Why Worry?

Dearest Ones,

Worrying won't help you solve a problem or bring about a solution, so why waste your time and energy on it? Most of us worry sometimes; some of us worry a lot of the time, and some worry all the time. They have in their mind a list of things to worry about. I'm sure that all of you find yourself in one of those categories today. I know I do. Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are not immune from this problem. Jesus knew we would worry and that is why He talked so much against it.

We tend to think of worry as a small thing, a weakness in our character, a slight personality defect that we cannot help. You often hear people say, "I'm a real worrier, but that's just me, that's just the way I am."

Now, of course, it's unnatural for us not to be concerned about these things. You might say: "Well, who doesn't worry?" That's like saying, "Who isn't a sinner?" Worry is not weakness, worry is sinful! Why? Because it is not believing God will provide. It's saying, "I don't trust God."

Whenever we say, as children of God, "Can God fix this problem? Will God? Is God able?" That is unbelief. Can God do this for me? Can God get me out of this situation? Anyone who worries, myself included, is thinking - I don't believe God can do this.

Think about it: How can a Christian have faith in God and then worry? If you're burdened with worry today, it's because you have a lack of faith. God says to us worriers: "Do not be anxious. Do not worry." Why? Because worry is something that pulls you apart from the inside out, and it is what pulls you away from God.

You may say, "You don't know what I'm going through: you don't have the worries that I have." I know it's difficult to accept these words from Jesus but please, it is the tender words from the loving lips of our loving Lord Jesus, saying, "Put your worries away. Don't let them tear you apart any more."

Jesus says, "Look at the birds! They've no need to hoard, they've no need to store, and they're not worrying about the future and piling things up for the days that lie ahead." He's not advocating a carefree irresponsible attitude toward work. You can't say, "Well, the sparrows don't work, so I'm not going to work." What God is saying to us is, when we do work God will provide for us. It's amazing to think that the Lord Jesus is telling men to be like birds:

Said the robin to the sparrow

I really do not know

Why it is these human beings

Rush about and hurry so

Said the sparrow to the robin:

I think that it must be

That they have no heavenly Father,

Such as cares for you and me.

If you can't change it, why are you worrying about how you're going to change it? When we worry what we're doing is this: we try to take the responsibilities that are God's out of His hands and put them in our hands. We want to control them, but we can't control them.

Jesus says: "Your heavenly Father will care for you." Worry does nothing, worry only changes things for the worse - but trusting God makes things look better!

If He gave His Son to die for us, don't you think you can trust Him? Peter got out of the boat, which most of us wouldn't even do. He's walking on the water, but he takes his eyes off the Lord and he begins to fall - and that can happen to us.

Worry does not empty tomorrow of sorrows, it empties today of our strength. This is God's Social Security plan: Seek first the Kingdom of God. What do human beings do: I must have this, and this, and this, and this - but God says if you want all those things, you must have a love life with god first and then have faith.

How can you have no worries? Put God first. Believe in His love for you. You have many problems, everyone does, but there need be no more worries. I am inclined to worry, so I'm talking to myself. Worry must be tackled - it is the devil's ground in our lives that robs us of peace. We need to look to our heavenly Father in faith.

All my love and prayers,

Sister Francelle