WHAT JESUS SAYS NOT TO WORRY ABOUT

Three times Jesus said, “Be anxious for nothing”.  Jesus also specifically names three things we should not worry about in the book of Matthew. 

1)     DON’T WORRY ABOUT FOOD

Matthew 6:25-26-  “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?   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?”

God gave us life, so surely He can support life.  God made us with a mouth and tongue to eat and taste.  He gave us a digestive system to break down the food and drink.  He also gave us a cellular structure that needs nourishment to function.  Our bodies are called the temple of the Holy Ghost, and where the Spirit lives, there will be provision.

When Jesus tells us to consider the birds, He is pointing out that they live by faith.  They don’t plant or grow bird seed, so there is food for tomorrow.  Neither do they have a special savings account where they can store up bugs and grain for the future.   Their food comes to them day by day.  Jesus assures His listeners that they are worth far more than many birds, yet God makes sure that the birds are fed.  God shows them where to go for their food.

2)     DON’T WORRY ABOUT YOUR LIFE

Matthew 6:27-  “Which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his span of life?”

The Bible is clear that our days on earth in this human body have a limit.  God isn’t worried about how long we live on earth, so neither should we.  We can do things to shorten our lives but many of these are associated with worry.   Those who were near Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, claimed that he had a problem with switches.  With anything that could turn a device off.   This is why there aren’t any switches on iPhones.  To him, a switch symbolized finality and endings.  This is largely why he ignored his own symptoms of cancer and died much younger than he would have had he been examined, diagnosed, and treated. 

God is for us taking care of our bodies, but He doesn’t want us to spend so much time trying to pamper and preserve them that we have no time or resources to feed our spirit and do the will of God while alive here below.  We must take heed to the admonition the Holy Spirit gave to the Church at Sardis in Revelation 3, which was to “strengthen those things that remain.”

3)      DON’T WORRY ABOUT CLOTHING

Matthew 6:28-30-  “So why do you worry about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  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?”

Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee with the disciples just after they had the feeding of the 5,000 plus women and children experience.  The disciples were hungry and had no bread or fish to eat.  When Jesus discovered that they were worried about their hunger and He rebuked them.   He said to them, “You have so little faith!  Why are you arguing with each other about having no bread?  Don’t you understand even yet?  Don’t you remember the 5,000 I fed with five loaves, and the baskets of leftovers you picked up?”  Basically, Jesus was asking them, “If you saw that great miracle, why can’t you believe Me for a small one?”  Whether it is food or clothing, Jesus is asking us to have faith in Him for the things our bodies need.

We see in Matthew 6:31-32- “Therefore do not worry, saying 'What shall we eat?’ or 'What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ for after all these things the Gentiles seek.  For your heavenly Father knows that you need these things.”  Jesus is reminding them that the Gentiles have no heavenly Father to take care of them, but we do.

Jesus gives the spiritual solution to help us conquer fear and worry.  He first tells His followers to maintain a Kingdom focus.   Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”  The Greek word for “added” has the meaning of measuring something out, such as wheat, with a balance, and then throwing in some extra for good measure.  God not only promises to meet your needs, but He also promises to do above all you ask, think, or even imagine.

Jesus also tells us to live our lives one day at a time.   Matthew 6:34- “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”  Most worry has to do with the future.  Things that haven’t happened yet.  A man told his wife, “Stop worrying.  What has it accomplished?”  Her reply was, “Oh, quite a bit.  90% of the things I’ve worried about have never happened.”

Worry has a very active imagination.  If there is something you are worrying about today, it may be because you have visually allowed a dismal end to what you are facing to be engraved on the canvas of your mind.  We need to crucify the regrets of our past failures and mistakes to annihilate the worries about tomorrow.  We should live for today.