Chapter 6:25-34 The Cure for Anxiety

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?

Take no thought - Be not anxiously careful, μη μεριμνατε; this is the proper meaning of the word. μεριμνα anxious solicitude, from μεριζειν τον νουν dividing or distracting the mind.

is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? And yet, God has given these without man's thought.
Behold the fowls of the air - The reason why we should not be anxiously concerned about the future, is the example of the smaller animals, which the providence of God feeds without their own labor; though He be not their father.

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?

Q: Do you believe that, after all your earnest labor and your industry, God will permit you to starve, when these creatures, that labor not, yet are fed?

27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

Christ asks then whether, by taking thought, they can add a single cubit to their lives, for I take his question to mean, whether they could, by any means, make the standard of existence any longer than it was.

28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

*The flowers of the field have their being, nourishment, exquisite flavors, and beautiful hues from God Himself. They are not only without anxious care, but also without care or thought of every kind. 

*Your being, its excellence and usefulness, do not depend on your anxious concern: they spring as truly from the beneficence and continual superintendence of God, as the flowers of the field do;

29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Solomon in all his glory - Some suppose that as the robes of state worn by the eastern kings were usually white, as were those of the nobles among the Jews, that therefore the lily was chosen for the comparison. was not arrayed like one of these lilies, or flowers of the field: 

--for the glory and beauty of his garments were purely from art, 

--but theirs by nature; which can never be equaled by art.

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?

If God so clothe the grass of the field - Christ confounds both the luxury of the rich in their superfluities, and the distrust of the poor as to the necessaries of life. Let man, who is made for God and eternity, learn from a flower of the field how low the care of Providence stoops.
To-morrow is cast into the oven - The inhabitants of the east, to this day, make use of dry straw, withered herbs, and stubble, to heat their ovens. If God covers with so much glory things of no farther value than to serve the meanest uses, will He not take care of His servants, who are so precious in His sight, and designed for such important services in the world?

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? etc. - These inquiries engross the whole attention of those who are living without God in the world. The belly of a worldling are his compound god; and these he worships in the lust of the flesh, in the lust of the eye, and in the pride of life.

32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things - Every word almost, carries in it an argument, to strengthen the faith of God's children, to encourage them to believe, that He will bestow upon them, whatever is needful.

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

He who giveth you the golden treasures of heaven will not allow you to want for the copper treasures of earth.

34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Take therefore no thought - That is, Be not therefore anxiously careful. 

*The conclusion of this whole matter then is, that it is the will and command of the Lord, that His disciples should not be their own tormentors, nor make their passage through this world more dark and unpleasant, by their apprehension of troubles.

Chapter 6:16-24 Fasting; The True Treasure; Wealth (Mammon)

6:16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
When ye fast - A fast is termed by the Greeks νηϚις, from νη not, and εσθειν to eat; hence fast means, a total abstinence from food for a certain time.
Religious fasting is a duty required of the disciples of Christ, but it is not so much a duty itself, as a means to dispose us for other duties. Fasting is the humbling of the soul, Psalm 35:13; that is the inside of the duty; be not as the hypocrites, the Scribes and Pharisees,
of a sad countenance; who put on very mournful airs, and dismal looks; made wry faces, and distorted countenances; banished all pleasantry and cheerfulness from them, so that they looked quite like other men than they really were; for they disfigure their faces; not by covering them out of sight, by putting a veil over them, as some have thought; but they neglected to wash their faces, and make them clean, as at other times; and not only so, but put ashes upon their heads, and other methods they used: they discolored their faces, or "made" them "black", as the Arabic version reads it; that they might look as if they became so through fasting: and such persons were in great esteem, and thought to be very religious.

6:17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
Anoint thine head and wash thy face - These were forbidden in the Jewish canon on days of fasting and humiliation; and hypocrites availed themselves of this ordinance, that they might appear to fast. Our Lord, therefore, cautions us against this: as if He had said, Affect nothing - dress in thy ordinary manner, and let the whole of thy deportment prove that thou desirest to recommend my soul to God, and not thy face to men.

6:18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
Thy father which seeth in secret - Let us not be afraid that our hearts can be concealed from God; 

but let us fear lest He perceive them to be more desirous of the praise of men than they are of that glory which comes from Him.

6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

Lay not up for yourselves - Our Lord here makes a transition from religious to common actions, and warns us of another snare, the love of money, as inconsistent with purity of intention as the love of praise. Where moth rust and rust doth corrupt - Where all things are perishable and transient.

6:20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
But lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven - That is, either be concerned for, and seek after heavenly treasure,

6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also - This seems to be a proverbial expression, and contains in it another reason, dissuading from worldly mindedness; because of the danger the heart is in of being ensnared and ruined thereby.

6:22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
If thy motive be single — if thou hast only one motive, and that a right one — the master one of glorifying God — if thy eye be single.

6:23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

When a man’s highest motive is himself, what a dark and selfish nature he has; but when his highest motive is his God, what brightness of light will shine upon all.

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.

No man can serve two masters - Whose orders are directly contrary to one another: He will hate the one and love the other - The word hate has the same sense here as it has in many places of Scripture; it merely signifies to love less - so Jacob loved Rachel, but hated Leah; i.e. he loved Leah much less than he loved Rachel. 

God Himself uses it precisely in the same sense: Ye cannot serve God and mammon - ממון mamon is used for money. 

 He who gives his heart to the world robs God of it, 

and, in snatching at the shadow of earthly good, loses substantial and eternal blessedness. How dangerous is it to set our hearts upon riches, seeing it is so easy to make them our God!