Worry is the most socially acceptable sin. We’ve accommodated it, medicated it, and even turned it into a sort of pseudo-virtue. But worry is not a virtue. Christ expressly commanded His disciples to not be anxious. Not anxious about their life, or the morrow, or the next meal, or your clothing, or how to increase your stature, or what to say when dragged before the tribunal to answer their false accusations against you. According to Christ, great matters & small trifles are not to cause us anxiety.
Paul also gives us the contrast to worry in Philippians. It isn’t a sanctified form of anxiety. It isn’t to adopt a fatalist mindset of indifference. It isn’t to embrace a New Age dogma of “just have good vibes.” Paul tells us to replace our worry with thankful prayer & supplication: “Be careful (anxious) for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God (Phl. 4:6).”
As a witty preacher once said, “Prayer isn’t worrying on your knees.” Instead, the Saint brings their gratitude & groanings, their sorrows & songs, their pains & praises to God, trusting that if He knows every falling sparrow, then He isn’t negligent of our circumstances. This turns our circumstances into bright promises of God’s veiled blessings.
A worrying soul never comes to the end of his worries. A praying Saint comes to the end of his list of requests & needs and says, “Amen.” Worry holds its worries with a tight fist. The praying Saint says, “Thine be the glory, Thy will be done.” You can either worry until your worries bring you to an end, or trust that God’s blessings will never end. So, what is weighing you down? Bring it to God in confession, prayer, or praise, and be free of it.
The Lord commands us to cast all our cares upon Him, yet too often we insist on holding onto our cares. This is an instance of our pride, our vanity, even our idolatry. It is as if we’d rather pray to ourselves for deliverance than come to the Almighty for aid in our time of need. We must not become persuaded that we are sufficient to fret over our earthly cares without reference to Christ our King and His will and His glory. This is pride & vanity. May God grant us grace to bring it all to God our Father in prayer, for He is a good a gracious Father who delights to answer the prayers of His children. He alone can strengthen our faith, and impart to us the Spirit of prayer and supplication through every chapter of our earthly sojourn.
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