Don’t Worry! Be Happy!

By Richard

The well-known passage about not worrying in Matthew 6 I think is summed up in this verse.

“What I am trying to do here is get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting… [That you miss and fail to respond to] God’s giving.” (Matthew 6:25, the Message)

Worry always takes the focus off God and onto ourselves. Yes, some of us are chronic worriers, and yes, some of this does comes from our own genetic make up. But, the examples given of God caring for “worthless” sparrows, counting the number of hairs on our head (presumably for fun) and clothing flowers (that bloom in the morning and die in the evening) with a beauty surpassing that of the greatest kings, are all examples that tell us to worry less.

I believe they show us that more important than knowing that God has the power to look after us is that God has a passion to look after us. The passage clearly communicates that God loves us and delights in looking after us. He’s longing to look after any who’ll stop depending on self-getting and start depending on His-giving.

Our task is to relax and trust in His passion to look after us, to experience His care, and to respond in worship. I pray that we will all learn to trust His-giving more and be much less preoccupied with self-getting.