Are you Worried?

As humans we worry a lot, it’s starts from our early days when we start school till death we worry. We worry for something which may be trivial / small / big, as we age this worry increases, we find lame reasons to worry. Everyday worries take place in your thoughts, continuous worry leads to making our minds anxious leading to anxiety. Anxiety often manifests to take an impact our physical body. we see people develop heart attacks / stroke / BP etc., because of high anxiety.

The best definition of worry that’s found in internet

• Worry is a small trickle of fear that meanders through the mind until it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.

• Worry is the darkroom where negatives are developed.

• Worry is a complete cycle of inefficient thought revolving around a pivot of fear.

• American doctor -Dr Charles Mayo, said that worry is the disease of doubt. He said it affects the circulation, the heart, the glands, the whole nervous system. I have never known a man who died from overwork, but many who have died from doubt.

I asked this question to myself, why did God give this worry to Humans?

The answer to that is not on God’s fault, it’s for us to blame as humans. If you look around all creations of God only humans worry, no other creation (any other living things like animals / birds / Plants etc..) worries about anything. It’s fair to say it’s the sixth sense God gave us has made us stand out from other creations in the world to bring the intelligence in us, it’s also fair to say the same sixth sense makes us worry on many things. But what does Bible teach about worry. Read Matthew 6:25-34 on what Jesus taught about worry to his disciples, I learnt a lot after meditating on this verse which I have written in this post.

Our worry indicates these Six things towards God

1. Worry Indicates a Defective Value System

' “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 than food, and the body more than clothes? 'Matthew 6:25

• The first thing Jesus tells us is that worry indicates a defective value system.

• It indicates we may be suffering from a false set of values, that we’re more preoccupied with our temporary problems than we are with God’s eternal promises; or even more serious: that we’re more concerned about our money, than we are about our Master.

• In other words, life is more important than physical things. We obviously need food and clothing and shelter; God knows that. But life is much more than those things. As Jesus said, “Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?”

• Anxiety indicates that we are letting our temporary problems become more real to us than our eternal blessings.

2. Worry Indicates we are Undervaluing God

• Our Worry indicates that we have a defective self-image. It’s a signal to us that we are underestimating how valuable we are to God.

• Look at the verse, “'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? 'Matthew 6:26

• He is telling us: You are valuable! You are very valuable. You are much more valuable.

• We are valuable to God, more valuable than anything else he has made and when we realize that we have a God who loves and values us—and that we are worth everything to him, it reduces our anxiety.

• If we’re that valuable to Him, we can be rest assured he cares for us. That’s what his promises are in Matthew 6:26

3. Worry Indicates a Defective Way of Thinking

• Continuous worry gives birth to anxiety, anxiety indicates a faulty way of thinking.

• 'Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life ? 'Matthew 6:27 , Jesus was saying: Which of you by worrying can add any length to himself—length to his lifespan or length to his height. To worry about something you can’t change is useless.

• In other words, we can worry all we want to, but anxiety doesn’t do any good. It’s a waste of mental energy. It doesn’t add one hour to our lives or one cubit to our height. It’s a defective and inefficient way of thinking.

4. Worry Indicates a Defective Trust in God

' “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers 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—you of little faith? ' Matthew 6:28-30

• Worry indicates a defective trust in God. Faith is the ability to maintain inner calmness and strength by trusting in the promises of God amid the problems of life. Jesus illustrates this with the flowers. Earlier He had talked about the birds (Matthew 6:26) and now He refers to the flowers of the field.

• Botanists estimate that there are over a quarter-million species of flowering plants, but no one can count the number of flowers that’s there in planet at any given moment. There are untold billions of them—some of them in our back yards or flowerpots. Every flower is a living witness to God, telling us how creatively and effortlessly God can provide clothing.

• We might even say that the greatest testimonies we have of the love of God are Birds and flowers. If God so cares for the birds of the air and the flowers of the field, will he not much more care for us? Therefore, we shouldn’t be of little faith but of great confidence.

5. Worry Indicates a Defective Purpose in Life

• Worry and anxiety indicates a defective purpose in life. Look at the series of statements Jesus '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. ' Matthew 6:31-33

• In other words, if we take care of the things that are important to God, He will take care of the things that are important to us.

• I think a lot of people read Matthew 6:33 in reverse and apply : I’m going to try to add all these other things to my life, and then with my leftover time and energy, I’ll seek the Lord. But it never works that way with Jesus.

• You must put Jesus Christ first in your life. If you put Christ first, He’ll worry about all the rest of it that we need not.

• It’s a message for all of us: Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

6. Worry Indicates a Defective View of Tomorrow

• Reading all the five we may wonder are we not supposed to worry? Remember root of our worry is not knowing what will happen next (it can be immediate hour or tomorrow or any time). The answer to that is there - 'Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.' Matthew 6:34

• That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t prepare for tomorrow. Once you trust God, you will not worry about tomorrow, God will give you the insight and knowledge to do today that can prepare you for tomorrow.

• The Psalmist said, “This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.”

• Jesus said, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

• We can’t change the past; it’s under the precious blood of Jesus Christ. We can’t know the future; it’s in the capable hands of God. We live day by day, moment by moment, and step by step.

The Key to living worry free is trusting God every day, take one day at a time, step by step, ask him to lead you what he wants to do, this can come only if you trust and have a meek attitude to God. Confess to God, saying you give up your rights to decide what you want to do, ask God to decide for you. Submit to his will on every aspect of your life, he will prepare for tomorrow by the actions of your day and never ever let you fall down. Worry comes only when we trust on ourselves and not be dependent on God. Let’s remove our Sixth Sense which causes the worry and surrender to God and live like a Bird or Flower, use the Sixth sense for our knowledge in God, God will guide the sixth sense in you to do according to his will.

The famous Christian, George Müller, once said, “Many times when I could have gone insane from worry, I was at peace because my soul believed the truth of God’s promises.”

The promises of God are the biblical antidote to anxiety and worry, so read the word of God and be guided by what you need to do for tomorrow that will remove your worry. We need them now more than ever because we’re living in very anxious times.