Do Not Worry

Tonight's sermon was titled: "Do Not Worry"

I must admit, I chuckled a little bit when I read the title. If you know me, at all, you know I worry. Alot. I finally saw my doctor about 5 months ago for this very problem. In the few months leading up to that appointment, I had convinced myself that I had ovarian cancer, skin cancer, colon cancer and a brain tumor. But wait! I didn't have them all at the same time, just when I saw a new "spot" on my back, or a headache came on at the same time it did the day before, or when my trip to the bathroom wasn't as normal or when my period was continuing for the third week in a row. I would literally sit up in bed from a deep sleep and be in instant tears because at that moment I was dying and my husband and kids would be left without me. Pretty bad, I know. And this was just ONE example (of many) I shared with my doctor.

But maybe all I needed was a sermon on "worry". The English word "worry" comes from German and means "to strangle". And isn't this exactly what worrying compulsively feels like? I can honestly say it does, it gets a good grip on your thoughts and it just takes over making it hard to breathe and live normally. Worrying starts with a rational concern but is also a natural enemy to faith and skews reality. With this, we need to:

REGAIN PERSPECTIVE - When we worry about things, this simply means we've forgotten what Jesus can do. We need to remember the provider and that He provides for those very things we are anxious about. The antidote for worry is faith. Faith is not a blind leap, a hope or a wish. Faith is an anchor to reason founded in reality. You may not know where you're going, but you know God. There lies the proof. Remember your provider and step-out in faith.

REPENT FROM WORRY - Worrying is a sin and another form of idolatry. Makes sense! If we are worrying, we aren't fully relying on God which is a sin. And the very things that consume our thoughts and feed those worrying thoughts becomes idols.

RECLAIM YOUR PURPOSE - Seek first His kingdom and He will provide what we need next. This does not mean He will provide what we want most, but what we need. We need to pursue God completely. God is bigger!

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 your life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do now 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 worry 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.

How often do we hide behind our clothes? Or do we use our clothes as a tool to climb the ladder of social status? We use clothing to hide our brokenness, depravity, sin and shame. Think about it - it's why clothes were invented. Thus, clothes today are merely fig leaves. We need to forget the brand names, forget about who is wearing what and what store they were bought from and just be thankful for the clothes we have, for everything we have. We need to be more comfortable with what we have and how we look rather than worrying about what we don't have. We need to quit worrying about food - we aren't living in times of famine but need to make wise choices in the things we choose to eat. We need to put aside worrying and step-out in faith and fully rely on God to walk us through trials.

I've decided tonight to add to my little sayings to people "O you of little faith". I hope my children appreciate this as much as they hear "God loves a cheerful giver!"

"Aim at heaven and you get earth thrown at you. Aim at earth and you get neither." - C.S. Lewis