Matthew 6:25 (ASV)

Passage

Therefore I say unto you, be not anxious 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 the food, and the body than the raiment?

Nearby Context

Matthew 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 the darkness!

Matthew 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 one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Matthew 6:25 Therefore I say unto you, be not anxious 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 the food, and the body than the raiment?

Matthew 6:26 Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value then they?

Matthew 6:27 And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit unto the measure of his life?

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "therefore", "anxious", "life", "shall", "drink", and "body". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "therefore" and "anxious", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 24's "No man can serve two masters for..." into verse 26's "Behold the birds of the heaven that...", so "therefore" and "anxious" belong inside that flow. In Matthew context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "therefore" and "anxious" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.