Their Attitude Towards Food And Clothing, The Things That Men Seek After
‘And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I say to you, Do not be anxious for your life (soul), what you shall eat, nor yet for your body, what you shall put on. For the life (soul) is more than the food, and the body than the raiment.”
The idea here is not that no one need ever worry about anything, or do any more work, for by that means many have starved. It is that those who come under the Kingly Rule of God should not be anxious about anything, because God guarantees them His personal care. What they should be concentrating their attention on is their inner lives, their ‘souls', which are not dependent on food and clothing (the rich man had been very concerned for his soul, how to feed it and satisfy it and make it grow fat. He saw his soul as very physical. That had been his folly), and on their bodies which belong to God for His use, and which they need to ensure operate in His service. They should not be concerned with the externals, but with what is internal. Both life and body should be yielded up to Him.