Even one of our Lord's most faithful followers, Martha, was a worrier. She became filled with anxiety about her household task and her sister's failure to help her with these chores. Martha felt Mary was shirking her duty. This irritated her so much that she complained, "Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she help me". (Luke 10: 40) How many of us today are Martha's in the words of the Bible, anxious and troubled about many things. Gently Jesus rebuked her, and pointed out that Mary had chosen the better part that can never be taken away from her. She had left all to follow Him. (Luke 10: 41-42)
So deep are the problems of our times, that this has been called the age of anxiety. Probably no sin is so widespread, yet our Lord commanded us, "Do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on" (Matthew 6: 25). Many people who are careful in telling the truth, who would not think of murdering anyone, or of using God's name in vain, are still guilty of worry and fretfulness. Countless hours are lost through anxieties. LL/ damage their health, shorten their lives through anxiety. In addition, they make their lives miserable, by being chronic worriers. Worry is deceptive. It always assigns to itself the highest and purest of motives. Long after any good can come from our abnormal concern, It lingers, much like the smile of the Cheshire Cat. One false or inadequate remedy Du P- for anxiety and worry has been to tell ourselves that because all Of our worries are just in the minds, efte need only to relax and the problems will go away. One widely repeated phrase has been "every day and in every way, I'm getting better and better". But this is a very inadequate remedy. While much of our problem$ is in our thinking, and thought control is an effective Bible principle, we must realize that we also have real problems as human beings, and just dismissing them from our minds will not make them go away. Another false remedy is to think that if God is with me everything will be all right. This is naively. The Bible makes clear to us that there is no immunity from pain, suffering, and death promised the Christian. This takes a shallow view of faith. The Bible does not promise the believer all sweetness and light, but it does enable to us have peace of mind amid the varying circumstances that confront us. Then what can we do about anxiety? What we need to do is, to turn to God for help, and to place our confidence in Him. Against the background of Jesus' teaching on worry and anxiety, we have His marvelous admonition, "but seek you first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be yours as well, therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself, let the days own trouble be sufficient for that day" (Matthew 6: 33-34). Jesus advises us to take each day in its turn, face its problems honestly, and not worry about tomorrow. So many of our worries are about little things. Things that do not really matter. Other worries are about things we cannot help, we must learn to accept. God helps us to develop the ability to discern between the essential and the non-essential, and He will lead us to trust His care and provision, #S He cares for the birds, the grass of the field, and the short lived flowers, He will also care for us. (Luke 12:22-31)
When we come to see things from God's perspective, we can learn to say with the Apostle Paul, for "whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die we die unto the Lord. Whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's" (Romans 14: 8). If our faith depends on each days headlines, we are bound to be anxious about tomorrow's world. But if our faith is placed in our all-loving, all-knowing, all powerful God, who taught us to cast all your care upon Him, for He careth for you. (I Peter 5: 7), we will know peace of mind. Placing our lives at His disposal, we know that He works in everything for our good. (Romans 3: 28).