Too Many Worries?

Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing.

Matthew 6:27-28

SO MANY WORRIES. Your spouse’s success at work. Your child’s achievement in school. Your own needs for food, clothing, and shelter. We worry about everything from whether we can lose ten pounds after the holidays to whether we will die in a flaming car accident this afternoon. Many people become paralyzed by fear and worry, some even refusing to go out of their homes because of a phobia that keeps them terrorized and quaking indoors.

God does not want us to worry. In this passage in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus confronts the age-old problem of anxiety. What does he say? That worry not only doesn’t help us but can’t add anything to our lives. We may worry and fret about death, but it will come when God is ready, and not until. We cannot stave it off by sitting around biting our nails.

What does Jesus tell us to do about worry? He says to look at how God works in nature. He says to look at the lilies. They do nothing but sit there and grow. They don’t work or spend hours gathering material for the winter. No, they let God handle their needs. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t work, but we should trust God and not worry about our needs. He promises to meet them. You can put that one in the bank!