Friday, October 21, 2005

Worry A Sinful Atheistic and Lazy Process That Must Be Broken


Worry: A Sinful, Atheistic and Lazy Process That Must Be Broken

Many Christians worry. Do you? Are you aware that the Bible calls you not to worry? God will take your worries He calls His children to cast all their care on Him because He cares them (1 Pt. 5:7). Therefore if you do worry you must learn the Biblical response to life in order to remove this sin from your life. It will take a renewed mind (Rom. 12:2) and action on your part. Keep reading and find ways to put the following into practice. This will give you a peace that passes all understanding and will glorify your Lord.
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To Worry Is To Sin
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Jesus is clear very clear to us in that we are not to worry. John, the elder wrote Jesus directions in the sixth chapter of his gospel. Listen and take direction from Jesus. Mat 6:25-34 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Therefore to worry is to go against Jesus directions and therefore it is sin.
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How is your life? Are you caught up in worry? Worry is an over emphasis and concern over the future that you have no control over. Are you trying to control the future, which is not yours but Gods? If you worry then you are trying to take what is Gods and are seeking to steal from Him. Are you looking at the future with trepidation, fear and anxiety? Do you feel life is scattered? Are you finding yourself confused and in mental difficulty over something you can do nothing about today? Are you looking into the future and worrying about things you have no control over? If so it seems that you have worry in you life. If so this is sin.

The sin of worry has many effects in your life. It causes many negative effects on the body such as ulcers, diarrhea, heart attacks, etc. Causing anger and fear it can rip the energy from life causing one to stop in their tracks. In reality while one may be thinking much about what they cannot control they really do nothing and become lazy. It is as simple as this: a worrisome person becomes unable to handle life’s problems. Worry keeps people from glorifying God and serving him. They cannot rejoice in the Lord always. Left unchecked and not corrected worry can drive one to an early death. The consequences of worry are quite serious! Therefore you must overcome the problem of worry and cast you care upon the Lord.
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Worry Is Atheistic
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Not only can worry bring many difficulties including causing a life to come to an “early” death but to worry is to bring atheistic thought processes into life’s problems and situations. When worrying about the future one is acting as though God does not nor cannot control the future in particular situations. It is to say God cannot handle tomorrow’s problems. Now all God‘s children know that this is a horrible thought. After all He created the world, planned and decreed all things that happen. Therefore, He works with perpetual energy in this world in and for his glory and the good of His people. Remember He cares for us. We are even to rest upon Him to take away these sinful atheistic thoughts when we petition Him to “hallow” his name in the Lord’s Prayer.
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Worry Causes Laziness
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The Bible points out that many people that worry are lazy. They don’t do the need of the moment. Those that worry do not complete the tasks of the day because they are focused on the problems of tomorrow. The worrisome and lazy person is simply one who is like a stuck car on ice - a spinning of the wheels – burning mental energy on what they cannot do while letting life fall down around them. Remember that Jesus called a worried person lazy. The person was afraid of what the future may have brought and did not do anything but excuse himself of personal responsibilities. Mat 25:26-27 “But his master answered him, 'You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sowed and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.”
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How Do I Stop Worrying?
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Firstly, it is important to know that you can overcome worry. You must first understand that God is interested in you and wants you not to worry. He cares for you. That is He cares for all that is happening in life and He can care for you as well as take care of what you cannot take care of – the future. He cares so much for you that he gives the directives and dynamics by which His children can live worry free.
Secondly, Jesus explained that in order to live without worry one must not be anxious over the future difficulties of life but live for today. "Therefore do not be anxious for {or worried about} tomorrow, for tomorrow will take care of itself' (Matthew 6:34). Jesus made it clear that what is wrong with worry is that it is the wrong focus on life. Jesus here is teaching us that each day has its own troubles. The focus of our life, and therefore the key to overcoming worry, is to spend your energy on the issues of today for it will bring its own problems. Leave tomorrow to God.
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Therefore in summary do this: 1. Believe God is in control and will take care of the future and wants to take your cares upon Him. Since He is in control and has tomorrow in His hands you can pour energy into each particular day. Therefore, take care of today since it has its own issues and it will take the day to work through them. Identify those each day and work the issues of each particular today. Pour your energies into today. Don’t spin wheels in worry about the future.
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If you have difficulty in starting you day with a focus here are three questions that will help you focus and overcome worry.

