Used with Permission by, Linda DeSilva
Worry is an exercise in futility. It accomplishes nothing – except to engender even greater anxiety. Yet, in this pandemic, many (if not most) of us are setting ourselves up for more trouble by our fears for the future. This should not be so for the Christian. “Worry and worship are mutually exclusive.” …”Worry is usually a result of failure to commit things to God.” (Anon.)
Why do those of us who trust God for salvation and eternal life, worry? It demonstrates a lack of faith in God’s care: John Edmund Haggai puts it bluntly: “Worry is an intrusion into God’s providence.” Before we berate ourselves for our lack of faith, we may be encouraged in the knowledge that Jesus addressed this weakness in His disciples and gave them and us His personal encouragement. Jesus said: “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need. So, don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” (Matthew 6:33 & 34 NLT)
The Apostle Paul – who experienced more hardships than most of us ever will – told the Philippians: “Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything … Then, because you belong to Christ Jesus, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and feel.” (Phil. 4: 6 & 7 CEV)
Oswald Chambers, author of the well-known devotional “My Utmost for His Highest” wrote: “Worrying always results in sin …Fretting rises from a determination to have our own way. Our Lord never worried and was never anxious, because His purpose was never to accomplish His own plans but to fulfill God’s plans. Fretting is wickedness for the child of God.”
In ‘The Sermon on the Mount’, Jesus told the crowd: “Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your Heavenly father feeds them. And aren’t you more valuable to Him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?” (Matthew 6: 26 & 27 NLT)
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart …He will show you which path to take.”(Proverbs 3: 5 & 6). “Worry is sin against the loving care of the Father” (E. Stanley Jones)
ETCetera 