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What Are You Worried About?

The Lord Jesus understands very well how noise from this world makes us anxious. The world's voice tells us the short way to get rich, famous, safe, and more. Jesus also sees how hard we use our energy to achieve these things to relieve anxiety and worry in our lives. Therefore, He gave a warning in Matthew 13. “The seed falling among the thorns" refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.” He said there will be people who hear the Word of God but do not grow in the Word because of worries and the deceitfulness of wealth.

Jesus explains that the things that fill and control our minds and hearts will gradually control our whole life. The world's anxiety, for example, will continue to slowly undermine our gratitude. Anxiety increases our fear of tomorrow. Our greatest worry, perhaps, is the fear of loss: loss of work, loss of health, loss of wealth, loss of loved ones, and loss of opportunities. That fear becomes a place for anxiety to thrive. It makes us compromise our faith and forget God's faithful love. Anxiety slowly makes us forget the One who guarantees eternal, abundant life. We choose to depend on ourselves instead of Him. Then we feel anxious and alone as we carry out our many tasks by ourselves, in our own strength. In the end, high anxiety, self-pity, and anger keep our eyes from seeing that God is actually with us.

The reality is that the Lord Jesus wants us to take our attention away from our worries and direct it toward the serenity that can be found in His presence. God often calls us in a very gentle way to come to Him. That soft voice sometimes appears amid the noise of anxiety flooding our minds and we fail to hear it. The Lord Jesus invites us to sit quietly and listen to Him like Mary did while Martha was busy doing many things (Luke 10). Martha's anxiety aroused her anger and she grumbled in front of the Lord. His rebuke to Martha was not to criticize her or to belittle their need for food and service. Rather, He wanted to help Martha get rid of her anxiety and anger by replacing them with the presence of God.

The only way to suppress our anxiety and anger is to remain in the presence of God and His Word. True peace will be found only in Him. If anxiety begins to take over your life, try to overcome it by sitting in God's presence.