What are you worried about?

Matthew 6:27 KJV 1900

Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

The Message

“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.

According to reports, Americans consume about 97 percent of the world’s aspirin. More and more people are having heart problems at earlier ages. Teens are being fitted with pacemakers and are getting ulcers.

If you’re not worried about something, people tend to view you as abnormal.

As far as we know, Jesus never had ulcers. True, he didn’t have children or a wife. He didn’t have to make car payments and try to figure out how he’d get that term paper done on time while shuffling his part-time job at the gas station. Even though there are lots of differences between his culture and ours, Jesus did have pressures and was in all points tempted like as we are…but from what we read in the Gospels, he never seemed to worry.

How did he achieve something most of us can’t even imagine—life without worry?

Maybe the answer lies in the resources that were available to Jesus. Guess what! Those very same resources are available to us!

What are these resources?

Learn to retreat. There are several times in Scripture we read that Jesus took a step back. He went somewhere and prayed. He spent time alone. This enabled him to maintain his Father’s perspective. You can learn to retreat too. Take a few steps back from time to time, and allow the Holy Spirit to recharge your spiritual batteries. Go hiking. Pitch a tent and spend the night in your backyard. If you know a relative or friend who’s going to be out of town, ask if you can stay alone in his home for a day.

Don’t be afraid of what others think. You probably have friends who are worried about getting a high-paying job so they can look successful when they graduate from college. You may be worried about making an extremely high grade on the S.A.T. We’re bombarded with pressure from all sides to succeed. Be the best. Climb the corporate ladder the fastest. Make the highest grades.

Don’t be concerned with earthly success. Jesus didn’t seem very concerned about being a success, did he? Several people acknowledged their disappointment in him: The Pharisees were disappointed he didn’t push the law more with his disciples. The disciples were disappointed he didn’t start and win a war with Rome. His mother and brothers were disappointed he didn’t leave the crowds at one point to come talk with them. But Jesus didn’t allow other people’s expectations and disappointments to slow him down.

Know It!

Other Christians’ opinions can be helpful. Godly people can keep you on the right track and can encourage you when you’re confused. But sometimes the opinions of others can cause you to worry unnecessarily. As long as you’re living in the center of God’s will, he wants to help you block out the opinions of others who cause you worry.

Read It!

Matthew 6:25–34 KJV 1900

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Pray It!

Ask God to help you stop worrying about others’ opinions and keep your focus on him. Pray, not my will but thine be done! Pray Kingdom prayers. Let Kingdom prayers be the central focus of life and allow God to manage the rest.