Do Not Worry - Cultivating A Useless Skill

Matthew 6: 25-34

25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;

29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

I have been very good at worrying. By good at worrying I mean I am able to worry with consistency, passion and focus over long periods of time. Why would Jesus tell me not do what I am so good at?

Because it doesn’t do any good no matter how good I am at worrying.

Worrying does not produce a single positive or productive thing. All it does is take our energy away from seeing God’s kingdom and His righteousness expand. In other words, worrying stops God’s love from being consistently delivered as God would have His love be delivered on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus spent zero minutes worrying and that is one reason He was so good at love.

Jesus repeats the phrase “Do not worry” three times to make the point impossible to miss. Worrying and Jesus do not mix. Worrying does not promote or expand the Kingdom or righteousness.

Look at it this way. If you worked for an excellent company and they sent you overseas to expand their territory or make inroads into a new market, they would cover all of your costs. In fact, if they found out you were spending time worrying about the costs of your airfare, hotel and food, they would probably fire you for being distracted while on the job. Distracted people do not close many deals and people who think they work for a cheap company don’t project the truth about the company.

Jesus has sent us on the mission of expanding the Kingdom and loving others in His name. Do you suppose His statement “Do not worry” has something to do with the fact that we represent the most powerful reality in the universe - the Kingdom of God?

It is not easy to let go of such the well developed skill of worrying, but I know Jesus won’t send me far if I insist of questioning His generosity.

Deliver His love and leave the rest up to Him. That is a skill worth cultivating.