Do Not Worry

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

Matthew 6 : 25-27 (NIV)

Scripture reading: Matthew chapter 6

Post by: Chris H.

Worry. It’s probably the single most common symptom of the human condition. It is also, I think, the universal proof that we are all in some way incomplete, misguided, and in need of rescue.

I’ve spent over a decade now in my walk with Christ. I know that God has a plan for me and that it is good, even if it’s not the plan I have for myself. And yet, I still can’t seem to spend a single day of my life completely free of worry. How can I acknowledge that Almighty God guides my every step and yet sit around and fret about my job or my house or my bills? 

Ultimately, my fear is the result of an incomplete trust and a broken faith in God. My anxiety is built on the fact that I continually seek to supplant God as the rightful ruler of my life. I place all of life’s burdens squarely on my own shoulders as if I could ever bear the weight. I arrogantly presume that I can hold up the world, while I fail to notice that God is the one holding me. 

I imagine that I frustrate Jesus just as much as his followers did two thousand years ago. 

So when I feel overwhelmed by my worries, I turn to Matthew, chapter 6 and I let Jesus reprimand me in the same way he did his disciples. He commands us not to worry because there is more to life than our physical needs. He reassures us that even the lowliest creatures on this earth are well provided for. He reminds us that it is not the work of our own hands that sustains us.

In verse 33 Jesus goes on to say, “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” He is telling us that the cure for our worries is to concentrate  more on the provider and less on the provisions. When we focus our minds and our hearts on God we see that our food and clothes are the very least of his blessings. When we look to Him we see that we don’t have to let the problems of everyday life cloud our vision of the life eternal. 

I said earlier that I can’t get through a single day without feeling worried about something, and that is true. But I have found a way to put my troubles on hold any time I want to. I simply bow my head and pray.

Photo by Boris Smokrovic on Unsplash