Do not WORRY about your life

Scripture:

Matthew 6:25-34 "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? (26) 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? (27) Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? (28) "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. (29) Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. (30) 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? (31) So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' (32) For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. (33) But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (34) Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Observation:

Because of the ill effects of worry, Jesus tells us not to worry about those needs that God promises to supply. Worry may (1) damage your health, (2) disrupt your productivity, (3) negatively affect the way you treat others, and (4) reduce your ability to trust in God. How many ill effects of worry are you experiencing? Here is the difference between worry and genuine concern-worry immobilizes, but concern moves you to action.

Planning for tomorrow is time well spent; worrying about tomorrow is time wasted. Sometimes it's difficult to tell the difference. Careful planning is thinking ahead about goals, steps, and schedules, and trusting in God's guidance. When done well, planning can help alleviate worry. Worriers, by contrast, are consumed by fear and find it difficult to trust God. They let their plans interfere with their relationship with God. Don't let worries about tomorrow affect your relationship with God today.

Application:

Imagine never worrying about anything! It seems like an impossibility; we all have worries on the job, in our homes, at school. But Paul's advice is to turn our worries into prayers. Do you want to worry less? Then pray more! Whenever you start to worry, stop and pray.

By nature, I am a worry wart. I often am tempted to "worry about my life." And just as often, I have to go running back to the Word of God. My daily theme verse is from Psalm 118:24 "This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it." This reminds me that since God gave me this day, He has also given me the provision for this day.

Jesus taught us to pray, "Give us THIS DAY our daily bread." THIS DAY...God wants me to understand that there is great POTENTIAL in THIS DAY. There is great POSSIBILITY in THIS DAY. There is great POWER in THIS DAY. There is a great PERSON who is in charge of THIS DAY! That is the key...make a decision to trust God THIS DAY.

Regardless of what I face, I need to understand the importance of leaning on Jesus THIS DAY. I need to spend time in His presence THIS DAY.

A Swedish proverb says, "Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow." A Scottish Proverb says, ""What may be, may not be."

A bassoon player came up to his conductor, Arturo Toscanini, and nervously said that he could not reach the high E flat. Toscanini just smiled and replied, "Don't worry. There is no E flat in your music tonight." Many of our worries are like that-- unfounded and unnecessary. Why do I spend my times worrying about the "E flat's" that I am fearful of? Often, I am anxious about something that never comes to pass.

Worry is faith in the negative, trust in the unpleasant, assurance of disaster and belief in defeat...worry is wasting today's time to clutter up tomorrow's opportunities with yesterday's troubles. A dense fog that covers a seven-city-block area one hundred feet deep is composed of less than one glass of water divided into sixty thousand million drops. Not much is there but it can cripple an entire city. When I don't have anything to worry about, I begin to worry about that.

J. Arthur Rank, an English executive, decided to do all his worrying on one day each week. He chose Wednesdays. When anything happened that gave him anxiety and annoyed his ulcer, he would write it down and put it in his worry box and forget about it until next Wednesday. The interesting thing was that on the following Wednesday when he opened his worry box, he found that most of the things that had disturbed him the past six days were already settled. It would have been useless to have worried about them.

I must make up my mind daily to "not worry about my life." How? Fill my mind with God's Word, and daily make a decision to spend time in God's presence.

As Author Bob Gass says, "God doesn't want to be your Sunday get-away; He wants to be your permanent residence. We think of God as a deity to discuss instead of a place to dwell, but God wants to be much more. He wants to be the One in whom "we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28). When God led the children of Israel through the wilderness He didn't just appear once a day, then abandon them. No, the pillar of fire was present all night and the cloud of smoke was present all day. Our God never leaves us. He promised, "I am with you always"(Matthew 28:20)."

David said, "I'm asking God [Yahweh] for… only one thing: to live with Him in His house my whole life long" (Psalm 27:4)." That's nice" you say, "I'd love to live in God's house too, but I'm stuck in the real world." No, just the opposite; you're only one decision away from your Father's presence. You don't need to change your address - just your perception. Wherever you go today, whatever you face today, remind yourself, "He is with me!"

Prayer:

"Lord, I need your help today. You said in my daily text that it is the heathen that worry about their lives. I am not a heathen, and don't want to act like one. Please forgive me for being anxious and filling my mind with worry. I choose today to come into your presence. I choose today to remember that this day you have made for me, and my responsibility is to rejoice and be glad in it. Since you gave me this day, you have also made arrangements for the provision for this day. I know that, but the way I express it is through thanksgiving. Thank you Lord for your faithfulness to me, THIS DAY. In Jesus' name, amen."