Today’s devotion builds on the thoughts from Sunday’s Sermon – Week 6 of “Fan or Follower – Worry Less” (LISTEN HERE).
Matthew 13:22 The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.
Worry is worrisome.
Worry is the state of anxiety or uncertainty over actual or potential problems.
What makes worry worrisome is the effect it can have on one physically, emotionally, but most importantly spiritually.
Worry creates stress and can create physical problems like high blood pressure, heart issues, ulcers and more. Worry causes emotional anxiety that keeps us up at night or can even lead to one having depression. All of these are serious and important to address medically if necessary.
However, the greatest danger of worry is that it chokes out our trust in the Lord.
In Matthew 13, Jesus tells the parable of the sower and the seed. The farmer casts the seed of God’s word onto the soil of people’s hearts. One of the soils on which the seed falls is full of thistles and thorns. Jesus explains that what keeps the Word of God from being fruitful in that person’s life is the “worries of this life.”
What are those for you?
Health worries? Work worries? Family worries? Relationship worries? Financial worries?
What happens is that these very real, challenging situations can take our time, energy and effort away from time with the Lord. However, perhaps the threat is that we turn inward to ourselves to figure out the outcome or try to determine what the potential issues may be and try to plan for each one or simply stress over potential outcomes.
The result? We lose our focus and trust in the Lord and his promises.
So again, Jesus warns us so we are familiar with the dangers to our faith and our relationship to our Savior.
So Jesus says in his sermon, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 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? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
The reason we can let go of worry is because of our relationship with our heavenly Father. Jesus reminds us that he cares for the birds of the air, small creatures in all of his creation. If he does this, he WILL take care of each of you.
We will want to know the future. We will want to know how a situation will turn out. We will want to have the answers…but Jesus simply just says, “Your heavenly Father will care for you.”
Let the Father’s care and love for you calm your worries you carry today.
Apply: What worries are you carrying today. What happens emotionally, physically and spiritually when you give those concerns to your Father in heaven to deal with?
Prayer: Father thank you for inviting us to cast our concerns and worries on you. Thank you for your care that reminds us that you care for us more than every other part of your creation. AMEN