Don’t Worry So Much!
Some of my favorite passages of scripture are those that very simply say. “Don’t worry about it.” Sunny will tell you that of all the people she knows, I am probably the one who worries the least about anything. I really see it as a gift. I have problems like everyone else. At times it seems to others that my lack of worrying is completely irrational. But I’ve learned that worrying doesn’t solve anything.
This was the message that I felt led to share on Laity sunday at First Christian Church in Livingston, TN.
How to Not Worry So Much
First, remember that God simply says not to. God also told us not to steal, lie, or hurt others. We don’t think twice about those commands. Not doing those things comes very easy. Why is worry any different?
Matthew 6:25-34
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So 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. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Second, spend more time working on your faith in God than thinking about what might go and has gone wrong. Faith is the counterbalance to stress and worry.
Matthew 17:20
He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.
NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE
Romans 8:31
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?
He didn’t say, “If you have faith, most things will be possible.” Or “If God is for us, only a few people can be against us.”
God often spoke in absolutes. There is about 1 in 55,928 of death by lightening. Not one of us is running around Livingston with that fear – and there’s a chance it could happen. So If God tells me that if I have faith NOTHING (that’s 100%) is impossible, to quote a poker phrase, I’m going all-in on that bet!
And third, things can and will go wrong. Just understand why.
James 1:2-5
2. Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3. because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
