Matthew 6:25-34 – “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?  27 Which of you by worrying, can add one cubit to his stature?

28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” NKJV

My question is a valid one, especially in the times in which we live today.  “Are You Worried?”  I have contended that often the opposite of “faith” is not “doubt” but “fear.”  Fear may result from doubt and most assuredly cause the condition we call “worry.”  Many people are worriers; some say, “I’m a natural-born worrier.”  I challenge that because, in my view, “worry” is a learned trait, not something you instinctively have at birth. 

My mother was a worrier!  We could be driving along the highway, and she would hear noises my dad could not hear due to his hearing loss.  She would worry over that sound, and the more she worried, the worse the potential problem was. 

She worried about my brother, sister, and me (although I confess it may have been justified in my case).  I told her one time, laughingly, “Mother, you’d worry if you had nothing to worry about worrying about not worrying.”  She smiled and acknowledged that was probably true.  Her mother was a worrier, although her father was not.  My dad was more of a person who faced whatever came and dealt with it to the best of his ability and then let things take their course, but my mother worried. 

Jesus told us here not to worry about our lives (what we would eat, drink, wear, etc.)  He focused on the ultimate importance of the “spiritual” rather than the “physical.”  He gave us the descriptive picture of how God cares for the birds, the flowers, and things in nature, and if He cared for and about those things, He cared Even More for us – (Some environmental extremists should read this).  

You cannot make yourself taller by worrying about your height.  You cannot lose weight by worrying about the number on the scales.  You cannot make yourself well by worrying about your health.  You cannot make yourself rich by worrying about your lack of money.  We have God’s promise to take care of us. 

I like what David said in Psalm 37:25 – “I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsake or his descendants begging for bread.”  God knows full well what we need even before we bring our needs to Him.  However, Jesus gives us a bit of valuable and vital instruction in this passage in verse 33 – “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”  God first in our lives identifies a total surrender and commitment to Him and opens the door for the provisions of the Lord to flow out to us in all things. 

In the next verse, Jesus said something almost amusing: “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”  Each day has enough of its own problems to worry about things that have not yet happened.

The bottom line is that either we are confident that God is Who the Bible declares Him to be, or we are not.  If He is, then “worry” should not be a part of our lives.  When that ugly enemy of peace comes in, we should remind it of the Promises and Provisions of the Heavenly Father and resist it, refusing to allow it a place in our lives.  I know that is much easier said than done, but it is doable in Christ through the Power of the Spirit of God.

Instead of being a Worrier, be a Warrior!  Instead of allowing “worry” to rob you of your peace, allow the Holy Spirit to flood your heart with the Peace that passes all human understanding!  I have been in that place more than once where either God came through and proved to be the God of the Bible, or I went under, and He has never failed, and I am still here.  To God be all the glory!

May God bless you is my prayer and give you a worry-free day and life!