Why worry?
0 comments | Posted by Steven Layson on 11 Mar 2007 in From Steve's Study ::
Statistics tell us that an average person’s anxiety is focused on :
40% — things that will never happen
30% — things about the past that can’t be changed
12% — things about criticism by others, mostly untrue
10% — about health, which gets worse with stress
8% — about real problems that will have to be faced
Anxiety is completely illogical, statistically speaking, because most of the time we worry about things that will never happen anyway. As the old Scottish proverb says, “What might happen, might not happen”.
And yet worry is not guided by logic. It is often difficult to just tell yourself to “Stop worrying”.
Jesus gives us a reason to stop worrying that is far more powerful than mere statistics. The reason we do not need to worry is that God is in control of all things (good or bad). In Matt 6:31f, he tells us, “do not worry, saying,
`What shall we eat?’ or `What shall we drink?’ or `What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.”
God knows the things we need (even better than we do), he loves us (more than we could ever know) & promises to look after us always. We can trust him with the big things and the little things in life.
So, instead of worrying about the bad things that may or may not happen to us, Jesus encourages us to focus on something far more important – “seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
In other words, when the worries of life overtake you, come before God, consciously leave them to him and think, “what would God have me do in this circumstance?” We need to commit our own actions to following God and leave the results to him.
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