Winning over Worry

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:34)

What we have here may be the most important ammunition of all—a systematic strategy to weed out your worry. Jesus is saying something quite interesting: You won’t sink under the burden of today’s crises, but tomorrow’s agenda puts you over the weight limit. Have you ever tried to carry too many bags of groceries at the same time? After cleaning the eggs from your driveway, you’ll know better—and you’ll make two trips instead of one. Jesus tells us to carry today’s bag today and make a fresh trip tomorrow.

Living in the present tense is an art. Do you know someone who’s “not all there,” for his or her eyes are focused on some invisible horizon? This person is preoccupied with absent problems. But have you ever known someone who lives completely in the present? Such people seem lively, full of energy and charisma and getting their money’s worth out of every new thing that comes along, and you won’t catch them worrying. That’s how Jesus wants us to live—a day at a time. There’s a reason God placed us within the moment, bracketed away from both the past and the future. They’re both off-limits to us, and we need to post “No Trespassing” signs. The past is closed for good, and the future is still under construction. But today has everything you need. Come here and make your home.

Many years ago the Chicago Daily News carried an article by a prominent physician by the name of Osler who made some wise observations about worry. Throughout his career he had observed the physical effects of worry upon the lives of his patients. And he used an analogy about the careful design of an ocean liner. If the hull of the ship is pierced by means of some collision, the steel doors of the hold can be lowered so that only a portion of the ship is flooded. And then Dr. Osler went on to make this important application. He wrote that we should design our lives just as carefully. We all have our unforeseen collisions, and we must learn how to lower the forward hold doors against dangerous tomorrows; we must lower rear hold doors against the past; and we must learn to live safe and dry in the compartment of today.

    All the water in the world
    However hard it tried,
    Could never sink a ship
    Unless it got inside.
    All the hardships of this world
    Might wear you pretty thin,
    But they won’t hurt you one least bit
    Unless you let them in.

  —Anonymous

Don’t dwell on tomorrow’s stress. Jesus has told us that tomorrow will take care of itself. Take note also of this powerful word:

As your days, so shall your strength be. (Deuteronomy 33:25)

David Jeremiah, Slaying the Giants in Your Life (Nashville, TN: W Pub., 2001), 63–64.

This article excerpted from Slaying the Giants in Your Life.

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