The Basics of the Battle with Worry

Let’s now look at some of the particulars of this battle, and how to overcome them.

We begin with a word of warning given by our Lord Jesus:

(Luke 21:33-34 KJV) “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. (34) And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.”

Here, Jesus is sounding an alarm for the generation that will live at the time his return is imminent. The topic and context of this warning is his precious, enduring, absolute, eternal word: He says, “My words shall not pass away.” God’s words are creative, life-giving, health-creating, and bring faith; they are the “sword of the spirit” and the “word of his grace”; he is upholding all things by them—the “word of his power”; he wants to see them prevail and come to 100-fold harvest in our lives.

Jesus knows that God’s word is the only entity and force capable of bringing us through the end-time pressure successfully. Therefore, he cautions us [again] in this passage about some of the things that can prevent its fruitfulness.

Here, our Lord lists three things that can overload our heart-soil—preventing the word reaching its maximum potential for helping us:

? Surfeiting—the nausea and/or headache that accompanies gluttony.

? Drunkenness,

? Cares of this life

Jesus said that these three will “overload” or weigh down our hearts:

Two of them are physical—drunkenness and gluttony; they dull the mind and reduce its sharp focus. They distract it by keeping its focus on the carnal matters of the body. This competes with the mind’s ability to stay focused on God’s word, and to meditate on it exclusively.

The third thing he mentions is the “cares of this life.” This is simply ordinary everyday worry and anxiety. Jesus is clearly reiterating his earlier warning that commonplace everyday concern is a distraction from the main game: He says it will overload, burden, and weigh down the heart. We certainly don’t need the soil of our hearts to be over-taxed by growing weeds; we need our heart-soil totally available for, and solely focused on, growing God’s word.

Religion and [even] society look on gluttony and drunkenness disparagingly. However, cares, worry, and anxiety are more readily accepted—and even expected. At times, others feel we are irresponsible if we don’t “care” and worry about certain things—things like their perception of our responsibilities. For example, the disciples thought Jesus should “care” about the storm that was distracting their minds from obeying his word:

(Mark 4:37-38 MKJV) And there arose a windstorm, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was now full. (38) And He was in the stern of the boat, asleep on a headrest. And they awakened Him and said to Him, “Master, do You not care that we perish?”

Martha thought Jesus should care that her sister wasn’t helping in the kitchen; she believed her sister should be focused on what was happening with the catering instead of sitting at Jesus’s feet. Yet, the Master refused to be distracted by Martha’s expectation that he care (worry).

(Luke 10:38-42 EMTV) Now it came to pass as they traveled, that He entered into a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. (39) And the woman had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’s feet and was listening to His word. (40) But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, don’t You care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” (41) And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. (42) But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

The scene described here reveals much about how “cares” distract us from God’s preferred focus. Mary sat at Jesus’s feet and listened to his word: this is where the issues of life emanate (Prov. 4:20-23); this is the source of solutions; this is where the word that brings life, healing, grace, wisdom, creativity, correction, etc. originates. Mary focused herself on what is truly and eternally important; she was “seeking first the Kingdom of God.” In response, Jesus that said she had “chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

However, on the surface, Mary looked like the irresponsible one, and Martha looked to be responsible: Mary was reclining while Martha was busy doing her hostess duties—preparing food, and serving it. Martha was doing what would normally be considered the female host’s responsibility in their traditions. Yet, despite cultural and courteous norms, in God’s eyes, Martha’s priorities were wrong and Mary’s were right. After all, Jesus could have fed the whole crowd gathered that day with a few small bread rolls and a couple of small fish.

Revealing her troubled and divided heart further, Martha came to Jesus and asked for something. This was her prayer: “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”

This not only revealed the weedy state of her heart—full of the distraction of care—but also her spirit of self-pity and a manipulative approach to prayer; her focus on her “cares” took her eyes and ears off the Lord Jesus and his words. This meant she wasn’t receiving faith, the flow of life, and the grace needed to enable her to walk in love.

Therefore, when she approached Jesus; instead of coming in overflowing love and faith, she came driven by rejection and frustration—from failed religious efforts to impress him. This in turn resulted in a manipulative prayer that tried to get him, not only to worry himself, but to help her in her attempts to impress him with her [religious] self-effort.

Martha’s request was aimed at fulfilling her vision, which proved to be the exact opposite of our Lord’s vision: she wanted Mary to be distracted by cares and un-focussed on Jesus like she was. But Jesus wanted them both to ignore the cares, and to be focused exclusively on God’s manna from heaven.

Martha had lost sight of the truth that he is Lord, and tried to take over that role herself. Of course, Jesus didn’t grant her request; instead he pointed her to what he believes is at the zenith of life’s priorities:

(Luke 10:41-42 EMTV) And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. (42) But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

Jesus is the greatest teacher with the greatest content ever; he contains the correct view of God, the universe, and the way things work; only he can reveal how to succeed in receiving blessing and kingdom fruit. That day, he said that Mary had chosen wisely—and that he would not stop her; she sat at his feet and heard his words. Obviously, she loved him, and like “those around him with the twelve,” she recognized the opportunity of a lifetime; she realized that no other place was more important, and no other priority more urgent than sitting at Jesus’s feet, drinking in his life-giving words.

In steering Martha in God’s direction, Jesus mentioned worry. Worry, anxiety, and care are all in the same category; they are pseudo priorities that distract and overload the mind—keeping it from having its sole focus on God’s omnipotent word, which Jesus said is the “one thing … needed.”

Today, let’s follow Mary’s example in this story; let’s focus on sitting at Jesus’s feet and on really hearing his word deep in our heart. That’s the only place the word of our King can produce any fruit in our lives and in this world.