10/12/2016 DON’T WORRY
Matthew 6:25 “So my counsel is: Don’t worry about things--- food, drink and clothes. For you already have life and a body---and they are far more important than what to eat and wear. [Living Bible translation]
Matthew 6:27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his/her life? (Or a single cubit to his/her height) [New International translation]
Matthew 6:34 [D]o not worry about tomorrow…. [New International translation] GOD will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time. [Living Bible translation]
Summary
There are a number of scriptures in the Bible about worry. Psalms 55:22 tells us to give our burdens (whatever we worry about) to the LORD. Psalms 55:22 assures us that “HE will carry them.” “He will not permit the godly to slip or fall.” In John 14:27, JESUS promises us peace. Comforting HIS disciples, HE tells them (and us) “Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” In 1Peter 5:7, we are told to “Let HIM have all your worries and cares, for HE is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you.” In Psalms 37:1-3 we are told to “Fret not” because of evildoers but instead to “trust in the LORD.”
One of the longest discourses on “worry” is found in the sixth chapter of Matthew. It is interesting that this discourse occurs right after the discourse on prayer. It was as if the writer knew that even after we prayed that instead of leaving our concerns with GOD, we would have a tendency to pick up those concerns, put them back in our mental “backpacks,” and just swing them back over our “shoulders” and walk away from the altar or our prayer “closets” as burdened down with fear and worry as we had been before we bowed down to pray. So, after teaching about prayer, knowing our nature, JESUS gives us some instructions about worry.
In Matthew 6:25, we are told not to worry about “things.” Although food, clothing and drink are mentioned specifically, we could easily add hundreds of other “things”---like houses, cars that need repair, bank accounts, 401K’s, over extended credit cards, pay checks, student debt or bills in general etc. Just as we are not to “love” money, clothes, credit card spending, we are not to “worry” about these things either. (See, Matthew 6:24)
As a practical matter, Matthew 6:27 reminds us that “worry” is a useless exercise. It is the useless depletion of energy. Worry “solves” nothing. It “adds” nothing to resolving the problem. It is just “negative” energy. It grows nothing. It especially does not grow faith or trust in GOD.
Matthew 6:34 tells us that worrying about tomorrow is actually a distraction preventing us from focusing our full energy and attention on today. In other words, worry robs us of “present time.” Instead of enjoying “the moment,” we are constantly trying to look around the next bend thinking we can prevent a collision. This kind of behavior is completely in opposition to a daily life of prayer. Like the Israelites who were given “bread from heaven” in the wilderness---bread which could not be stored, but had to be gathered each day (Exodus 16:15-21), we have to trust GOD on a daily basis too. We must live one day at a time, in GOD, in CHRIST JESUS.