...Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matthew 6:33-34 (NKJV)
Do you consider yourself a “worrier“? No you say? Give it some though... Does your mind ever drift to things that
could happen? Do you spend time thinking about the “what ifs” of life? Does it show in your attitude or the lines on your forehead (there from frowning). So...
now do you consider yourself a worrier?
Worrying comes as naturally as breathing for some. Some are obsessed by the uncertainty of everything around them. Others hide it better and it comes out only when there seems to be a full load of uncertainty. To some degree, we’ve all experienced worry.
You’re told that you’re not to worry though. Jesus states it in such a way that it seems childish to worry.
“There’s no reason for it,” Jesus tells us. Seems plain and simple…
“Don’t worry... period.” There are no “what ifs” or “buts” to that. He says it clearly...
“Don’t worry.”
“But the bills are overdue and we’re not getting paid until next week!”
“Don’t worry.”
“What if I never get married?”
“Don’t worry.”
“But I’ve been working that job my whole life... how am I ever going to get hired somewhere else?"
“Don’t worry.”
“What if the cancer doesn’t go away?”
“Don’t worry.”
“What if I die before my children?”
“Don’t worry.”
Jesus commands us to not worry about tomorrow… to “take one day at a time”. Tomorrow has enough to deal with and you’ll just go crazy thinking about it. There’s no point in questioning it because you don‘t know the answers. It‘s a waste of time wondering about it because you could never understand God’s plan.
Can you imagine saying, “Hey God... I’m not sure what You had in mind for this, but I came up with this GREAT idea and thought You might like to hear it. Maybe You hadn’t thought of it before.” Sound ridiculous? Well, that’s exactly what worrying is to Christians… ridiculous. He tells us that all we need to do is “seek FIRST the kingdom of God”. That’s it. That should be our only worry... that should be our only concern.
“Come to Me first. Think of Me first. Before you take another moment to begin to worry about something else, think of ME”, He says. Are you getting the picture?
“Then, everything else will fall into place”, he says. “AFTER you’ve put Me first, then I will take care of everything else, in MY way.”
But what if He doesn’t answer the way you want? I guess you have a choice then... you can worry about
how the Lord will answer, or you could just relax and rely on the fact that He will.
Pray:
Dear Heavenly Father,
I confess that I have worried about too many things and today I give them to You. I release those worries, breathe in Your peace, and relax in knowing that You have everything under control. Please help me to remember the next time I begin to worry, to seek You first. In all the areas of strife in my life I come to You and give up the “what ifs” and “buts” and trust You completely. I don’t know how I’m going to get the tasks that lie ahead of me done, but I will no longer worry about it, and instead look to You for the answers and guidance, and watch Your plan unfold in my life. Thank You for reminding me that worrying is a futile response to the Creator of Everything.
In Jesus name,
Amen.
© 2004 Amy Verlennich
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