DON'T WORRY

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God" (Philippians 4:6, Modern King James Version).

Human beings like to worry about many things. We worry about important things, we worry about mundane things, and we even worry about things that don't concern us in any way. Sometimes our anxieties may appear justified, but many times they are simply needless. But whether you think your worries are justified or not, the Bible teaches that you don't need any form of anxiety in your life because it never solves any problem. 

Worry changes nothing from bad to good; it would rather injure your soul. Many have worried themselves into high blood pressure and hypertension, and God does not want you in any of these. That is why the Bible is emphatic - "Do not be anxious about anything". The Authorized Version puts it this way: "Be careful for nothing". It is your wisdom to heed the word of God. 

It is not that God does not want you to show some care or concerns about your life. Surely, God is not asking you to be careless with your health, family, business and finances. That would be irresponsible of you. However, the problem is that sometimes it is not easy to tell when legitimate, rational concerns have graduated into worry. But one test to conduct is to find out whether what you call rational concern has led to fear and taken away your peace of mind. Fear and lack of peace are sure signs that worry has set in, and at that point you need to deal with it before things get out of hand. 

Legitimate concerns should lead you to pray and not to fear. You are in the right mode when your care and concerns for your health, family and business pushes you to depend more on God and draw nigh to Him in trusting faith. Concerns or carefulness that unsettle your mind and take away from you the desire to pray and rob you of the initiative of seeking God have only one name. They are called 'anxieties'. All things considered, you always better off without them. 

So, here is God's recommendation, nay, command: "Therefore I say to you, Do not be anxious for your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?" (Matthew 6:25). Instead of worrying about it, pray about it. The wisdom in this is that the same amount of time and energy expended in fruitless anxieties could be put to more profitable use in the place of prayer. And Jesus has taught us how to pray so that we don't end up worrying even in the place of prayer.