Daily Devotion

Friday, February 27, 2026  

Today's Scripture
Matthew 6:25

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?" 

“In Lent,” Pastor Joe Morrow observed in his Ash Wednesday homily, “We familiarize ourselves with our finitude.” That is, we have an opportunity, here and now, to consider how our temporal limitations fit within God’s infinite love, grace, and redemption. We absolutely need food to live; practically speaking, we must have clothing, so what is Jesus suggesting in Matthew 6:25?

In part, his words ask us to reflect on our individual appetites. What is it we crave? What do we yearn for? In going about the business of daily life, has God become an afterthought? Today’s teaching should inspire a reality check: just where do our life priorities lie? With the gathering of sustenance and material possessions—or with God?

And that in and of itself is a holy exercise. But given how well Jesus understood human nature, I think there is more to his message. I think he’s talking about greed. He’s pointing to the difference between sustenance and the ever-deepening rut of avarice.

Yes, acquisitiveness. Because once our minds are occupied with the storing up of Earthly possessions, it may be only a matter of time before acquisition yields to exploitation. And once exploitation becomes normalized, we can come to justify, or accept, or at least avert our eyes from any unscrupulous behavior undertaken to put a profit in one’s pocket. Consider enslavement. Or the trafficking of humans and animals. Polluting rivers and streams. Loading the skies with heavy metals and particulates. Rigged schemes. The gaining of wealth by any means. And so on. Until we no longer yearn for God.

It takes only a quick glance up the Bible page to see Jesus’s boldest message in Matthew 6: “No one can serve two masters. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

Prayer

Guide our desires, Lord. Create space in our days to reflect on the thoughts, actions, and prayers that draw us closer to you. May the temporal nature of life never distract us from the hope of life eternal. And may we work to store treasures in heaven, for where our treasure is, there our heart will be also. Amen. 

Written by Sarah Forbes Orwig, Member of Fourth Presbyterian Church

Reflection and prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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