16 Bible Verses about Cares Of This World

"The sower," He said, "goes out to sow his seed; and as he sows, some of the seed falls by the way-side, and is trodden upon, or the birds of the air come and peck it up. Another part drops upon the rock, and after growing up it withers away for want of moisture. Another part falls among the thorns, and the thorns grow up with it and stifle it.read more.
But some of the seed falls into good ground, and grows up and yields a return of a hundred for one." While thus speaking, He cried aloud and said, "Listen, every one who has ears to listen with!" The disciples proceeded to ask Him what this parable meant. "To you," He replied, "it is granted to know the secrets of the Kingdom of God; but all others are taught by parables, in order that they may see and yet not see, and may hear and yet not understand. The meaning of the parable is as follows. The seed is God's Message. Those by the way-side are those who have heard, and then the Devil comes and carries away the Message from their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. Those on the rock are the people who on hearing the Message receive it joyfully; but they have no root: for a time they believe, but when trial comes they fall away. That which fell among the thorns means those who have heard, but as they go on their way, the Message is stifled by the anxieties, wealth and gaieties of time, and they yield nothing in perfection. But as for that in the good ground, it means those who, having listened to the Message with open minds and in a right spirit, hold it fast, and patiently yield a return.

And He said to all, "If any one is desirous of following me, let him ignore self and take up his cross day by day, and so be my follower.

Jesus answered him, "No one who has put his hand to the plough, and then looks behind him, is fit for the Kingdom of God.

As they pursued their journey He came to a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed Him to her house. She had a sister called Mary, who seated herself at the Lord's feet and listened to His teaching. Martha meanwhile was busy and distracted in waiting at table, and she came and said, "Master, do you not care that my sister is leaving me to do all the waiting? Tell her to assist me."read more.
"Martha, Martha," replied Jesus, "you are anxious and worried about a multitude of things; and yet only one thing is really necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion and she shall not be deprived of it."

"When any one lights a lamp, he never puts it in the cellar or under the bushel, but on the lampstand, that people who come in may see the light. The lamp of the body is the eye. When your eyesight is good, your whole body also is lighted up; but when it is defective, your body is darkened. Consider therefore whether the light that is in you is anything but mere darkness.read more.
If, however, your whole body is penetrated with light, and has no part dark, it will be so lighted, all of it, as when the lamp with its bright shining gives you light."

Then turning to His disciples He said, "For this reason I say to you, 'Dismiss all anxious care for your lives, inquiring what you are to eat, and for your bodies, what you are to put on.' For life is a greater gift than food, and the body is a greater gift than clothing. Observe the ravens. They neither sow nor reap, and have neither store-chamber nor barn. And yet God feeds them. How far more precious are you than the birds!read more.
And which of you is able by anxious thought to add a moment to his life? If then you are unable to do even a very little thing, why be over-anxious about other matters? Observe the lilies, how they grow. They neither labour nor spin. And yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was as beautifully dressed as one of these. But if God so clothes the vegetation in the fields, that blooms to-day and to-morrow will be thrown into the oven, how much more certainly will He clothe you, you men of feeble faith! "Therefore, do not be asking what you are to eat nor what you are to drink; and do not waver between hope and fear. For though the nations of the world pursue these things, as for you, your Father knows that you need them. But make His Kingdom the object of your pursuit, and these things shall be given you in addition. "Dismiss your fears, little flock: your Father finds a pleasure in giving you the Kingdom. Sell your possessions and give alms. Provide yourselves with purses that will never wear out, a treasure inexhaustible in Heaven, where no thief can come nor moth consume. For where your wealth is stored, there also will your heart be.

"If any one is coming to me who does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes and his own life also, he cannot be a disciple of mine. No one who does not carry his own cross and come after me can be a disciple of mine.

Just as no one of you who does not detach himself from all that belongs to him can be a disciple of mine.

"But take heed to yourselves, lest your souls be weighed down with self-indulgence and drunkenness or the anxieties of this life, and that day come upon you, suddenly, like a falling trap; for it will come on all dwellers on the face of the whole earth.

I plead with you therefore, brethren, by the compassionsof God, to present all your faculties to Him as a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to Him. This with you will be an act of reasonable worship. And do not follow the customs of the present age, but be transformed by the entire renewal of your minds, so that you may learn by experience what God's will is--that will which is good and beautiful and perfect.

Therefore, "'Come out from among them and separate yourselves,' says the Lord, 'and touch nothing impure; and I will receive you, and will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters,' says the Lord the Ruler of all."

Brethren, I do not imagine that I have yet laid hold of it. But this one thing I do--forgetting everything which is past and stretching forward to what lies in front of me, with my eyes fixed on the goal I push on to secure the prize of God's heavenward call in Christ Jesus.

Give your minds to the things that are above, not to the things that are on the earth.

Therefore, surrounded as we are by such a vast cloud of witnesses, let us fling aside every encumbrance and the sin that so readily entangles our feet. And let us run with patient endurance the race that lies before us,

The religious service which is pure and stainless in the sight of our God and Father is to visit fatherless children and widowed women in their time of trouble, and to keep one's own self unspotted from the world.

Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If any one loves the world, there is no love in his heart for the Father. For the things in the world--the cravings of the earthly nature, the cravings of the eyes, the show and pride of life--they all come, not from the Father, but from the world. And the world, with its cravings, is passing away, but he who does God's will continues for ever.