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I often speak to people about their deepest of concerns. They share with me what is on their heart and I listen. Many times during our conversations they will say a sentence something like this. “I know it is not good to worry but….” They say this as if they are confessing a sin when it comes to worry. Many will tell me Brother So and So said you shouldn’t worry or they will give me the verses about worry in the Bible. They know they should not worry but it is not keeping them from doing it.

Well I have news for everyone, this Brother So and So worries too. I too have laid in bed at night and worried about things that might happen or things that have happened. I have lost sleep and time spent on worry. It is not something I do often, or something that consumes me but indeed I am normal just like you and to say I never worry would be foolish not to mention a lie. I believe Jesus knew it would be a concern of ours otherwise He would not have addressed it in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus knows what keeps you up at night and he knew we would be prone to worry.

Having established that most all of us humans worry let me establish something else that might help us fight against this problem. Worry is a great thief. Leo Buscaglia said it best when he made this quote:

Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.

Let’s think clearly for a few seconds and address this modern day epidemic.

1. Worrying about something has never made it not happen.
2. Worrying about the past will not make the past go away. What is done is done. We need to give it to the Lord and move on.
3. Worrying takes up needed energy we might use to solve an issue or just to take care of our daily business. It is an unnecessary distraction.
4. Worry can make you sick, especially if it is prolonged.
5. As the above quote says worry steals your daily joy.

Worry is all about control, the less control we have the more we are likely to worry about it. Control is about faith, when we come to Christ in faith we give Him all of our life including or especially the things we are prone to worry about. As we give our life to Christ more and more each day we learn to let Him be in control. Maybe we should practice some short prayers to help us with our worries:

• Dear Lord, these are your children. Help me to raise them right and leave them in your hands. Thanks for loaning them to me.
• Dear Lord, this is your marriage. Help me to do my part, to let you lead it. With your help I can manage anything that comes my way.
• Dear Lord, you have gifted me with this job. Help me to rely on you to handle the daily pressures with grace and courage.
• Dear Lord, you have gifted me with this body. Help me to take care of it and give me the strength to live out the days of my life no matter what might happen to it.
• Dear Lord, forgive me for my sin. Thanks for forgiving me and now please give me your Holy strength to walk away from it, never to repeat it again.

This Brother So and So does not want you or himself to worry because he knows that it all comes down to faith. Christ is in control, when we live our lives with that knowledge at the front of our minds the thief can no longer steal the great joy that each day has to offer.

Let us live out this day with the great knowledge that we do not know what will happen tomorrow but we know who does! He loves us and He is in control!

Scripture: Matthew 6:25, “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?

Matthew 6:27, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”

Matthew 6:34, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Prayer: Dear Lord, you know our flesh, that we are prone to sin. Give us your strength to make it through each day. Lay in us a desire to please you and to know you more closely. We ask these things in Christ Name, Amen.