…do not be anxious about your life… which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
I have seen many “guaranteed” get-rich-quick schemes, and I’m pretty sure they all fall short of their promise. There is a fail-hard-quick scheme that works every time though: worrying and then expecting that to make a difference. Not only does Jesus promise this truth, but if that were not enough (and it should be), I have done a lot of worrying over my lifetime. My experience in worry has done nothing but confirm the words of Jesus: it did nothing for me.
In 1908 Robert Yerkes and John Dodson created the Inverted-U Theory. This theory suggested that a particular range of stress increased productivity until it crossed a certain threshold. This amount of stress would then leave the worker at a maximum capacity of productivity until the stress levels crossed another threshold, then causing productivity to crash.
While worry and anxiety are forms of stress, no amount of them result in changed situations. Typically worry freezes us and sends us into cycles of unproductive efforts and poor judgement. Worry does not give us freedom, it does not clothe or feed us, and it does not make life better.
Why do I continue to worry then?
Though I’m sure that I need to explore this more, my worry stems from either a) I do not see God as my Father, therefore I do not see myself as a son, b) I do not think God to be the kind of Father who takes care of His children, or c) both.
I need to talk to the Lord about this. I need to take steps.
Today, take a step with me.
Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to abandon the fruitless effort of worry. Maybe today God wants you to trust that He is the kind of Father that takes care of His kids. Perhaps He wants you to allow yourself to see Him as Father and yourself as His child.
Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.
Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.
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*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 156-163, and Keener, C. S., Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 6:25-34) (InterVarsity Press, 1997).