Why Worry
“And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?” Luke 12:25-26
In our house, we often have to ask each other, “Are you choosing things to worry about?” I am really good at worrying - I think we all are! We worry about what to wear, what we said, or if we are going to get invited to do something on Friday night. I worry all the time about whether or not I turned off my stove… even on days when I haven’t turned it on! Sometimes I find myself choosing things to worry about that couldn’t feasibly happen. How crazy is that?
Jesus asks a very important question in this passage: what, by worrying, are we going to be able to change? Can worrying about what you said change what you said? No! Will worrying about my stove being on turn my stove off?
No! Will worrying add a single hour to our life? No! God has a plan, and He will work out everything to its proper end (Proverbs 16:4). At the end of the day, worrying is just another way of saying that you don’t trust that God has a plan that will work out for our good.
So, if worrying isn’t going to change anything, then why worry? Why waste our thoughts and time doing something that will make no difference? Why not spend that time thanking God for having a plan greater than we could possibly dream? Of focusing on how much more we could share God’s love with someone else? Or just doing something that we love to do, which glorifies God in the process? There is so much more, positive and productive that we could do instead of worrying.
Often, when I’m worrying about something, my mom will ask me, “What is the worst thing that could possibly happen?” Usually, once I sit down and think about it, the worst thing that could possibly happen is not nearly as bad as I am acting like it would be. Its usually something simple like, “They’ll say no they won’t help me and I’ll ask someone else.” Or “She will get upset with me, but then I’ll apologize.” Things could be much worse, I’m sure.
So from now on, let’s put worrying aside and focus on more positive things! When things feel like they aren’t going our way, let’s take a minute to breathe, close our eyes and say, “I trust you Jesus.” And then, let’s let it go. Let’s do something great! Let’s stop making up reasons not to trust God and instead let Him be in control. Things work out much better when He is anyways!