Matthew 6:25-26 - “I tell
you this: Do not worry about your life. Do not worry about what you are going
to eat and drink. Do not worry about what you are going to wear. Is not life
more important than food? Is not the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds in the sky. They do not plant seeds. They do
not gather grain. They do not put grain into a building to keep. Yet your
Father in heaven feeds them! Are you not more important than the birds?
Jesus continued to teach the disciples wherever
they went. The lessons included the importance of humility when praying….fasting
…giving….or doing any act of kindness. He
called those who do things for the wrong reasons hypocrites. He warned them how
damaging money can be to their focus on God…then he launched into this
important teaching on worrying.
He told us simply not to worry…that it would
not change the outcome in the end one bit.
He said that he cared much more for us than the animals and birds that
he clothed and cared for in nature…that God promised to care for our every
need.
Worry is damaging to our mind….body and
spirit. It affects our physical body by
raising blood pressure and creating stress. It affects our sleep routines and interferes
with healthy eating in a negative way. It attacks our mind and spirit by
consuming our thoughts….putting the center of our thoughts on ourselves instead
of God. It reduces productivity and decreases the good we could do for the kingdom
if we were centered more on God’s plan for our lives. It decreases our trust in
God…and produces an unhealthy fear of the future.
It reminds me to hold fast to one of the
scriptures I do not have to google to remember where it is. Jeremiah 29:11 says
that God knows the plans he has for us…and they are plans to prosper us…not harm
us. He wants us to have hope for our future…not fear…(translation mine.) I
cling to that promise often….and it helps me not to worry so much about the
timing or exact details of that marvelous plan…to trust that God is working something
great to insure that I am cared for at just the exact level that will be best
for me. The level that will insure that
I learn everything I need to learn to be an obedient worker for him.
Father…thank you for the reminder that I
need to guard against worrying about all things in life. Forgive me for the
times that Have not placed my full trust in you…and let worry consume me and
take my focus off of you. Help me to be
so centered on you that I don’t let worry catapult me into a time of pity…or
concern over things that do not matter to my relationship to you. Let my
thoughts be so consumed with serving you that I am amazed by the blessings that
come when I am obedient to you. Amen.
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