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Remember the old comic book: What Me Worry? It was a publication trying to get its readers to be happier, among other things. What do you worry about? Today, there are so many events, situations, or people who can make us worry. Many times, we worry about things on which don’t make sense. Of course, there are some who have a condition that is a mental or physical that make it extremely difficult not to worry. Those people avoid crowds, tight situations, and some even are unable to leave their home. I have a personal knowledge of this type of more permanent anxiety as an ongoing condition. My daughter has suffered with this essentially all of her life. My wife and I did not know about this condition for many years as it was not widely known about. She was finally able to get some help from a professional in this field but not until she was a teenager. So, we need to differentiate those conditions that are mental and physical from the worry that is written about in Matthew.
An example of what causes many to worry about temporarily is presented is the story of the nervous airline passenger who was pacing the terminal when bad weather delayed his departure. During his walk he came across a life insurance machine that offered $100,000 in the event of an untimely death aboard his flight. The policy was just three dollars. He looked through the window at the threatening clouds and thought of his family at home. For that price it seemed foolish not to buy a policy, so he took out the coverage. He then looked for a place to eat while he was waiting during the delay, and he found a Chinese restaurant. It was a relaxing meal until he opened his fortune cookie, which read, “Your recent investment will pay big dividends”. (Thanks to Dr. David Jeremiah for this story).
We may smile at the disconcerted traveler, but we all battle those nagging concerns that disturb our sense of inner peace. Our lives are full of concern, and sometimes these concerns have a way of morphing into monsters of the mind. This is the type of worry about which this article is written to help us. This type of worry can be concern on steroids. It attacks our peace of heart, assaults our faith, ties our intestines in knots, fills our minds with shadows, and sends flaming darts to pierce our emotional wellbeing.
This is the type of worry and anxiety that the Book of Matthew records from Jesus and provides help to overcome. In Matthew chapter six there are many scripture verses from the Sermon on the Mount which serves as a definitive description from Jesus for our worry, anxiety, and for our daily walk of faith. The complete passage is in Matthew 6:25-34-Jesus said, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry…So why do you worry…? Do not worry…Do not worry”. What exactly is this troubling attitude? Everyone has their own way of describing it. The dictionary defines worry as a set of thoughts that causes us to feel troubled or uneasy, distressed, anxious, or apprehensive”. The Bible provides a host of more vivid definitions, but many of these sayings are attributed to many various people that reveal a different aspect of their anxious thoughts. The following are a few of these definitions from others:
“Worrying is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do but doesn’t get you anywhere.”
“Worry is the misuse of your God-given imagination”.
“Worry is putting question marks where God has put periods,”
“Worry is interest we pay on tomorrow’s troubles”.
“Worry is a form of atheism because it assumes there is no God watching over us”.
“Worry is faith in the negative”.
“Worry is an emotional spasm which occurs when the mind catches hold of something and will not let it go”.
There are many others that may even be more actuate or helpful.
Much of our worry concerns the future about which we can do nothing about. It is said that “The future is not here, and the future is not ours”. So, this is really saying we can’t control the future nor predict what it will look like. Only God knows the future, so we are letting our minds dealing with something we cannot control. Knowing this can help if we completely put our trust in God. So, let’s attempt to determine the best ways to do this.
In Matthew 6, the Greek word for worry is “merizo”, which comes from two smaller words which mean to “divide” and “nous” which means “mind”. The idea, I’m told, is “being drawn or pulled in different directions, being torn apart.” So, worrying is like having your spirit pulled apart, having a mind divided between legitimate thoughts and destructive ones. James 1:8 it calls a doubter “a double minded man, unstable in all his ways”. Jesus warned Martha against such double-mindedness. Remember Martha was breezing around the house working and fretting and fusing trying to prepare domestic issues for Jesus and the group there. Jesus said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things, But one thing is needed, and Mary was chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Lots of us are Martha’s many times. We fly around, worried and troubled about many things. We live in a world that makes it easy to worry. With the news we see and hear today about everyday events, we realize we have a lot of valid reasons to worry about the future. But as Biblical Christians we have better reasons not to worry. When we worry, it is both emotionally and distressing and spiritual detrimental. However, worry can choke the word of God in our lives and render us unfruitful. It can tear our thoughts apart and make us double-minder doubters.
