Stop Worrying and Start Living
The coronavirus pandemic has drastically changed the world we live in. Worry is taking its toll on the world today and most people are worried about getting COVID-19. Parents are worrying about their children and many are concerned about their future and families. Causes of worry are everywhere, in our relationships, economy, security and our jobs, so it’s key we find ways to take charge of the stress. You may call it: “Anxiety ““depression," "mental disturbance," “unknown fear” and so forth. Whatever it may be, worrying is become a part of our life style. Some of us worry more than others. But regardless of whether you worry much or worry little, worry is a real and dangerous fact of our existence.
One of the easiest and elegant phrases to say, yet so difficult to live by is “Don’t worry” Before I can help others; I need to let God deal with my worry. I know this, but I want to remind myself that Worry won’t help me. Jesus told us this “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? Of course, the answer is No. You can’t keep yourself from catching COVID-19 through worry. It won’t keep your family from getting sick. It won’t help you keep your lockdown open either. Worry just makes your problems worse because you can’t move a step closer to solving them. Worry can’t change your past. It can’t change your present or future either. All it can do is mess up your present. Proverbs 12:25 says, “Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up”.
To win the war over worry, we must…identify the root cause… No matter our life circumstance and stage, we can find something to worry about. The ignorant worry because they don’t know enough; the intellectuals because they know too much. The rich fear losing what they have; the poor fear not having enough. The old worry because they’re facing death; the young because they’re facing life. By Nature we all are fragile, short-lived and sad-lived, we do not trust in God as we should. We naturally trust in other things in place of God. Then, we worry and worry lead to depression. Worry steals our peace and joy and affects every area of our lives. For example, many health problems are caused in part by worry and stress. Those suffering from depression can experience intense feelings of sadness, anger, hopelessness, fatigue, and a variety of other symptoms. Moreover, if we are not careful, we can allow worry, instead of God, to be the focus of our lives.
This s why Three times in the Sermon on the Mount, Lord Jesus said “do not worry ,” (see Matthew 6:25-33) ” Jesus continues by illustrating God’s intimate care for His creatures, “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 why do you worry about clothes? Consider the lilies of the field. See how they grow. If God makes what grows in the field so beautiful, what do you think he will do for you? It’s just grass—one day it’s alive, and the next day someone throws it into a fire. But God cares enough to make it beautiful. Surely he will do much more for you.
Jesus points us to the birds and the lilies as our constant preachers. . Jesus reasons, “If God takes care of the birds, isn’t He going to take care of you? The birds are not busy cultivating, harvesting, and storing up their food. Instead they wake in the morning and sing praises to God for the daily bread that He has given them. And at night they sing the melodies of worship in confidence that God will again provide for them the rest and all they need. Jesus tells us that such is the trust of God’s creatures in His providence and care. God considers us more valuable than the birds for which He provides. Therefore, we can be even more confident that God will provide us with what we need.
Likewise the flowers in the fields are dressed in colors that put richest king Solomon’s glory to shame. Yet they don’t spend their time considering colors or deciding when to bloom. They do so according to the pleasure of God who cares for them with the rains and sunshine in their due season. Now if God cares so much for the birds and grasses, don’t you think that He cares for you? Of course He does. For this reason, His love for you, He has called you to be His beloved son and share in the inheritance of the glory of heaven. Your father in Heaven knows that you need these things and while this is not a promise that believers will never go without food or clothing, it is a call to put your trust in something more substantial than the things that wear out and fall apart. As a believer, we have resources that the non-believer does not have. We have a personal relationship with the Creator of the universe. Unbelievers do not have this relationship with God; therefore, they do not have access to His loving, caring provisions.
