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What Are You Worried About?
We live in what has been referred to as the “Age of Anxiety.” But the problem of worry is not unique to our generation. Jesus devoted an entire section of his sermon in Luke 12 to this subject, a sermon that was addressed to His “disciples” (12:22). The Lord told them not to be anxious about what they were going to eat or what they were going to wear. If He had to rebuke them for worrying about the necessities of life, what would He say to us about the things that occupy or thoughts and attention?
Our word worry comes from an Old English word that means to “choke” or “strangle.” When the wolf bit down on the throat of the sheep, the shepherd said that it was worrying the sheep. Jesus used it in this way in the Parable of the Sower when He said the seed becomes “choked with worries” (Luke 8:14).
If we’re not careful, we will allow worry to choke us to death.
Worry chokes our faith. Jesus called the anxious “men of little faith” (Luke 12:28). That’s because faith and worry cannot coexist. Just like you have to choose between God and mammon as to which you will serve, you have to choose between faith and worry. Jesus’ simple solution to this faith crisis was to look around. “Consider the ravens” (12:24); God feeds them, will He not care for His children? “Consider the lilies” (12:27); God clothes them, will He not provide for His own?
It should be enough for us that “your Father knows” (12:30). Instead of acting like those who doesn’t know God’s power and promises and provision, remember that He knows. If He was able to solve our most basic and difficult of problem of sin, is there anything He cannot do? Let faith in Him choke out your worry.
Worry chokes our time. “Which of you by being worried can add a single cubit to his life’s span” (Luke 12:25). Worrying doesn’t change anything. We become like the hamster that spins himself in the cage but goes nowhere. Life is short enough already. It is a “vapor” (Jam. 4:14) that vanishes away. How much briefer does it become when the time we do have is fretted away with anxious care? In fact, it has been said that man is crucified between two thieves: the regrets about yesterday and the worries about tomorrow.
Worry doesn’t lengthen life, it shortens it. You can worry yourself sick. You can worry yourself into the grave. And all too often, we worry about things that never happen. Let the value of what little time you have choke out worry.
Worry chokes our peace. “And do not keep worrying” (Luke 12:29). Have you ever said, “I’m just going to worry about this for 10 minutes and then stop?” Worry is something we keep on doing the more we do it. “Anxiety in the heart of a man weighs it down” (Prov. 12:25). In so doing, it robs us of the ability to “Be still and know that I am God” (Psa. 46:10).
Isn’t that why we pray? Instead of being anxious, we let our requests be made known to God, “and the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6-7). Even when life is out of our hands, it is not out of His control. Let the peace of God choke out your worry.
Worry chokes our concentration. As important as we think our worries are, “Life is more than food, and the body than clothing” (Luke 12:23). The Greek word for worry means “to tear apart.” Worry divides and distracts our interests from that which is most important. It causes us to be torn in different directions. When Martha welcomed Jesus into her home, she was “distracted with all her preparations” and “worried and bothered about so many things” (Luke 10:40-41). Jesus did not say she had chosen the bad part in serving. But Mary had chosen the good part, the one thing that was necessary: listening to the Lord.
Worry sets our minds on things below and not on things above. “Seek for his kingdom, and these things shall be added to you” (Luke 12:31). That’s where our focus should be. When we concentrate on being a Christian, we will gain the proper perspective on everything else in life. Let your concentration on the kingdom choke out your worry.
Even the seed that grows and develops roots can be choked out. Don’t lose your soul over something that’s not worth the worry.
