Worry is Blindness

Jesus, in Matthew 6:25-34, says that we have no reason ever to be anxious. This world is a perfectly safe place to be for the one who has God as their treasure and is trusting in him - specifically the finished work of Christ on their behalf. As the 23rd psalm says so poetically, at the beginning, "The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want." and at the end, "surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever", the one who trusts in God can rest secure.

We have the option to trust in Jesus, to rely on Him. Therefore, He says, "do not be anxious about your life" (indicating that the one who lays up treasures in heaven, that has a good eye and serves God is not led as a slave into worry). He reminds us by pointing out living things here on earth like birds and flowers. They do not "lay up treasures on earth". Birds, some of the busiest creatures around, work hard, under God, to get the daily food He provides. Like the Israelites in the wilderness picking up manna each day, He gives, they gather. Shades of "Give us this day our daily bread". Children are also our teachers here, Jesus says we are to receive the kingdom like a child; who trusts that someone else is making provision for them. We should, like them, live simply in the present as far as necessities are concerned.

Willard says "some people would rather starve than look bad". Little flowers without effort display a beauty that the most powerful humans all fixed up cannot. He says "if you look at one of these little flowers and then at the strained ladies and floppy gentlemen who come out to opening nights and award dinners in our centers of power and culture, you can only feel sorry for the people. They can't even begin to compete". And who is it we are trying to be like? Maybe that is why Jesus calls us "little faiths".

I have made a discovery and it has come from experience. I know about what I am speaking of. I have done it far to often. Gone down the low road of worry to the detriment of my heart, soul and earthly existence. Worry makes us desperate; trust, content. Ever seen a bird or a flower straining to be something it is not? Worry leads to the fake; trust to the real. Worry generates the false; trust breeds the true. When I worry I cannot see clearly what God wants me to see. When I trust the fog lifts.

Worry doesn't accomplish anything good. What if all the time we spent worrying were spent praying? (See Phil. 4:6-7)