The secret to be worry-free…
Friend, have you been worried? Me too. I have had sleepless nights because I was anxious. I tossed and turned because my mom just passed away and I worried for my blind 92-year-old dad. It was horrible – to feel my whole body charged with electric current from sleeplessness. I was on the verge of a breakdown. Whew.. through the years, I learned and am still learning Jesus’ antidote to worry.
As I read Matthew 6, I found some questions to ask when worried and answers to seek to stop worrying.
Matthew 6
v. 25 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
For this reason… what reason? Refer to the passage before this. In vv. 19-24, Jesus talked about wealth and money matters.
1) v. 19 Earthly pleasures are temporal: houses rot, cars break down, money depreciates or stolen.
2) v. 20 Eternal treasures last. They cannot be stolen or destroyed. Love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, kind words, good deeds, love for God and man. These are priceless with no expiration date.
3) v. 21 Where our treasure is, there our heart is also: man pursues what his heart considered as valuable. Where is your heart? What is your treasure?
4) v. 22-23 Light and darkness: We see clearly in the light. Do our eyes see the light? Or are we in darkness?
5) v. 24 God or money: which one for you? Choose one only… it cannot be both because if I love money, God becomes second.
So for ‘all of the above’ reasons, we should not worry about life.
Q1: IS NOT LIFE MORE THAN food and the body more than clothing?
To ponder: What is life about? Why am I who I am, where I am now? What for? Do I live for material things only? Is life only about the superficial and temporal things?
v. 26 Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?
Q2: ARE YOU NOT WORTH MUCH MORE? than what? the birds of the air. They do not work for their food. Our heavenly Father gives them food.
To ponder: What is your worth? Where do you find your worth? In financial security? In social affirmation? In personal achievement?
v. 27 And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?
Q3: Can you add a single hour to your life by worrying?
To ponder: If I worry, does it make time jump over the stuff I fret about? Does it make it go slower to the day I dread for it? Or will worry make time go faster and make the journey to recovery shorter?
v. 28-31 And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’
Q4: Why am I worried?
To ponder: When I worry, am I helping God along? Perhaps, I can do better? Solomon was very rich, yet the lilies of the field are clothed more gloriously than he was. How do I compare myself with the grass of the field in God’s eyes? When I worry, I am of little faith. I doubt God is capable of providing for me.
v. 32 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
Implication: When I worry, I am like the Gentiles. They are unbelievers who do not know God.
V, 33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
The antidote to worry is to seek God – put Him first – go after the things that matter to Him – His kingdom and His righteousness. How? Find out when you read the Bible – all that He wants for His children are found in His word.
And the promise is that ‘all these things’ – all the things that you worry about needlessly, these will be ‘added.’ Implication: added means it’s on top of God’s kingdom and His righteousness. More than earthly pleasures, we get heavenly treasures.
Finally, I want to share my favorite verse, formula to fulfill the desires of my heart:
Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)
When I seek after God, when I like what God likes, surely, He will grant me my desires, will He not?! So why should I worry?
