While waiting in the Doctor’s office, I was reading a magazine article about COVID-19 coming back strong in the United States. I’ve already had it a couple of times in the last three years and don’t want to end up in the hospital again, as I did on both occasions. As I read the article, I thought for sure I had it again. I even thought I was experiencing the symptoms again. I began to worry about it. Have you done that? I don’t need this! I have plenty of things to worry about! Later that day, I began to study for a new devotional thought and read Matthew 6:25. It says, “Don’t worry about your life…” Thanks, Lord, I needed that!
“Worry is just unnatural,” Jesus explains. “Consider the birds. They don’t worry.” Just a few mornings before, a Robin sat outside my bedroom window at 4:45 AM, singing up a storm. I could have killed him! But, following Jesus’ advice, I “considered” him. He didn’t live in a nice home! He didn’t have a week’s worth of groceries in the kitchen. He didn’t even have a retirement plan! If anything is on God’s welfare role, it’s that bird. But there he was, singing at 4:45 in the morning! How carefree can you get? “You see,” Jesus explained, “Your Father knows when even one bird falls to the ground, and you count far more to Him than birds.” I thought it was interesting that Jesus said, “Your Father,” not “the bird’s father.” It does seem unnatural. Nothing in all creation seems to worry except mankind!
“Think of the wildflowers growing in the field,” do you think they worry? So, I thought about them. Yes, they are beautiful! Jesus continued, “If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers – most of which are never even seen – don’t you think He’ll attend to you?” Have you ever considered the fact that most wildflowers in the world are never viewed by the eyes of man? Yet, there they are in all their splendor! It’s also unhelpful. “Has anyone, by fussing in front of the mirror, ever gotten taller?” Jesus asks. Of course not! Worry won’t help. Worry is unnatural, it’s unhelpful, and it’s un-Christian. In 6:31, Jesus repeats himself with an additional twist. “So don’t worry…why be like the pagans?” Worry, in a sense, is the opposite of faith. It’s a practical atheism. Finally, Jesus also says that worry is unnecessary! Your heavenly father cares for you. 1st Peter 5:7 tells us to throw all our worries on Him “because He cares for you.” Jesus wraps up his discourse on worry by saying, “Never worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Thanks, Lord, I needed that!