What Are You Worried About?

 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:34

This verse has much to say about our relationship to the LORD and His ability to meet our needs.  This verse is found in the great sermon that Jesus spoke to a crowd of people that we call the “Sermon on the Mount”.  I am going to share with you some insights that I have learned over the years about this idea of worry or being anxious.

Have you ever experience worry or anxiety?  I can assure you that the things that we worry about the most are things that are in the future.  Look at the verse, Jesus says, “Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself”.   The next time you are feeling anxious asked yourself if what you are thinking (worrying) about has to do with the now or the future.

I remember two years ago, when my wife Ellen was laying in the hospital bed, unconscious, on all kinds of life support things and I was worrying about what I was going to do, if God should take her home.  It took me a few weeks to get out of this habit of thinking but God did show me that my worries were for naught.  As a matter of speaking, Ellen was unconscious for 9 days, and I remember going to church the morning that she gained consciousness and my pastor during the corporate prayer time, had asked the church to cry out on Ellen’s behalf to take her home without much suffering.  I had the peace of God in my mind at that time and said to the LORD, “if that is your will LORD, I am going to be okay with that”.  I really meant that in my heart, but my anxious thoughts were thinking of all the things that I would need to do if that became my reality.

This brings me to another verse where Paul encourages his readers, to think on things that are true.  I had to remind myself, that Ellen was still alive even though she was on a breathing machine and unconscious, she still had life in her.  I also had to remind myself that God wants me to focus on today, and not on the hours, days, weeks, or months ahead.  We had a trip planned in November that year and it September was coming to the end, LORD are we going to be able to make the trip?  Do not worry about that Doug.

So, what does worry do for us?  Nothing!  It cannot add a single moment to our life, as a matter of speaking, worry tends to rob us of moments of life.  Think about it, if we are so focused on the future and not the moment we are living in, we are missing all that God wants to do in and through us at this moment.  It took me some time to learn this.  So, two days that we really can not afford to have our minds fixed on, yesterday (because it is behind us) and tomorrow (it isn’t even promised to us).  Our focus needs to be on today.  Jesus says that today, has it own trouble and these troubles should be our focus.

I love how Jesus can minister to us in the simple things of life.  Worry is focusing on that which is not true (because it usually is about the future) and we use words such as “what if”.  The next time you say “what if” stop yourself and say, “what is”.  You see, today has its own troubles.  How are you and the LORD handling those troubles today?  What is he teaching you in those troubles?  Is he LORD of your life?  That means that He is sovereign, in control of all things.  Do you believe that with your whole heart, mind, soul and strength?  Of course not, we all struggle with these things, but are you growing?  Are you moving towards Christlikeness or away from it?  Only you (and the LORD of course) know whether or not you are moving towards Christlikeness.  I tell the men that I work with to honestly asked themselves if they are truly different today than they were 30 days ago, 60 days ago, 90 days ago.  Not only are they doing different things, but are they different.  If so, do they look more or less like Jesus.  How about you?  Doug Barger is the Director of Men’s Ministries at Bethesda Mission outside of Harrisburg and is the former Colony of Mercy Administrator

Daily Bible Reading: Romans 11-13

Think About This: There never was a person who did unfeignedly repent of sin with believing repentance who was not forgiven. On the other hand, there never was a person forgiven who had not repented of his sin. Charles Haddon Spurgeon

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace,  comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17