Do Not Worry
Matthew 6:25a (WEBBE): 25Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life:
Jesus himself tells us in Matthew 6 that we don’t have any reason to worry about anything in life. We all know this is good advice – worry just makes you miserable. And yet this is a really difficult thing to stop doing.
So I have been thinking for a few days how to convey this idea to you in a meaningful way. It seems to me that this is one of those things where just having knowledge is not enough – you need to actually experience God’s provision before it becomes your reality. The big, meaningful life stories that people write books about to encourage others are examples of such experiences. And they are great. But for most of us leading ordinary, comfortable lives, God’s provision is so ever present that it fades into the background.
James 1:17 (WEBBE): 17Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow.
God is providing all the time – we just need to take notice again!
People’s hearts are touched by different things, depending on where they are in their walk with God. So there are three different but related things I want to touch on, to reach as many people as possible. Or rather three questions that I would like to answer: Why did we not have to worry in the first place? What damage does worrying do? What practical steps can we take to get rid of the worries that we do have?
Why did we not have to worry in the first place?
Lets continue reading in Matthew 6, to see how Jesus explained it.
Matthew 6:25-26 (WEBBE): 25Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26See the birds of the sky, that they don’t sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you of much more value than they?
Imagine for a moment how many wild birds there must be in the world right now. I did a quick Internet search, and the first answer I got is somewhere between 100 billion and 400 billion! The fact that God takes care of ALL of them gives us a little glimpse of what Omnipotent actually means. And if He takes such good care of the birds and the grass and the lilies, why ever would He not take care of the humans that He created after His own image?
Matthew 6:27-30 (WEBBE): 27“Which of you, by being anxious, can add one moment on to his lifespan? 28Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin, 29yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won’t he much more clothe you, you of little faith?
I took this photo on my way home today. This little wild flower is blooming despite the drought in South Africa. And it is not by any means the only one – I spotted more than 10 different kinds of wild flowers!
Matthew 6:31-32 (WEBBE): 31“Therefore don’t be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’, ‘What will we drink?’ or, ‘With what will we be clothed?’ 32For the Gentiles seek after all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
God knows that we “need all these things”. Will He give them to us though? Of course He will! Lets see how Paul explained it to the Romans:
Romans 8:32 (WEBBE): 32He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things?
God is in control, and He loves us – we really do not need to worry!
What damage does worrying do?
This is a question with many answers. But the most important one is this: Worry distracts us from thinking about God’s Love and all the good things that He does provide for us. If you choose to spend your time on something, you are choosing for that thing but also choosing NOT to do some others during that same time. So if we choose to worry (yes, it really is a choice!), then we choose also to not spend that time in praise or prayer or whatever other thing that will build us up.
Proverbs 12:25 (WEBBE): 25Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down,
but a kind word makes it glad.
This distraction is a tactic of the enemy to weigh our hearts down. While we worry, we are not out in the world bringing God’s love to everybody in earshot, as we should be doing. Instead, we are spreading that worry if we do in fact influence others.
It can get even more severe than “just” being distracted though. You might have noticed that Matthew 6:25 starts with “Therefore”. So there must be something before that verse, which it follows on. Lets read the verse just before it:
Matthew 6:24 (WEBBE): 24“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon.
One can loose sight of the fact that God provides so completely that money becomes an idol that is worshiped instead of God. It sounds extreme, but remember anything that one loves more than God is an idol.
So all that sounds pretty scary. But God always provides a way out!
1 Corinthians 10:13 (WEBBE): 13No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
What practical steps can we take to get rid of the worries that we do have?
Matthew 6:30 (WEBBE): 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won’t he much more clothe you, you of little faith?
Jesus points our here that the problem is that we have too little faith. How do we get faith?
Romans 1:17 (WEBBE): 17So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
If you have a room that is dark, how would you change that? Switch on a light, of course! You cannot shoo the the darkness out of the room, but the moment the light is turned on, the darkness is gone. If we fill our hearts and minds with the Word of God, then there is no space for anything negative. I am not talking of putting a little bit of God in a small corner of the mind that is only accessed on a Sunday morning. No, we should FILL our minds with the things of God.
If you notice yourself worrying, you can DECIDE to stop doing so, and think on something praiseworthy instead. Read scripture. Listen (attentively!) to good Christian music. Best yet, praise the Lord in prayer for all the good things that you HAVE ALREADY RECEIVED from Him. Put positive things into your heart instead of the worry!
Matthew 6:33 (WEBBE): 33But seek first God’s Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well.
Jesus said that instead of worrying we should “seek first God’s Kingdom, and his righteousness”. Seek is an action – we should actively be pursuing the things of His Kingdom. And then Jesus adds a promise: “all these things will be given to you as well”. Not some of them, and only maybe. No, “all these things will be given to you as well”.