Anxious?

Should we be worried?

We may feel like worrying is our default mode. There certainly are many reasons why we would worry. On a personal level we may “be concerned” that our children will make good decisions. We may think about the health of our aging parents and how they will be taken care of. On an existential level we may worry how we are going to make it through the next week because we have lost the job that supported us, or we have bills to pay without any idea where the money will come from. A glance at the daily news reminds us of a gazillion bigger reasons to worry. Terrorism can and does strike anywhere. There are demonized crazies out there who behead people or burn them alive to advance their utopia of a caliphate. Genocide, mass murder, gun violence, war, rape, a growing potential for devastating natural disasters, droughts, floods, economic recession, Ebola, biological warfare…The depressing list goes on and on.

So, we sure have reasons to worry. Our culture even tells us worrying is not only justified; it is the responsible thing to do.

But while our own instinct or our culture tells us one thing, God tells us another.  He asks us not to worry. (Matthew 6:25-34) That doesn’t mean he is blind to the reasons that worry us. Instead he tells us to expend our energy on trusting him and his character. In the above passage, Jesus tells us not to worry, and he also gives us the reason why. Our worries seem to be rooted in our choice to straddle the fence. We don’t want to commit to trust in him. To live without worry requires faith—not in our own abilities but in God who created us, saves us and who cares more deeply for us then we will ever be able to comprehend. Please read and think deeply about Jesus’ words in the above passage, Matthew 6: 24-34, where he points out that it is clearly illogical for followers of Jesus to worry.