” Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own”
Matthew 6:34
Maslow, one of the greatest influences on the thought patterns of psychology in our world, theorized that man is driven by his base needs. He believed that your most immediate need becomes your controlling factor. Therefore, your first instinct is to find shelter, second food, and third security or protection. Then you begin to move up the ladder of becoming self-realized and self-actualized, of getting self-esteem and all the rest of that stuff. According to this theory, human beings are driven by their base needs. In the sixth chapter of Matthew, Jesus challenges that thought pattern. He instructs us to live from the perspective of what exists that we cannot see, instead of being totally caught up in the details and needs of our daily lives. God lives and thinks in the potential. He always sees things that have not yet been manifested. Faith, too, lives in the potential not in the present. Jesus simply asks us to have
faith—to believe in God’s goodness and care. In teaching His followers that food, drink, clothes, and shelter are not the most important things in life, Jesus directly contradicts the psychological theories of our world. He dares you to follow God and think in the opposite. God doesn’t start with your wants, but with who you are. God wants you to first know who you are. Then you will realize you deserve the things. In God’s design, you deserve the things because you are somebody.
According to God, Maslow was wrong—and I go with God. There are people who have everything, but they still don’t know who they are. People accumulate things with the hope that the things will make them somebody. But you don’t become somebody by accumulating things. Ask the guy at the top who can’t sleep. Ask the guy who has everything except peace and love and joy in his heart. Maslow was wrong. God desires to give you self-worth and selfesteem first. He wants you to know who you are first.
Jesus simply asks us to have faith—to believe in God’s goodness and care.
