Worry affects most people in one way or another, it knows no boundaries; it plagues both young and old, rich and poor, people of all races, cultures and language groups. I’ll highlight a few common sources of worry and look at how Jesus would have us deal with this terror called worry.
The Global economic crisis has left few untouched, shaking the bedrock of many people’s security in life, their financial reserves. Climate change, food shortages and the threat of unexpected terrorist attacks also produce an underlying state of anxiety in many people worldwide. Then for those in less stable countries, wars, natural disasters, famine and disease shake their entire worlds.
Worldwide the less fortunate worry about not having enough money and the privileged fret about the security of all that they own. Singles worry about getting married, married people wonder why they got married in the first place! The grass looks greener on the other side of the hedge, but it still needs mowing, and that takes time, costs resources and holds no glamour. We worry about how to get what we don’t have, and how to maintain what we do have.
It has been said, worry can’t change the past, but it will ruin the present and destroy your future. The only place it will get you to ahead of time, is the cemetery! I’ve also heard worry described as your personal irritation with God, because you cannot control everything, and do not have enough trust in Him to believe that He will do what his word says He will do.
Jesus recognized the hold worry had on people and asked, “Who of you by worry can add one cubit (18 inches) to your height, or an hour to your life?” (Matthew 6:27) While reminding his disciples of how futile worry is, he likened them to the sparrows who never worry but God gives them food! Worry is powerless to change anything about our lives, except our health status, and that for the negative!
Worry has actually been scientifically proven to be harmful! Worry increases our stress levels, which in turn produces high blood pressure, and adversely affects the status of our immune systems. We literally can cause our own ill health because of worry. Philippians chapter 4, verse 6 Paul tells us, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the Peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
God has not given us a spirit of fear but of love power and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). And in Proverbs we read the antidote to worry, which is laughter. Laughter does GOOD like a medicine, whereas worry dries up the bones (Proverbs 17:22). We have to come to the point where we realise that, “I and I alone am responsible for the thoughts I think, for the emotional attitudes that rule my life and my reactions to the situations around me." Once we have accepted this truth, we can move forward, because we understand that changing our own lives is in our control. I also cannot allow anyone or anything to have power over me to make me worry. I am in the hand of God, I need to keep the picture straight.
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