The Weight of Worry

Read: Matthew 6:25-34 and 11:28-30         

Who hasn’t felt the weight of worry, stress, or anxiety in their lives?  It is something we all deal with, struggle to cope with, and desire to be free of.   Corrie Ten Boom once shared this truth that is good to keep in mind.  She said, “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.”

Recently we have had a small bird sitting on the front window sill of our home and pecking at the window at all times of the day.  After further investigation I noticed that the bird had made a nest in one of our front porch decorations.  Inside that nest is several eggs that the bird is watching over.  Perhaps the bird is protecting its nest from those big human beings that keep coming and going out the front door?  Surely, it has no worries.

In Matthew 6:26 when Jesus was talking about worry he said, “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?”  The answer to his question is an obvious “YES!”  Jesus then goes on to say, “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”

Corrie Ten Boom was directing us to what Jesus is saying in these verses.  Why should we allow our worries to sap the energy, joy, and strength of this day, when it accomplishes nothing for today, tomorrow, or any point in the future.  Instead we should place our faith in God to calm us, bring us peace, and deliver us from the things that tend to weigh on us.  At the end of his life, Sir Winston Churchill said, “When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened.”

The bird on my front porch pecks away without a worry in the world, I too want to live that way.  I want to take my worries, my anxiety, and my stress to Jesus.  It’s interesting how Jesus promised that exact thing in Matthew 11:28.  He said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you….”  What?  REST!  Which results in worry free peace.

 Make it Personal:  Jesus wants to take the weight of your worry upon himself.  Will you give it to him?  Will you trust in Him?  Will you have faith that he will look after you even more than the birds of the air, whom already have all they need.  Perhaps today is the day to redistribute that weight to the one who promises rest for your soul.

Have a blessed week,  Pastor Glen Rhodes