Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Hurried, Worried, Buried
"So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today."—Matthew 6:34
The epitaph could be written on countless American gravestones: "Hurried, worried, buried." We spend our lives full of anxiety and frustration and worry.
Martha is a classic example of someone who was overly anxious. Jesus often visited the home of Martha, her sister Mary, and her brother Lazarus in Bethany. On one such occasion, Martha was slaving away in the kitchen when Mary decided it was a great opportunity to sit at the Lord's feet. Martha got frustrated because she thought Mary was being idle and lazy. So she said to Jesus, "Lord, doesn't it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me" (Luke 10:40).
Jesus told her, "My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:41-42). In other words, there is a time for work and there is a time for worship.
Yet we try to justify our worry by saying, "Well, it is because I care that I worry." But worry is not a virtue. In fact, it can actually be a sin. The word "worry" originates from a word that means "to choke or strangle." That is what worry will do to you. It won't help your situation. It will only aggravate it and make it worse.
As Charlie Brown once put it, "I have developed a new philosophy. I only dread one day at a time." There is enough trouble waiting for you tomorrow and the day after and the day after. Don't even think about those right now. Instead, take the troubles of today and put them into the hands of God.
Copyright © 2010 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
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