God provides so much more for you than food. When Jesus taught the Disciples to pray for daily bread in the Lord's Prayer, He did not simply mean a loaf of bread. As Dr. Luther wrote: "Daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, such as food, clothing, house, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like." He is not a God who deals only with "spiritual" things, as if He is not interested in the physical world. Far from it! The Lord God Himself created all physical things. He delights in the created world. So also, He delights in giving you an abundance of blessings for this earthly life. He cares for you as a perfect Father would care for His children. For that is what He is to you, and how you ought to regard Him - as your loving Father.
Bible says “Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. (Philippians. 4:6) How do you win over Worry? The answer is simple, yet deeply profound. It is an answer given by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. His answer to getting the needs of life met was this, “Jesus answered, “Have faith in God." (Mark 11:22) If we trust God, worry will be replaced by faith and the knowledge that God will provide for us. Remember worry and depression focus yourself inward, upon your own emotions and needs. But Faith focuses you upon God, your Father. Faith remembers that He will always see to the needs of His beloved children, who are worth far more in His heart than birds and flowers. Your worry is the sinful unbelief of your feelings. Any time you worry, you show that you deserve to be cut off from God's gracious care. But God does not leave you to your unbelief. He has taken you, body and soul, sin and all, and He has redeemed you. Remember that He is the God who creates and who delights in what He has created.
Therefore, He did not use a concept or an idea to redeem you. He used His Son, born into physical, earthly flesh. He used a real, human life, lived in the same way as your life, except without sin. He used the Body and Blood of His Son, crucified on a physical piece of wood with physical nails and thorns. He used the Resurrection of the dead body of His Son Jesus: A real, historical, fleshly Resurrection. We deserve nothing, yet He generously gives us everything. We possess nothing, not even those earthly things that we call our own. But God places into our hands the riches of grace and forgiveness and salvation and Christ and a multitude of blessings too great to count. And He gives us the promise of a new heaven and new earth that are our inheritance, where blessings we cannot imagine will await us.
Jesus sums up His teaching about worry with these words, “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all” With God on our side, we do not need to worry about our needs. He will supply our needs, and not necessarily out wants. We have to balance our desires with God’s wisdom and blessing. If we believe in him, he will take care of our needs and we can concentrate on living one day at a time. Don’t steal your whole future by bringing its worries into today. Jesus said it this way, “Don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today” (Matthew 6:34 NLT). You have enough on your plate today. Don’t add anything else. You ought to understand the Cost .Worry is absolutely useless. It never dried a tear, lifted a burden, or solved a problem. Worse yet, it’s harmful. Like sand in machinery, worry won’t lengthen your life, but it may shorten it. You can worry yourself to death but not into a longer life.
Worry is contagious—it spreads gloom everywhere, taking the joy out of today and the strength out of tomorrow. When we pile tomorrow’s problems onto today, it breaks us down. You arrive at tomorrow out of breath because you’ve been carrying today a double load that God didn’t intend. Worry buries our blessing and steals our joy and strength. Worry is a wound in the heart of God. “Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” (Mathew 6: 30). Worry is an insult to God. Thus Worry is not just a weakness; it’s wickedness. When we walk with God, our faith will consume our fears. Because God provides for us, we can blossom and thrive. Peter says, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you” (1 Peter 5:7 NLT). God is big enough and strong enough to handle all your worries.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:33 “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” Jesus says, Redirect your focus to what really matters. “Worry is a warning light that you have an area you haven’t fully given over to God. When God isn’t number one, in your life, you’ll worry. When you love something more than God, it becomes a source of stress and anxiety in your life. Even good things—like our marriages, our children, and our work—can become sources of worry if we give them first place in our lives. When anything becomes an idol in our lives, it creates insecurity and worry. When we worry, it is a sign of an unhealthy relationship with God. It shows that we value material goods more than we value our heavenly Father. We need to see him as a loving father who may allow us to experience life’s difficulties but who always takes care of our needs. Instead of worrying, we need to choose faith, and the only way to increase our faith is to seek God and start praying. When we put God first, we will find the proper balance in our lives because God will provide for our needs … “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).