Are You a Good Worrier?

Perhaps one of the greatest drains on our energy and ability to perform our jobs or be successful in life is worry. Worry has been described as "interest paid on trouble before it comes due."

Zig Ziglar writes in his monthly newsletter, “One of America's worst enemies is worry. Worry is like a rocking chair; it requires a lot of energy, and it gets you nowhere. Leo Buscaglia said, ‘Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.’

“Americans take more pills to forget more worries about more things than ever before and more than people in any other nation in history. That's bad. According to Dr. Charles Mayo, ‘Worry affects the circulation and the whole nervous system. I've never known a man who died from overwork, but I've known many who have died from doubt.’ Doubt always creates worry, and in most cases, lack of information raises the doubt.

“Life is much like Christmas. You're more apt to get what you expect than what you want.”

One thing that will reduce your worry is simply don’t worry about what you can't change. Here’s an example. When I am stuck in traffic I tend to get irritated (like most of you reading this), but I am working on realizing that I can’t change anything about that situation. I can’t make the cars sitting or barely moving all around me do anything different. It is out of my control. The only thing not out of my control is my mind, what I think about, and how I let it affect my attitude. I can focus my attention on the problem that I can’t change at the moment or I can choose to listen to a constructive message on the CD or the radio or just stop to meditate on the Word of God. I can either fume over the delay or use the delay to do some problem solving on the challenge at work, or developing that new plan I’ve been talking about. It is a mental discipline.

In Matthew chapter six Jesus uses the word “worry” five times telling not to worry. The word is worry in the NIV, but in the King James instead of “worry” the word is “take thought.” That’s really what worry is. It is thinking about, dwelling on something that I cannot change.

Read this and insert “take thought” or “think about” for the word “worry.”

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:25-34 (NIV)

In Matthew 12 Jesus gives the parable of the sower. Some of the seeds planted He says fall among thorns and this is the “man who hears the word, but the worries of life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.”

It’s very simple. You can hear the word of God, the promises of God’s Word. You can memorize them and listen to them every week at church, but if you worry then worry will choke out the words and destroy your faith to believe them. So, the simple conclusion is “stop worrying” about the things we can’t change. If we can change something stop worrying about it and change it. We just need to remove worry from our lives because it is choking out the seed of God’s word making it unfruitful in our lives. It is a simple choice of changing my thoughts from worry to thoughts of God’s blessing and promises. You can do it!

Prayer: Lord Jesus, forgive me for the sin of worrying. Forgive me for spending more time and energy worrying than I do praying, listening to You, and being a doer of the Word You give me. Today, I make the choice not to worry about what I can’t change and to stop fretting over those things that I can change by just doing it. I love You, Lord, and I love it that I know You love me. AMEN.

Blessings!
Pastor Roger