Worry and fear

Do not worry (Matthew 6:31).

Are you fearful? Does worry consume your thoughts? When you make plans, do you find yourself revisiting them over and over again, tweaking them and making adjustments? Do you find yourself micromanaging others by constantly telling them what to do and how to do it?

Where do these tendencies come from? Maybe you were once caught unprepared, and things went so badly that you are now obsessed with being ready for any situation that might come up. Perhaps a person you trusted implicitly betrayed you, and now you fear opening up to anyone else and getting hurt again. Maybe a natural disaster took away much of what you had, or you went through a time with little or no income; as a result, you now look at the future with caution and uncertainty.

The effects of living in fear are terrible. You can’t get a good night’s rest, since your mind is constantly trying to anticipate problems before they happen. Because you are reluctant to trust others, you feel that you have to do everything yourself, leaving you frazzled and exhausted. When you don’t feel safe opening up to others, close relationships are few and far between. The stress of constant worrying can lead to bad eating habits and other health problems as well.

Living in fear is unnecessary. You don’t have to be constantly on your guard against impending disaster. The universe is not the result of mindless evolution; the fact that you are alive is no accident. There is an Intelligence responsible for creating and sustaining all life, and that Intelligence is characterized by power, wisdom and love. That Intelligence created you for a purpose, and sent His Son to show you how to live. That Son is Jesus, and He is more than just a wise teacher; He is the Son of God. He has the wisdom to set right every disaster of your making. He has the power to provide for your every need. He has the ability to rescue you from every danger. He has promised to forgive everyone who trusts in Him, and He assures us that if we are loyal to Him, He will take care of us. He calls us His friends; He loves us so much that He was willing to die for our sins in our place, sparing us from hell. When the all-powerful Son of God is looking out for you as your Friend, there is no problem that you need to lose sleep over.