TUESDAY: I’M NOT WORRIED

Nov 29, 2022
2 min read

Lord, I have an addiction to worry. I tend to worry about everything. Please help me free myself from all this worry, fear, and anxiety.

Matthew 6:25-27, 33

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

While this passage seems to focus on teaching about worry, it is also a good lesson on life. By finding the kingdom of God, I find His values which are not the tangible things of this world but His righteousness, and I worship Him.

Just as I discovered yesterday in the previous instruction, I cannot store value in things on this earth. If I do, I begin to value the things I see instead of thinking about heavenly values. This causes me to worry about my life.

By worrying, I think I’m adding value and significance to a situation, which somehow will make it turn into my desired outcome. But worry doesn’t change the situation. However, I should have learned by now that I can’t add a single hour to my life by worrying, and I’m deceiving myself by believing so.

THINK ABOUT THESE THINGS: The key to lessen the amount of time I worry is to increase the amount of time I seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. Jesus makes a promise that if I will seek Him first, then He will also give me peace over anything worries me.

To do this, I need to clearly understand where my values originate. If I continue swimming in worldly values, I will constantly desire what’s bigger and better for myself and what more I can acquire.

If I secure my value in eternity, I will realize that material things aren’t important, and I can place unsurpassed value on my relationship with God and with others. These things I wish to protect, so I lift these things to the Lord first.

Lord, please help me to keep my values straight. Turn my focus upon You, so I don’t begin to worry. And if I do, remind me that if I seek You first, I will find You.

May you be blessed,

Chaplain Wayne Ruckman