Wor-ry

Verb (used without object)

1. To torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts; fret.
2. To move with effort: an old car worrying uphill.

Verb (used with object)

1. To torment with cares, anxieties, etc.; trouble; plague.
2. To seize, especially by the throat, with the teeth and shake or mangle, as one animal does another.
3. To harass by repeated biting, snapping, etc.

So…are you a worrier? Do these definitions describe the state of your soul? Do you feel like your dog’s chew toy, routinely seized and shaken back-and-forth by the scruff of your neck?

That’s what chronic worrying does to us. And in response to its harassing, biting, tormenting work, Jesus gives a simple command: “Do not worry.”

Now in case that’s too simple and you need a broader strategy to help you overcome your worry, you can study the other things Jesus said about worrying in Matthew 6:25-34. However, for the purpose of this blog, let’s just think about His three words: “Do not worry.”

Before we write these words off as overly simplistic or naïve, we need to remember who is saying them. They’re not coming from me, a fellow human being who frets and fusses as much as anyone else. They’re coming from Jesus—the one who holds the future and sustains the universe (Jeremiah 29:11; Colossians 1:15-17).

• If the Savior says, “Don’t worry” we can trust that we will indeed be saved.
• If the Healer says, “Don’t worry” we don’t need to live in terror of sickness or calamity.
• If the Comforter says, “Don’t worry” we can draw from His peace even when tough times do come our way.
• If the Provider says, “Don’t worry” we don’t need to white-knuckle our way through life, startled over every ebb and flow of our nation’s economy.
• If Jesus says, “Don’t worry” it must mean that He intends for His will on earth to be done (Matthew 6:10).