Worry Warts

“Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?” Matthew 6:27.

We have all done it and we will all continue to do it as long as we have breath. We worry about this or that, him or her, when or what. Jesus walked under the shadow of His death every day, in every town and came face to face daily with His inevitable reality. He was credible in this question as He exhorted the audience to focus on the Kingdom of God instead of things that God has already settled. He walked out His faith in complete belief that God was His sustainer and provider of everything.

Yet, we have made worrying our favorite past time. We worry when we don’t get our way, we worry when we do get our way, and insanely enough, I have even known people who worry about peaceful times. We have all heard the statement…waiting for the other shoe to drop. When we view life through the latter type of worry, it becomes a self fulfilling prophesy. We settle up front that we will live our lives watching for and anticipating the trials opposed to enjoying and being grateful for the blessings of today. Worry stands in line for the fearful future instead of claiming today's blessed realities.

My commentary states, ‘Daily we face new challenges, concerns, problems, and choices. Will we worry or will we pray? Worry may damage our health, cause the object of our worry to consume our thoughts, disrupt our productivity, negatively affect the way we treat others, and reduce our ability to trust God…It accomplishes nothing…We only add to today’s burdens when we worry about the future. All the anxieties about tomorrow will not change the outcome. We must trust God for today without worrying about tomorrow.’ Life Application New Testament Commentary, p. 34.

Why do we live our lives anticipating the negative instead of claiming a life in Christ in the positive? Who taught us our spiritual math? The spiritual math is simple: our worrying cannot add anything to our lives but certainly subtracts from our lives. Will our lives be the sum of great moments in Christ or will we live our lives in the negative? James, the half-brother of Jesus, echoed this in 4:1. 'Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."

Today's worrying will not change one thing regarding tomorrow’s reality. By setting our focus on God and His Kingdom, it changes our priorities from ourselves and our gaze becomes focused on things of eternal significance.