When Jesus said, “Do not worry”, He was not telling us to forego planning. Jesus did a lot of planning while in the wilderness for 40 days, He planned for the Last Supper, and He planned for the disciples to continue His mission after He was gone. Nor was He telling us to live without concern. Concern is a legitimate emotion that allows us to focus on a problem and resolve it. However, concern mostly requires a clear head to respond to a present need or problem. Worry is an unhealthy response to a future fear. We need not worry about being concerned, but we should be concerned about worrying. This leads us to understand and study the Scripture in Matthew where Jesus helps us better deal with worry.
UNDERSTAND WORRY
When we define worry, which we have done, we can better understand it. As indicated previously Matthew 6:25-32 gives us several things that Jesus wants us to know. Let’s begin with verse 6:25, where we are taught that worry is inconsistent. This verse says, “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.” Jesus was telling us, in effect: “Listen carefully, you who worry about necessities of life like food and clothing. The One on whom you are depending, is the One who has given you life. If He has created your very life, don’t you think He can care for the simple things that adorn your life? If your God has the power to create these marvelous organisms, we call our bodies. Isn’t it logical to believe He can provide clothes to put on our bodies, food to put in them, and shelter to put over them? Cannot the One who has done the greater also do the lesser?” (Quote from Dr. David Jeremiah) So, if we believe God is our Creator, we should also believe He is our Sustainer. Otherwise, we are inconsistent in our beliefs.
Then in verse 6:26, Jesus says, “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?” This verse continues the discussion of worry about material provisions. In this verse Jesus tells his followers not to be anxious about food, but to rely on God as the birds, who are worth far less than people, are fully provided for.
This almost seems like an overly simple illustration. But what is the application? “Are you not of more value than they?” Are you not more important than a bird? The simplicity of it almost goes beyond us. So let me ask you, “Does not God provide for the birds?” “Yes”, you reply. “Are you more important than the birds?” “Yes”. Then the concluding question, “Do you think God will provide for you?” We could use the same illustration with our own children, because they are important to us just as we are important to God. I feed my dog every day. Do you think my children are more important than my dog? Do you think I will feed my dog and let my children go hungry? Are we not the children of God? Does God not love His children? Do you think God is going to feed the birds and let His children go hungry?
I love these two verses because they teach both sides of the same truth. If God can do the greater (give us life). He can do the lesser (provide for our needs). And if He gladly does the lesser (caring for birds), will He not do the same for the greater (caring for me). Our Lord’s reasoning is logical and flawless.
There is a little poem, written for little children in the 1800’s, that sometimes appears under the title “Overheard in an Orchard”. It brings our Lord’s point right down to where we live.
Said the Robin to the Sparrow,
“I should really like to know
Why these anxious human beings
Rush about and worry so”
Said the Sparrow to the Robin,
“Friend, I think that it must be
That they have no Heavenly Father
Such as cares for you and me”.
The next point that Jesus makes is in verse 27: 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”
Worry accomplishes nothing. There are two possible translations for this illustration, because the same word can be translated two ways. The word “stature” is used both of height and length of time. It is used to describe Zaccheus who was short in stature, and it is also used to describe adding to one’s life span. A cubit is about eighteen inches. One possible interpretation for this verse is: If you worry, can you add eighteen inches to your height? Obviously not!
It seems to me that the New American Standard Bible gives the better translation by referring to a “longer” life span. The question is more likely: Can you lengthen your life at all by worry? Medical experts tell us today that worry probably shortens our lives and causes all kinds of physical problems to develop. In speaking of adding a cubit to your life span, Jesus is mixing metaphors as we sometimes do. After a birthday, we sometimes say, “I’ve passed another milestone.” We have not really passed another milestone, because a milestone is a measure of distance. Can you add anything to your road of life by worrying? The basic statement Jesus is making is that worry accomplishes nothing.
