Hi Mike,

I have a question; I have read all of your papers. Now I’m reading Andrew Jukes. I appreciate your time and effort very much. My eyes have opened! OK, now my question; in Mat 6, Jesus says not to worry about food and clothing or basically being provided for, because he values us above the birds of the field. Paul, on the other hand, says, if you don’t work and provide for your family, you are worse than a sluggard. How do you harmonize these two different views? Was Jesus saying something for a different time? Something that relates to only the Kingdom when it comes time. If that’s so, why tell people that when it can’t possibly happen then or now, but future? Thanks for your time!!

Sincerely S____

Hi S____,

It is good that you have read so much and have gotten so much edification from my papers. If you are now reading Andrew Jukes, your spiritual journey will continue. Andrew Jukes wrote over 150 years ago, and though he never came to see who exactly the ‘harlot’ of Revelation was (He thought it was what he called “Popery,” or Roman Catholicism), and though he believed that physical Jews were still God’s chosen people, he nevertheless was given incredible insights into the “things of the spirit.”

Rom 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:

I have often said and still say, that ‘The Law of The Offerings,’ by Andrew Jukes is the most educational read I have ever experienced outside of scripture itself. That is because, as Jukes points out, ‘The offerings present Christ as God wants us to know Christ.’ And what is eternal life but “to know God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.”

Joh 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

There is no way to know God but through Christ.

Now to answer your question: ‘Jesus says not to worry and Paul says provide for your household.’ It is obvious to me that you and I both consider ‘providing for our household’ to be a thing of great concern. Paul certainly thought so also, to make a statement such as, “If you don’t provide for your own household you have denied the faith and are worse than an infidel.” The obvious question is, ‘does Christ’s statement about His Father providing for the birds conflict with Paul’s statement about providing for one’s household?’

Let me assure you, there was no such conflict in the mind of the apostle Paul! Here are Paul’s own thoughts as far as the words of Christ are concerned:

1Ti 6:3 If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness;
1Ti 6:4 He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
1Ti 6:5 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.

If only many brothers in Christ could see the Truth of these verses! If anyone ever tells you that the teachings of Paul differed from the teaching of Christ, ” From such withdraw yourself!”

Now let’s read what Christ actually said.

Mat 6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
Mat 6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
Mat 6:27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
Mat 6:28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
Mat 6:29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Mat 6:30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

Does this really mean what this English translation says? Don’t even think about what you will eat or drink? As small as their brains are, the ‘fowl of the air’ certainly “think” about what they eat and drink. What is it that the ‘fowl of the air’ don’t do that we do?

What is it the the ‘lilies of the field’ don’t do that we do? What they don’t do that we do is revealed in a proper translation of these verses.

Do you see the three times I have emboldened the words ‘take no thought?’ Now look at Strong’s definition of the Greek word behind these English words:

G3309
μεριμναω
merimnao
mer- im- nah’- o
From G3308; to be anxious about: – (be, have) care (- ful), take thought.

Herein lies the answer to this apparent contradiction. “Take no thought” should be “take no anxious thought.”

Here are all the different ways the KJV translators rendered this word:

G3309
μεριμναω
merimnao
Total KJV Occurrences: 19
thought, 11
Mat 6:25, Mat 6:27-28 (2), Mat 6:31, Mat 6:34 (2), Mat 10:19, Luk 12:11, Luk 12:22, Luk 12:25-26 (2)
careth, 4
1Co 7:32-34 (4)
care, 2
1Co 12:25, Phi 2:20
careful, 2
Luke10:41, Phi 4:6

Now if you will go to every one of these references and insert ‘take no anxious thought,’ instead of simply ‘take no thought,’ then the teaching of Paul and Christ suddenly harmonize perfectly!

Yes, we are to provide for our own households. But we are not to be anxious about monetary concerns, nor any other concerns.

We must never allow the pursuits of money to come between us and the truly valuable “things of the spirit.” That is Christ’s whole point in this discourse:

Mat 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon [ money].

As we mature in Christ, we come to see that virtually EVERYTHING that happens to us is “of God,” and in the long run, for our “good.” Just as Joseph being sold into slavery in Egypt, we will never be able to see the good of our trials while we are enduring them. But as Paul says ‘ Afterward they yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness.’

Gen 50:19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?
Gen 50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it [ the very ‘evil,’ that Joseph’s brothers had committed] unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
Gen 50:21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.
Jas 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
Jas 1:3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
Heb 12:11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

The “trying of our faith” of Jas 1:3 is often the “chastening” of Heb 12:11. But regardless of where all these trying evils come from, the Truth will always be the same:

Gen 50:20 … God meant it unto good…

I hope this all helps to clear this question up in your mind.

Mike