1. What is my problem or issues to work today?
2. What does God want me to do about it?
3. When, where and how should I begin?
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To live in a worriless fashion is not to live without concern. It is right and proper to be concerned. It is important that one concerns themselves with health, families, work, etc. Concern is not worry and therefore is not a problem. You cannot do away with concern. Concern motivates one to plan where needed and to focus on today each and every day. What you are called to do is to direct your concern so that you are to be concerned and working on the issues of this day. Concern for today and not worry is the formula and key by which you are to live.
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Concern is an emotion which has been given to each of us by God. It has its place in our human makeup. Concern used properly our God given ability to use out mind and body in order to gather our thoughts and put plans together in order to work problems that come upon us. It is right when it is properly used according to the commandments and principles of His word. Emotional concern is the God-given ability to mobilize the forces of the body and the mind to focus upon a problem. If you turn concern into worry you use chemical and electrical energy in your body that has no place to go. It cannot be released in us as God created us. The body becomes frustrated since we cannot act upon the future. But remember this - the energy and chemicals will affect the body in a negative fashion (read above affects).
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When you focus on today and concern yourself with this day then the chemicals and the electrical energy of the body is used. If you focus upon today, the energy is not wasted, and you can be fruitful in your daily endeavors. You will physically and spiritually do well and the Lord Jesus will be glorified.
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When you take care of today’s problems you are obeying Christ in not being “anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will care for itself. So remember to take care of today's problems; take care of the troubles that you have to handle now. This is the KEY to eliminating worry. Proper daily concern with action without worry:
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1. does not tear you up by you staying in constant confusion
2. lets you get a handle on daily problems
3. lets you do something due to the focus
4. allows you to deal with daily reality
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Now that you have the biblical direction to overcome worry I feel I must state that there is nothing wrong in planning for the future and is actually Biblical to do so. Planning is never objected to in the Scriptures. Note what James wrote to the early church. Jam 4:13-15 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit" yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." In reality James is directing the church to make all plans with God in mind. In planning we must remember He is sovereign and our plans may not be what He desires from us. Therefore as one person has stated we need to make plans “in pencil with an eraser on it”. Lay out your plans before the Lord seeking that all you plan to be morally and ethically biblical. Then as you submit them acknowledge to the Lord if it is His will you desire these plans to come to pass if it be His will. However, you recognize before Him that that He is Sovereign and can change them. In other words submit them being flexible to God’s direction for your life since He controls the future and we do not. Remember?
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Final Question: Are you a Christian?
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Perhaps you have read this and you have not place saving faith in Jesus Christ. If not you do have something to worry about. You have an eternity that will not be spent with the Lord of all creation and comfort. Your worry should be that you are a sinner and have not worshiped God in Christ due to sin in your life. Perhaps you are beginning to understanding that you will be spend eternity in hell. In this you should be concerned. You also may be concerned that you do not have the power to overcome worry. Only those that love the Lord are promised that all things work together for them. But perhaps God is working showing you a need to lay your life before Him repenting of sin and in seeking him to help overcome your sin of worry. Perhaps he is working in your heart / mind to convict you of your sin. Christ died on the cross to die in the place of guilty sinners. He took hell for them. Those that believe He died for them and repent of sin are forgiven. Will you repent of sin and rest in the forgiveness of Christ today? God promise is this …”As many as received Him [Jesus Christ], to them He gave the right to be called the children of God, even to those who believe in His name" (John 1:12). Why don’t you trust Him now?