest will be a bad one. Forethought is the grand distinction between the civilized and the savage; foreboding is the weakness of distrust.
What the Lord bids us guard against, then, is conjectural brooding over the possible necessities of the future, and our possible lack of the resources required for their supply. "Taking thought" means giving way to anxiety--the constant occupation and worry of the heart in looking forward, gazing into, and dreading the possibilities of the days and years yet to come. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Be warned against forebodings of evil to-morrow. The lesson is, "Do the day's work as it is appointed by God; accept the day's mercy, bear the day's evil; and be not anxious about the evil which to-morrow may bring."
How common a weakness--nay, rather let us say, how common a sin--this taking anxious thought for the morrow is! We see the lines of care in thousands of faces every day. Anxiety has marked its furrows round lips which every morning say, "Give us this day our daily bread." It is a calamity as well as a sin. It disturbs the heart, so that there can be no enjoyment of present mercies. It adds to the present the weight of an unknown but dreaded future. It paralyses religious feeling, and checks religious activity. It defeats its end by shortening the life it would fain prolong.