Y’all have probably never done this, so feel free to just sit back and think about how awesomely mature you are while I make a small confession:
Sometimes I get really worried about what’s down the road.
And I’m not speaking literally, of course. I don’t live in fear of the drugstore near the entrance to our neighborhood. I’m talking about the figurative road—what the future holds. And I don’t even confine my worry to a specific area; I much prefer to worry about all the things. So on any given day that might mean I worry about my family, my friends, our dog, a conversation I need to have, a football game, my job, a doctor’s appointment, whatever. You name it, and I have probably worried about it. Because I don’t mean to brag, but I am an excellent worrier.
Try not to be jealous, everybody.
Not too long ago I was talking to some high school seniors, and they started listing everything that scares them about college. Somehow that list transitioned into their worries about relationships and marriage and children and careers, and before you know it they were having a big ole festival-o’-fear.
I think I can speak for the group and say that it wasn’t even a little bit of fun.
And you know why it wasn’t fun (besides the fact that the whole conversation was a bummer, of course)? Worry isn’t God’s best for us. On some level it’s a declaration that we don’t trust Him, we don’t believe He goes before us, and we don’t think His plan is good enough. We don’t necessarily intend for that to be the outcome when we get bogged down in all the what-ifs related to, say, a conflict we wish we’d handled better. But ultimately our concern is that God won’t be able to get us through whatever situation He has in store for us.
That is crazy talk, y’all.
A few weeks ago our pastor preached a sermon on worry and anxiety. Toward the end, as he encouraged us to surrender and rest in the peace of God, he said something that was positively profound to me: Stay out of the future.
Stay. Out. Of. The. Future.
Isn’t that so good? Because there is something about worry (and the accompanying anxiety) that turns all of us into some really jacked-up fortune tellers. It’s a strange thing, our worst-case-scenario “certainty” that is solely the product of our imagination.
So, today let’s remind ourselves to stay out of the future. There’s no good reason to rob ourselves of the peace we have in Jesus. Here and now—in this present day, in these present circumstances—is where we’re supposed to be. We can trust Him with what’s next because He loves us, He is for us, and He is faithful.
He is our all in all.
1. On a scale of 1 to 5, how big of an issue is worry for you?
2. What do you think you are trying to control when you worry? Explain.
3. Was there a time when you were super worried about something—and then that something didn’t even happen? What was that experience like?
4. Write out, doodle, illustrate Matthew 6:34.
Today’s Prayer