Matthew 6:25 (DRB)

Passage

Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat: and the body more than the raiment?

Nearby Context

Matthew 6:23 But if thy eye be evil thy whole body shall be darksome. If then the light that is in thee, be darkness: the darkness itself how great shall it be!

Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Matthew 6:25 Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat: and the body more than the raiment?

Matthew 6:26 Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns: and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not you of much more value than they?

Matthew 6:27 And which of you by taking thought, can add to his stature one cubit?

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "therefore", "solicitous", "life", "shall", "body", and "than". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "therefore" and "solicitous", 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 air for...", so "therefore" and "solicitous" 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 "solicitous" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.