Matthew 6:34

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Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Matthew 6:34 (NKJV)

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:34 (NIV)

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.

Matthew 6:34 (KJV)

"So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today."

Matthew 6:34 (NLT)

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Matthew 6:34 (ESV)

"So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Matthew 6:34 (NASB)

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org

"So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Matthew 6:34 (AMP)

Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMP), Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org

So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble.

Matthew 6:34 (AMPC)

Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMPC), Copyright © 1954, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org

"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes."

Matthew 6:34 (MSG)

Scripture quotations from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.

New Covenant Meaning

Worry About Tomorrow Is Borrowing from a Bank That May Never Open

Jesus does not say tomorrow's problems will not exist. He says tomorrow will take care of itself. The structure of the sentence is almost wry: tomorrow is capable of being anxious about itself, so leave that job to tomorrow. The practical logic is this: if the trouble you are anticipating for tomorrow actually comes, you will have the grace to deal with it then. But if it does not come, you have spent today suffering for nothing. Worry about the future is suffering in advance without knowing whether the suffering will ever be required. God provides manna for today. He does not issue tomorrow's manna today.

The Manna Principle: Daily Provision for Daily Living

Matthew 6:34 sits at the end of the section that begins with "do not worry" in verse 25 and runs through the birds of the air (v. 26) and the lilies of the field (v. 28). The consistent pattern is: God provides on a daily basis. The manna in the wilderness (Exodus 16) could not be stored overnight or it spoiled. It was a theological lesson built into the food supply: one day's grace for one day's need. Jesus applies the same principle in Matthew 6:34. Your Father feeds the birds today. He dressed the grass today. He will provide for your today. Tomorrow has its own today when it arrives.

The Greek merimnao (worry, be anxious) is the same word Jesus uses in verse 25 ("do not be anxious about your life") and verse 31 ("do not be anxious, saying, 'What will we eat?'"). The repetition in one passage is intentional: Jesus is addressing a specific pattern of thinking that borrows from the future to generate suffering in the present. The command is not "stop having concerns." It is "stop living in a tomorrow that has not arrived." The person who does that cannot engage fully with what God is doing today. Anxiety about tomorrow consumes the capacity for faith today.

Application for Your Life

Practice Present-Moment Faith

Matthew 6:34 is a call to today-faith. Not tomorrow-planning (which is wisdom) but tomorrow-anxiety (which is fear). You can make reasonable plans for the future without living in the future emotionally and spiritually. The difference between planning and anxiety is the difference between using your mind to steward what God has given you and using your mind to torment yourself with scenarios that have not happened. Jesus is not prohibiting foresight. He is prohibiting the occupation of your mental and spiritual life by tomorrow's what-ifs.

When Tomorrow's Problem Comes, You Will Have That Day's Grace

2 Corinthians 12:9 says "My grace is sufficient for you." Not: My grace was sufficient for your past, and My grace will be sufficient for your future. Sufficient. Present tense. For the need that is actually present. The grace you need to handle tomorrow's problem is not available today. It will be available tomorrow, the moment you need it. God does not pre-issue grace. He meets you at the moment of need. So if you are afraid of a future event, the fear is real but the grace is not yet due. When the event arrives, the grace will arrive with it.

Prayer Based on This Verse

Father, I confess that I have been living in tomorrow. I have been borrowing trouble from a day that has not arrived and letting it consume what You have given me today. I choose right now to come back to today. Today is where You are. Today is where Your manna is. Today is where Your grace is sufficient. I trust You with tomorrow when it comes. Right now I live in today. I bring you today's concerns and leave tomorrow in Your hands. In Jesus name. Amen.