March 18-19 - Control freak

“For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day” - 2 Timothy 1:12

We've all met them – perhaps WE are one – control freaks? I'm not talking about the type of control freak that thinks they know a better way to run everyone's life than the individual living the life! No, the habitual, hidebound worrier is where my mind is. The individual who makes worrying a profession, because worry is essentially a control issue. It’s trying to control the uncontrollable.

We've just had the Spring Budget go through Parliament, and before it was read we knew we couldn't control the economy, so we worried about the economy. Now it's been read, we worry about the cut-backs. We can’t control our children, so we worry about them....what will become of them if they don't change? We can’t control the future, so we worry about the future – how can things go on in Europe as they are much longer? What if I lose my job and can't keep up with the mortgage? What if the Health Service collapses under it's weight and my health, or my family's breaks down....etc....etc? But worry never solves anything! It’s stewing without doing.

Jesus gives us four reasons why we don’t need to worry in His Sermon on the Mount. Rick Warren puts them this way:

1. Worry is unreasonable.

Matthew 6:25 says, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?” (NIV)

Jesus is saying, if it’s not going to last, don’t worry about it. To worry about something you can change is stupid. To worry about something you can’t change is useless. Either way, it’s unreasonable to worry.

2. Worry is unnatural.

Jesus gives us an illustration from nature in Matthew 6:26: “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”

There’s only one thing in all of God’s creation that worries: human beings. We’re the only things God has created that don’t trust him, and God says this is unnatural.

3. Worry is unhelpful.

It doesn’t change anything. Matthew 6:27 says, “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”

When you worry about a problem, it doesn’t bring you one inch closer to the solution. It’s like sitting in a rocking chair — a lot of activity, energy, and motion, but no progress. Worry doesn’t change anything except you. It makes you miserable!

4. Worry is unnecessary.

Matthew 6:30 says, “If God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won’t He more surely care for you, O men of little faith?” (TLB)

If you trust in God, you don’t need to worry. Why? Because he has promised to take care of all your needs: “God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19 NIV).

Just reading these four reasons re-confirmed to me that that includes our bills. Includes the verbal and emotional tugs-of-war we have with friends and loved ones. Includes our dreams, goals and ambitions. Includes the health and financial issues we don’t know what to do with.

Yes. God will meet all our needs in Christ. He holds our future in His hands.

Don’t worry about it!

Music choice today is assurance that no matter what our worries may be, all will be well because

“I Know Who Holds Tomorrow” - LIVE