Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? February 24, 2007
Posted by Han in : Life's Challenge , trackbackThe above title is taken from Matthew 6:27. Spend some time to ponder about it, who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life. Indeed, worrying will not help; this is something that we know but often we are still caught doing it. Some tend to worry over small little thing in their life. And every time they worry about something, it never gets smaller but instead it blows the problem out of proportion. Indeed, it is very self defeating and a waste of time!
According to the dictionary, worrying is to torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts. It will also cause one to suffer mental breakdown and to lose sleep. It makes the person tired, unfocused and unproductive in his daily work. In fact, worry has never solved a problem, never paid a bill and never cured an illness. It only paralyzes us and prevents us from getting a solution. It is like a car in a neutral mode, it never gets to anywhere!
How can we deal with this habit of worrying? To be completely free from worrying is not an easy task. We are unable to put a NO Entry sign and tell “Mr. Worry”, you cannot come into my life. It slips in quietly without our knowledge. But one thing we can do is to manage it. Therefore we need to learn how to control our level of worry.
Managing our level of worry
We can learn from Matthew 6:25-34. Here Jesus was teaching about worrying.
1) Try to understand Matthew 6:27
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Matthew 6:27
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Take a piece of paper and write down the benefits of worrying. Can you think of any? Or…why not write about the negative effects of worrying! A lot!!! True enough, there is no benefit in worrying. It will not supply us the answer but complicates the matter. The moment we understand this simple truth, we have already won half the battle. Therefore, each time when we are put into such a position, we have to make conscious effort not to worry. It’s a choice: worrying or do something positive.
2) Compare with those who are more terrible than us
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? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. Matthew 6:26,28,29
Take a look at our surrounding; there are people who are suffering. There are people who have no food to eat. Some of them have got no shelter to live and some of their houses are made of carton boxes. Some are wearing the same clothes 365 days. They are living in poverty. Some are orphans, running outside the street. Compare our life with them. When we start to compare our life with them; all our worries will automatically diminish and we will start to give thanks.
3) Have faith in God
…O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. Matthew 6: 30-32
Worrying tends to make the problem bigger where else trusting God tends to make God bigger and the problem smaller. Therefore, instead of worrying, it will be good if we can hand all our worries to God. Let God take charge and be in control. He will not mess out our lives but He will make everything beautiful. Let us trust in God and have faith in Him in every area of our lives. Our heavenly Father knows what we need.
4) Do something positive
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:3-34
If we sit down and do nothing (other than worrying); nothing will change! Why not use this amount of strength to think about the solution and access all possibilities. Instead of worrying, do something positive. List out all the problems, prioritize it and tackle it one by one. Pray to God for the new ideas, solutions and opportunities. He will supply them all, amen.
Conclusion
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all your understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7
If we spend as much time praying as compare to worrying than we will have a lot less to worry about. Worrying will do us more harm than good. It’s a choice to make. It’s our conscious effort to get rid of worrying in our life.
All the Best,
Han
Comments»
These are very practical messages. Thanks for setting this up to bless us. I will definitely come back for more..
Hi Hong Teck, thanks for the encouragement. I will work hard to write more articles…