Monday, February 27

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Monday

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 important than food, and the body more important 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?  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?  “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying,  ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.  – Matthew 6:25-34

In this passage from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus commands us three times not to worry or be anxious.  I don’t know about you, but that almost sounds unfair to me.  I mean who wants to anxious?  Is worry a decision or a choice we make?  I don’t know anybody who wakes up and decides that they are going to spend their day full of worry and anxiety.  How can Jesus just command us to stop worrying?  Is it really as simple as that?

I think what we find here in this passage (as in all of Jesus’ teaching) is that Jesus is getting beneath the surface of the issue.  Jesus is not just telling us to whistle a happy tune and forget all of our troubles.  He is getting to the deep reasons for why we worry and He is performing a kind of spiritual surgery in our hearts to free us from worry and anxiety.

Worry is a very real problem for a great many people.  We are living in what some sociologists have called the “Age of Anxiety”.  Just turn on any news channel and you will have plenty of reasons to feel anxious or uneasy about the world, everything from economic uncertainty to the threat of global terrorism.  According to the National Institute of Mental Health, anxiety is the most common form of mental illness in America today.  Dr. Charles Mayo (of the Mayo Clinic) says that “worry can negatively affect your circulation, respiratory system, nervous system, heart, glands, muscles…worry can quite literally kill you.”  Even if you have never been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, there are a whole lot of garden-variety worriers out there who need to hear what Jesus has to say about this issue.

One of the most striking things about this passage from Jesus is what He says in vs 31-32, “So do not worry, saying,  ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.”  The Pagans were unbelievers…did you catch that?  Jesus is telling us that when we let worry and anxiety rule our lives we are acting like unbelievers!  Maybe you never thought of worry like this.  Most people do not connect the issue of worry with the issue of unbelief – but Jesus does. As followers of Christ, and children of God, our lives should be marked by a sense of peace and trust, regardless of our circumstances.  Now before you get all “worried” about your worry, let me remind you that the Bible never says that we will never have any fear or anxious thoughts at all.

Psalm 56:3 says, "When I am afraid, I put my trust in thee."  Notice: it does not say, "I never struggle with fear."  Fear strikes and the battle begins.  So the Bible does not assume that true believers will never worry or have anxiety.  Instead the Bible tells us how to respond when worry begins to creep in.  For example 1 Peter 5:7 says, "Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you." It does NOT say, you will never feel any anxieties to cast onto God.

Jeff Frazier