Don’t Waste Time Worrying

Last night, I went to bed early at 9 PM. I woke up at 1 AM, with a sore throat and stuffy nose. As I tried to go back to sleep, I started worrying. Will I be too sick to make Thanksgiving dinner? I have to go grocery shopping, what if all the potatoes are gone? We love mashed potatoes. Then, I started thinking about money and Christmas. I want to get my children all these things, but the balance sheets don’t reconcile between what I want and what we have to spend. I could contemplate so many worries that I would feel sick. Luckily, Jesus told us not to worry.

Do Not Worry
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
–Matthew 6:25-34 (NIV)

The verse that stands out to me is “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”. Instead of worrying, seek the Lord. Pray. Set aside time each day to pray and read the bible. Give your worries to God. We need to seek his kingdom and his righteousness. How do we do that? We pray and ask God how we can do his will. When we put the Lord first, God will provide for us.

“Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” No, worrying cannot add a single hour to my life. I did lose sleep worrying. It was not time well spent. When the worries crept in last night, I should have prayed for each worry, instead of worrying about everything that could go wrong. About a year ago, I had pneumonia. I felt awful, and I had no idea what was wrong with me. I remember praying to God to please not let me die and heal me from whatever was wrong with me. The next day, I went to urgent care and was diagnosed with pneumonia. It took me two months to get completely better, and then I had pneumonia induced asthma. Now, I have medicine that works and keeps the asthma under control. But, I worry whenever I get a cold that I will get pneumonia again.

God tells us not to worry. “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Trust in the Lord and pray to handle whatever comes your way today. Don’t waste time worrying about tomorrow. We cannot control what will happen. We can control our reaction. When we pray and seek the Lord’s righteousness, the Lord will take care of our needs. The Lord will provide for our needs and give us peace in the process. When we seek the Lord, we are blessed with peace in our hearts and mind, because we trusted in the Lord.