Galatians 6:11-18
Matthew 6: 24-34
Worry
Are you worried? Are you worried about the world? Are you worried about war? Terrorist attack? The economy? The state of
the nation? Are you worried about
yourself? Your health? Your money?
Your family? Your
neighbours? Are you worried about the
church? Will there be many people here
in the future? Will the building fall
down? Can we raise the money? Can we still be relevant? Are we too busy? Or perhaps you're simply worried because you're not worried all
the time? There must be something I
should be worrying about!
There are enough things to worry
about to make it a full-time job for each of us if we really want to. Worry is all around us, it could quite
easily consume our lives and it possibly does.
But worry is a killer.
"Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it drains today of
its strength." says Corrie Ten Boom, a concentration camp survivor.
Worry is in essence, says Jesus,
the opposite to faith. People of faith
are not meant to be people of worry.
Easier said than done. Life may
be more important than food and the body than clothes but you need food and
clothes to stay alive, don't you? Jesus
sounds almost irresponsible. But when
he talks about life he does not mean simply staying alive physically - he is
talking about life as a whole-a life of meaning and purpose and direction. This is more important than any of our
material circumstances. Worry can rob
us of this kind of life.
There is a common story
that surrounds the death of John D. Rockefellor, Sr. His accountant was asked
by a curious person, "I know that Mr. Rockefeller was an an immensely
wealthy man, just how much did he leave behind?" The accountant quickly
replied, "Everything!" The perspective of life that Jesus counsels us to have is one that knows
everything comes from God. There is
nothing in this world about which we can really say "This is mine. I can take it." The perspective of faith knows that
everything comes from God and is just on loan to us.
If everything comes from God, then
our attitude needs to be one of trust that he will provide everything necessary
for today. Look at the animals says
Jesus. Where is the worry in their
lives? In my life said a Jewish Rabbi
Simeon I have never seen a stag as a teacher, or a lion as a porter, or a Fox
as a merchant, yet they are all nourished without worry. If they, who are created to serve me, are
nourished without worry, how much more ought I, who am created to serve my
maker, to be nourished without worry.
The point Jesus is making is not that the birds do not work-it has been
said that no one works harder than the average Sparrow to make a living-the
point he is making is that they do not worry.
What do we really believe
about the nature of our lives? Do we
trust that God is in charge? This is
the fundamental question when we think about worry. And the other thing we need to ask ourselves is this: what is at
the centre? When you are in love, then
other things seem to lose their significance.
A great love can drive out every other concern. Seek God's kingdom first, and then all these
other things will make sense, says Jesus.
To make our great love the doing of, and the acceptance of, God’s will
is the way to defeat worry. Of course,
there are a lot of things we could put at the centre of our lives to distract
us from worry-money, holidays, family, work, hobbies. But then these things can become worries in themselves. The only thing we could really never worry
about is the rightness of God’s will-in putting this at the centre we are onto
a safe bet.
A man met a beggar. God give you a good day, my friend, he
said. The beggar answered, I thank God,
I never had a bad one. The man said God
give you a happy life my friend. I
thank God, said the beggar, I am never unhappy. The man in amazement said, What do you mean? Well, said the beggar, when it is fine, I
thank God; when it rains, I thank God; when I have plenty, I thank God; when
I'm hungry, I thank God; and since God’s will is my will, and whatever pleases
him pleases me, why should I say I am unhappy when I am not? The man looked at the beggar in
astonishment. Who are you? He asked.
I am a King said the beggar.
Where then is your kingdom?
Asked the man. And the beggar
answered quietly: in my heart.
There
will always be too many things to worry about.
The possibilities for worry are endless. But listen to Corrie Ten Boom again: When I look at the world I get
distressed. When I looked at myself I
get depressed. But when I look at Jesus,
I find rest. We cannot live our lives
without worry unless we are able to hand them over to God. Our task is to be able to exchange our
personal weakness for God’s strength.
Then we will be living, and not worrying.