you can win…

let me ask you something, do you worry?  i mean when something happens, do you always tend to think of the worst?

you hear about a car accident on the freeway and you wonder if it was someone you knew, a relative involved.  or your daughter comes home from a date with a smile on her face and your imagination goes into overdrive.  what if...?  there’s an entire industry that builds on our worries called insurance.

we make justifications for our worry and use phrases like, “i’m just concerned” when actually we’re worried.  the old english word for “worry” means “to choke” or “to strangle”.  worry will choke your happiness. 

now the bible teaches that you can win over worry.  JESUS CHRIST, in HIS sermon on the mount, gives us some insights on worry.  in matthew 6.25 (niv) HE says, therefore i tell you, do not worry about your life.  HE says, don’t worry!  that’s got to be the hardest command in the bible to keep.  yet whenever GOD gives us a command, HE always gives us the power and the practical steps to fulfill it. 

here is what the rest of verse 25 (niv) says, therefore i tell you, don’t worry about your life, what you’ll eat or drink, or about your body, what you’ll wear.  is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes?  what JESUS is saying is that worry is unreasonable.  it doesn’t make sense.  it’s irrational. 

JESUS is saying there’s much more to life than just food and clothing.  what does it matter if you’re wearing designer jeans and eating gourmet food if you don’t have peace of mind?  JESUS is saying we get so caught up in the externals of life that we forget about the eternals of life.  HE’s saying, if it’s not going to last, if it’s temporary, don't worry about it.  there’s so much more.  if you’re going to worry about something, make sure it’s something that really matters.  worry is unreasonable.

have you noticed each time you worry it gets bigger and bigger – every time you review it in your mind?  if somebody criticizes you, you take it ... but then you think about it for a couple of days and by that time you’ve made it that everybody’s against you. 

if you worry about something you can’t change, it’s useless.  if you worry about something you can change, it’s stupid.  either way, worry is irrational.  worry is unreasonable.  so JESUS says don’t worry.

just a thought from the front porch…