Anxiety is worthless! There is zero value in worry. It does nothing good for us. An average person’s anxiety is focused on: 40% – things that will never happen; 30% – things about the past that can’t be changed; 12% – things about criticism by others, mostly untrue; 10% – about health, which gets worse with stress; 8% – about real problems that will be faced.
Then in Matthew 6:28-30 Jesus said: 28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers 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—you of little faith?”
Has there ever been a time when worry has served you well? When you’ve been so glad you spent energy conjuring up a potentially bad outcome…or plowing past better thoughts focused solely on your structured vision of security? Worry can actually weaken us, and yet, we worry still. Hoping all our hand-wringing and hard-working grow a shield of protection from life’s inevitable. God knows we’re made this way. Which is why Jesus teaches us how to handle worry when it comes.
Freedom from worry is one of so many reasons he arrived in the flesh. He shepherds our anxious hearts. And he gave us these words about the splendor of flowers, so we can learn from them. His words are alive. When we read or repeat them, they can actually renew us. This verse in Matthew calls to me now because where I live, it’s almost blooming time. It has me recalling the many times God has spoken to me in the language of flowers. Or trees, mushrooms, birds, and butterflies. His message of resurrection and renewal is prevalent in all of creation. Waves that ebb and flow, the rhythm of sunrise and sunset, and the return of flowers—are all among many of his mind-blowing “object lessons.”
God wants us to see not only their beauty, but their lack of worry. He describes it as laboring and spinning. It’s true that Jesus is acknowledging our basic need for clothes, but he is asking us to shed the layer of worry we spin (which was how they made clothing in ancient times). In verse 30, Jesus isn’t saying “don’t work and don’t get dressed.” He is asking us to take in the lesson of creation. To see how even the most fragile among us rely on God’s provision and are dressed in just the way that gives him glory. This is how he designed us to flourish…with a soul rooted in faith and at rest in his plan.
Matthew 6:31-32 sums it up, saying: “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.”
When we are tempted to worry, then, we should stop long enough to ask, “Who am I anyway? Am I a child of God or am I an unbeliever?” This is telling us to stop to think which may in that action, first of all, take our minds off of the worry. Then we are to think who we really are. This should lead us to put all of our attention on the Lord and at least some of our worry goes to the back of our minds.
Then in verse 32 Jesus mentions that such anxiety might be natural for the Gentiles, who have no God that provides for them, or who believe in capricious or unpredictable gods. Barclay rephrases this verse as stating that anxiety is impious as it represents doubt in God. To adopt a heart of worry when we are faced with lack is to step into the realm of the unbeliever, for scripture reminds us that in the world system it is the unbelievers; the Gentiles; the pagans that fret over the basics of life and adopt an attitude of anxiety.
It is a pagan mind-set that has overtaken society today – an intellectual perception which has eliminated the truth that God is our provider – a world view that has excluded God from the equation of life and adopted an attitude of self-sufficiency instead of God-sufficiency. It is when Christ has been placed at the center of our lives and we trust Him to be our all-sufficient savior that faith in Him matures. As trust in Him increases so worry and fear decline. When our heart is trusting Him in all things and Christ is in the center of our lives, we will find that anxiety has no place in our thinking and faith in His Word will increase, despite life’s circumstances, until we come to know Him as our all-sufficient provider as well as our all-sufficient savior.
OVERCOMING WORRY
After defining worry and helping us to understand its nature, Jesus ends His emphasis
in Matthew 6 by telling us how to overcome it. He has a two-fold plan. This is the simplest and most affective antidote to worry ever prescribed. First, Jesus said, you must totally commit your life to Him. Verse 33 “33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Instead of worrying about food, drink, and clothing, Jesus commands us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteous. Paul urges us to offer ourselves as a living-sacrifice to God. Put Christ first! Trust Him with your life, with all your needs, with the concerns of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. With all your heart, live for Him who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Missionary Hudson Taylor said, “Let us give up our work, our thoughts, our plans, ourselves, our lives, our loved ones, our influence, our all, right into His hand, and then, when we have given all over to Him, there will be nothing left for us to be troubled bout, or to make trouble about”. As we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, He promises to provide for all our needs, saying, “all these things shall be added to you”. This is the first part of our Lord’s plan, committing our work, our thoughts, our plans, ourselves- everything- totally to Jesus Christ.
