Daily Bible Reading 23rd September 2026 // Luke 12:22-34
22 And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! 29 And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. 30 For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.
32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with money bags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
To put it another way, the kind of faith and trust of which Jesus speaks here is possible only to those who have taken 31 seriously: 'Seek ye the kingdom of God....' Seeking the kingdom first brings both the kingdom and the necessities of life; whereas putting the necessities of life first puts both these and the kingdom at risk - a man may lose both, as the rich farmer in the parable did. There is a great challenge in all this, but we should not, in over-preoccupation with the challenge, miss the sheer attractiveness of it all. For the challenge in 31 is followed immediately by 32, with its insistence that it is the Father's good pleasure to give us the kingdom, that is, the inexorable summons to put God and His kingdom first really conceals an incredible offer - the Father of glory is eager to burst through to overwhelm us with benison and benediction beyond all we could ask or think. God pledges Himself to those who believe in Him as Shepherd (of His flock), Father (of His children) and King (of His subjects), and all the riches of the Godhead are waiting to break through in blessing to the souls of those who trust in Him. This is the prescription and cure for anxiety, restlessness, rootlessness, and insecurity in the life of man; it is the faith - and knowledge - that God rules the world with a Father's heart, and that He delights to name us as His children.