Worried
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” Matthew 6:25-27
If you’ve ever attended a wedding, you know how much work goes into making everything look special for the big day. But, if you’ve never planned a wedding, you have no idea how much anxiety goes into every little decision leading up the big day. 10 years ago, Rebecca and I got married at Greystone and I still remember all the little decisions we had to make.
One of the most stressful decisions we had to make involved choosing invitations. For days we flipped through big books full of samples of different shapes, colors, sizes, prices, etc. We worried about getting the right one chosen on time. Then, when we finally mailed them to the guests, we started worrying about whether we made the right choice. In the end, Rebecca and I still got married and 10 years later I barely remember what the invitations looked like.
We live in a world full of worry and anxiety and it is easy to get overwhelmed. Back in Jesus’ day, people worried just as much as we do today. So, Jesus’ words in these verses are still very important for our modern lives.
Jesus is reminding us that if God cares for the rest of Creation, He will also care for His children. At the heart of our worry is doubt about God’s goodness and love. When we doubt this, we begin to worry because we think that it is all up to us. This only creates a cycle of worry and more worry.
Jesus is telling us to stop looking at ourselves and to focus on God because He is in control. God wants His children to trust Him. How much time do you spend worrying about little things that don’t really matter? How would your life change if you could finally stop worrying and start trusting God?