Friday, March 23, 2012

Be anxious for nothing


"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."
- Matthew 6:25-34

Paul Tautges has written a helpful post on the sin of axiety. He points out seven ways that Jesus helps us understand what is truly happening in us when we become anxious.
1. Anxiety often stems from a preoccupation with the temporal and material.
2. Anxiety fails to recognize God as the faithful Creator and trust Him as the ultimate Provider.
3. Anxiety will not help us live longer.
4. Anxiety is caused by a lack of faith or faith misdirected.
5. Anxiety is a worldly response.
6. Anxiety directs our attention away from kingdom matters.
7. Anxiety robs us of the enjoyment of today’s blessings.
Read the entire post HERE.

2 comments:

Sean said...

Thanks for this post, Todd. I'm a worrier. Have been most of my life. So I'm anxious about a lot. And being a business owner and the sole bread winner, I struggle with this quite a bit. But I've never looked at it as sin until reading this... even though I'm very familiar with Christ's words here in Matthew. Definitely something I need to start asking God to forgive me for and strengthen me on.

Todd Pruitt said...

You and me both Sean!