Message: “Worried Bird?” from Dr. Rick Mandl

Worried Bird Devotional Manuscript
Devotional Message by Dr. Rick Mandl  at Eagle Rock Baptist Church, November 11, 2020
Recorded in Los Angeles, CA.

Hey church family... Have you ever seen a “Worried Bird?” I’m talking about a bird the was sweating, a bird that was wringing its talons, saying saying, "Honey, the rent on this nest is getting astronomical"? Never seen one? Didn’t think so. I searched the internet to see if I could find a picture of a worried bird, and the image on the screen was the best that google could come up with. Maybe that’s because we don’t typically think of worry and birds as being two things that go together.

If you’ve been joining us for worship on the weekends, you know we’ve been in a teaching series called “Why Worry?” and for the past couple of weekends we’ve looked at Jesus words on worry from His Sermon on the Mount. In that passage, one of the things that he says about worry is . . . “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matthew 6:25-26 NIV).

The command that Jesus gives there is “Do not worry.” "Do not worry." The way it was written in the original Greek means to stop an action that is already going on. It's as if Jesus said, "I know most of you folks out there are worrying, so stop it. Stop being weighed down by anxious thoughts. Just look at the birds." You have a God who promises to take care of you. You know why? Because He is your Father. He actually references that truth - - that God is our father several times throughout His Sermon on the Mount. Maybe the most well-known of which is when he teaches us to pray, beginning with “Our Father.”

Why is that important? It's important because God is not the birds' Father; He's their Creator. But He’s not their father. You, on the other hand, have a relationship with Him as both one who is created, and one who is His child. If your Father feeds the birds, don't you think your Father is going to take care of you?

Jesus asks the question in his teaching on worry . . . “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (Matthew 6:27). You're not going to add to your life—by worrying about things – in fact studies tell us that stress will actually shorten your life. "Therefore Jesus says “Don’t worry.”

When it comes to the things you’re worried about. . . your heavenly Father knows that you need them. I wonder how many of you can tell me what were you worried about exactly one year ago today? If you were going through a humongous trial you might be able to tell me, but otherwise odds are you can’t even remember. Worrying is a fruitless activity. And that’s why Jesus said, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33). He challenges us to redirect our energy from worrying about our life to working for God's kingdom. And then to trust Him to take care of our tomorrow.

I pray that all of us will do that - Amen

Recorded in Los Angeles, CA.

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