Worry

How many of us can name one thing in our life at this moment that is causing us to worry? When it comes to worry there are three types of people in the world. First, those who worry about everything. They wake up worrying what the weather is going to be like, how will deal with the changes all around them, will the world be disappointed that they are still alive. These are the people that take everything so personal. On other extreme is those who are so carefree that nothing gets to them. They never seem to sweat. Life is just happy go lucky. They may be carefree but they are also void of anything productive. Then there is the rest of us in the middle. We know that worry is not beneficial. But telling us not to worry is like telling a new-born baby not to cry – we are still going to worry.
In recent months our anxiety level has risen as our pension keeps dropping. The media and our politicians have convinced us we are going to run out of money before we run out of life. At the rate we are headed, we won’t have a retirement. So those of us who knew that retirement was connected to a larger market but was just sort of oblivious to how it all worked are now paying more attention to the reports. We ride the stock market roller coaster, we read our portfolio’s more carefully, and we watch Bloomberg. When I was going to the gym there was a guy who would get on the treadmill beside me, change the channel to Bloomberg, and turn up the volume. It would drown out my headphones. Now I don’t if you have ever tried to run at a fast pace to a stock market report but it just was not working for me. On top of all that he would try to start a conversation. Now I’m running and trying to pay attention so that I don’t go flying off the back of this machine and he is trying to talk to me about the economic situation in America. I went to the gym to relieve stress, not to get more stressed out.
Have you noticed that all our news is consumed by the economy. Fox News and CNN now have a special hour designated to just the falling economy. Our local news channels designate a portion of their hour to updating us on the day’s job losses as a result of the failed economy. It’s like nothing else is going on in the world but the messed up economy of the United States of America. The bottom line is that we are convinced that our money is going to run out before we have a chance to live our lives. The lesson all this has taught us is that the thing we are most devoted to is the things we will worry about.
Jesus starts out his discussion on worry talking about money. He says in verse 24, “No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. The Greek word for “wealth” is “mammon.” It speaks more of our possessions or the physical attachments of our life. The things that money buys. Jesus says we can’t love both: God and our stuff. We are going to love one or the other. This just may be the tension that causes worry. We know that we should not love our stuff but we like our stuff. We like our lifestyle. We know God is important. We know that God should be first but we like our stuff and in order to keep our stuff we must stay at a certain level on the economic scale. And yet we want to seem committed to God. So we live in this tension between trusting God and trusting in our stuff. Jesus says can’t do it. One will win out. Either you will love God or love your stuff or the money that buys you the stuff. Many of us have put on the face of loving God when in reality we are more in love with our stuff.
Jesus then goes into telling us not to worry. He tells us not to worry about what we will eat, what we will drink, or what we will wear. These are the worry points of Jesus’ audience. Most of us sitting here doesn’t worry about what we will eat, what we will drink, or even what we will wear. We pretty much have that covered. If Jesus was teaching us this today he would use something different. He might say, “Don’t work about your retirement, don’t worry about sending your kids to school, don’t worry about your job, don’t worry about your health, don’t worry.”
Then look what he says, “Look at the birds of the air . . . . consider the lilies of the field.” Now when I first read this I was like what are you talking about Jesus? I was like how insensitive. I might be losing my job but I need to look at the birds of the air. I might not be able to send my kids to college and you want me to consider the lilies of the field. I might have to work until I am like one hundred and you want me to look at the birds of the air. I was reading this like I know your right, life is more than what I eat, drink, or wear but if I am going to live I need to eat, drink, and for the sake of not embarrassing my kids I got to wear something. Then I got it. Jesus wants me to call up Jimmy Buffet or some other beach bum and live out the rest of my days on a deserted island while my house gets repossessed, my kids run around naked, and my wife sips on coconuts – NO!
Jesus isn’t saying what we eat, drink, or wear or in our case our jobs, kids college fund, or retirement is not important. He is just saying that life is more than these things. Life is more than my job, or whether my kids get into the best college, or my 401k. When Jesus tells us to “consider” he is saying to look upon, examine, take the time to observe, give careful attention. Look at the birds they don’t sow nor reap nor gather and yet God loves them. Look at the lilies of the field. They grow wild and bloom wherever they are planted and God loves them. We plant, we labor, we sow, we reap, we gather all of which are important and God loves us. Matter of fact Jesus says God loves us more than the birds. God loves us more than God loves the birds in the sky. Say it with me: God loves me more than he loves the birds in the sky. If he takes care of the birds and the wildflowers how much more will he take care of us who are created in his image.
What Jesus wants to do in this passage is to pull us away from our hyper-focus attention on the things that worry us and give us a bigger picture of life. The thing you are most devoted to are the things you will worry about the most. It is the things that you worry about that gets all your attention. What drives your worry? What are you devoted to? What if you shifted your devotion? What would happen to your worry? What if you could start each day with the thought: God loves me more than he loves the birds in the sky. The key to less worry is stepping back from the things that worry us and take a look at it in the larger scheme of life. Life is not just those things that worry us. Matter of fact, we may discover that in the whole scheme of life what we are worrying about will not compare to the fact that God loves us more than he loves the birds of the air. We may discover that worrying does not add a single hour to our life. Instead worrying may actually be taking away hours from our life span.
We need to get a larger picture of life. Worry narrows our focus and limits our possibilities. Step back. Look at life from God’s perspective. Place the thing that worries you in that picture and compare it to the bigger picture. It’s not that it isn’t important its just that it may not be as important as what you think it is when you get a different look at it. God loves me that’s important. At the end of the day when I lay my head down that’s what matters. To start the day knowing that God loves me is better than anything else.
Imagine how much more relaxed your world would be. Imagine how free you would feel to be the person you could be if you were not weighed down by worry. Consider how larger your life can be without the limited view of worry.