Therefore
I say to you, do not worry about your life… (Matthew 6:25)
Be
anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with
thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God,
which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7)
Worry and anxiety is attempting to control
your own life or others lives when you have no control (a rather pointless
exercise if you think about it). It is
holding on to something that you do not want to give and trust God for. In essence, one part of denying yourself is
giving up the need to control your own life by giving your worries to God and
trusting Him for what is best.
I am a worrier. This may surprise some people, who see me as
some sort of care free, laid back dude. But I worry about my future. I am constantly trying to plan out what my
life will look like years down the road, trying to create my own heaven on
Earth if you will. I worry about making
the wrong decisions and blowing my life, as if I am the center of the universe and somehow my decisions will
affect the plans and will of God. That
is all of course complete nonsense and I know that intellectually. At a heart level though, I struggle with these
worries.
Then I read what Jesus says in Matthew
6:34: Do not worry about tomorrow, for
tomorrow will worry about its own things, sufficient for the day is its own
trouble.
What a statement! It sounds so easy and simple, yet I have not
met one person who is able to follow this teaching. But Jesus is pretty clear on the subject of
worrying: Don’t! This does not mean we
can not have visions for the future, but we should not worry or excessively
think about those visions. We should
give them to God and pray with
thanksgiving about it. We have to
trust that God’s plans will come to pass regardless of
what we do. When our own plans are
thwarted, do we trust God has something better in mind? Do we live for our plans or God’s plans?
Solomon writes in Proverbs:
There
are many plans in a man’s heart, nevertheless the Lord’s counsel, that will
stand (Proverbs 19:21)
A
man’s steps are of the Lord; how then can a man understand his own way?
(Proverbs 20:24)
If we put our trust in God, we should not
worry about our own way, because it is selfish and not of God. Worrying about God’s way is pointless because
He is God! Do you live with that kind of
trust? Me neither. But, oh, that God would continue to knock on
the doors of our hearts until we can completely surrender our ways to His ways.
After telling the Philippian church to not
worry, Paul gives an alternative to worrying:
Whatever
things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are pure, whatever
things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue
and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate on these things. (Philippians
4:8)
Rather than selfishly worrying, what is
something true, noble, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, or praiseworthy
that you can thank God for instead? He
has given us so much already to rejoice in, but instead we look days, weeks,
years ahead and worry about our future.
Instead of worrying today, praise the Lord for what He has given you!
And still a little later, he writes: I have learned in whatever state I am, to be
content (Philippians 4:11)
Lord, cultivate in us a thankful
attitude. We are all your children. Help us to not worry about our futures but
delight in You and in our inheritance.
Help us not to see ourselves as more important than we are, but humble
us. Lord, remind us of what you have
done for us, so we can give you thanks for everything, always.
A Men.
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