Worry

When your mind is on auto-pilot and you’re mentally checked out, what is running through your imagination? For me, it’s often a hypothetical highlight from a Chicago Bears football game or images of what I’ll eat after dinner to satiate my sweet tooth. But sometimes, my mind gets sucked into downward spirals I’d rather avoid. I become mentally fixated on potential problems that I am powerless to fix. I become concerned and consumed with “what if” questions I may never need to answer.

That’s the idea behind the word “worry” used in this portion of the Sermon on the Mount. It’s an English translation of a Greek word that can mean “to be concerned”. We can be concerned for situations or people in a healthy way, but what Jesus appears to reference here is a sort of mentally consuming concern about our security. Jesus indicates a couple of reasons why this kind of worry and concern should no longer control our experience as citizens of God’s kingdom. First, this kind of worry underestimates the loving care and attentiveness of God our Father. He takes good care of lesser parts of his creation, so why do we assume He will overlook us, the pinnacle of His creation? (v. 26). Second, this kind of worry is unproductive. Incessant worry doesn’t prolong our life. It just makes our life less enjoyable! (v. 27).

In this passage, just like in much of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is not aiming to address all the nuances of every issue we face but to demonstrate down-to-earth ways that living in God’s kingdom changes our lives. We will still experience fear and stress as natural emotional responses that help keep us alive. Some will even experience anxiety that flows from chemical and biological imbalances more than it flows from disbelief in God’s care. But in this strange age, where God’s kingdom temporarily co-exists with the broken patterns of this world, we can still begin to live free from this unhealthy and unhelpful kind of worry. Jesus reminds us that our Father in heaven knows what we need. He also calls us to shift our striving away from personal security and toward the agenda of God’s kingdom instead. When we strive to see God’s kingdom come, we can trust that we will be given exactly what we need to do exactly what we’re called to do.

Discussion Questions

• Icebreaker: What do you think about the most often when you’re mentally checked out?
• How often do you experience mentally consuming concern or worry? About what sorts of things do you find yourself most concerned?
• Why is this kind of worry incompatible with life in God’s kingdom?
• Which words in this passage do you find the most comforting?
• How have you specifically experienced the provision and care of God?
• What might it look like to “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness”?