But there is a second step, which is found in the next verse, Matthew 6:34-
“34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Having committed our lives to Him, we must concentrate our energies on living one day at a time. As Jesus said in verse 34 “Don’t worry about tomorrow- for sufficient for the day is its own trouble”. If verse 33 gives us the long view (committing the whole life to the Lord), verse 34 gives us the short view (living one day at a time for the Lord).
The British pastor John Shott said it this way: “One day’s trouble is enough for one day or each day has troubles enough of its own. So why anticipate them? If we do, we double them. For if our fear does not materialize, we have worried once for nothing: if it does materialize, we have worried twice instead of once. In both cases it is foolish: worry doubles trouble.” You can be sure your heavenly Father has made provision for your tomorrow, for He has filled your life with tokens of His goodness and faithfulness today. Lamentations 3:23 reminds us that God’s compassions are new every morning. It is like saying: “Trust Me. I will care for you day by day, Seek Me first, and all these things will be added to you”. Don’t worry about yesterday’s sins, God has forgiven them. Don’t worry about yesterday’s successes, God has recorded them. Don’t worry about yesterday’s sorrows, God can heal them and point us forward. We’re to live life on a daily basis.
Warren Wiersbe has written many books, one about Isaiah which I bought, read, and loved. I even used it for great material when I taught the Book of Isaiah on Wednesday nights for several weeks until the virus caused us to stop meeting. Mr. Wiersbe wrote about worries: “Most Christians are being crucified on a cross between two thieves: yesterday’s regrets and tomorrow’s worries.” It’s God‘s will that we focus our attention on the present, remembering that He promises to be with us at all times. Recall the Lord’s words at the burning bush in Exodus 3:14. When Moses asked God His name, the Lord replied, “I AM WHO I AM? God is the self-existent Creator who dwells in eternity, yet He is always present with us in the now. He is I AM, always “present tense: in our lives.
What is the meaning of do not worry about tomorrow? This is why Jesus said in Matthew 6:34, “Don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will have its own worries. Each day has enough trouble of its own”. Remember there are two days you should never worry about: yesterday and tomorrow. You can’t live in the past.
Those struggling with addiction, while in recovery, often cling to a set of guiding statements as they work to stay sober. A common mantra used in those situations is “one day at a time.” There’s no value in that person worrying about whether they will fall to temptation tomorrow. Their addiction must be fought today. Tomorrow’s fight will happen tomorrow. In overcoming addiction effectively, such people are taught to focus on winning today’s battles. This is compatible with the principles found in this command from Jesus. He tells His followers not to worry about tomorrow. As He has already said, worry doesn’t fix anything. Anxiety over things we cannot control, or out of our reach, makes no sense (Matthew 6:27). God loves us and already knows not only what He wants to accomplish, but what we need to make that happen (Matthew 6:33).
Jesus says, in short, that born-again believers ought to let tomorrow worry about itself. He’s not saying Christians cannot or should not make wise plans. Nor is He saying believers ought to literally ignore anything but the most immediate questions. His context here is about the emotions of fear and anxiety. Those who trust in God shouldn’t allow wallow in useless worry over the future. Tomorrow’s fight will happen tomorrow. The battle to trust God is always happening in the current moment. Today has plenty of trouble with which we need to trust God. Jesus commands His followers to focus on trust for God in a moment-by-moment way. We shouldn’t try to solve all our problems, for all time, all at once. Let God provide what is needed day by day. Peace is God’s supernatural gift for our hearts. He will pilot your life. He will bear the load and grant you peace as you totally commit yourself to Him and live one day for Him.
(Thanks to Dr. David Jeremiah and the Holy Spirit)