Don't Worry

"Don't worry, mom." This is how my son always starts his sentence when he talks to me. (Oops! I thought that should be what I would say to him as I am the senior one and has the power to cast his worries away???)

Don't worry. This is also what I heard from the pulpit today as Ptr Coleborn brought us the message for this Lord's Day. He preached from Matthew 6:24-34, a all too-familiar passage for those who have been in church long enough to take it like a light breeze that blew across their ears.

Don't worry. How often we would mumble this to ourselves and others but find our heart rate racing the next minute? Sigh, vanity of vanity, even saying "Don't worry." has become vanity as the worry itself!

Jesus gave His counsel on overcoming anxiety in this passage. Ptr Coleborn summarised it in 4 key points: Living from day to day, Know that Jesus cares, Count our blessings, Set the
Right Priority.

Straight forward advice this may sound but anyone who is truthful enough would agree with me that only with God-given-Grace that one can truly follow this remedy for our worrying hearts.

Here is my own reflection on the message:

Living from day to day: Don't we always want either to wollow in the past or stretch ourselves to attain what we want for the morrow? Problem will always be overwhelming when we have the cumulative view of it. But breaking it down to bitesize portion for each day, we will find it easier to deal with if we stay focus and rely on God's Grace to handle each day's demand. If we ask God to give us each day our daily bread, why do we still preoccupy our mind with the entire week's ration?

Know that Jesus cares: If we worship God as the creator and sustainer of our lives, why do we still fight to be in full control by working on our own worries? Leaning on our own strength and think that we know better what is good for ourselves would make our worship of God a mockery!

Count our blessings: if we are the accountants of our own spiritual bank, we are doomed for we often dwell on the deficits. We are too busy looking at our "have-not"s and our long "wish list". Perhaps, we should start each day and end each night by writing down what we receive from the Lord in between. Phil 4:8 is the perfect antedote for a lousy accountant to balance his book.

Set the Right Priority: The key word is "Right" and it must be defined according to the Bible. The Kingdom of God is the Right Priority. We are prince and Princess of this wonderful kingdom of God but we often find ourselve living the lives of beggers for the treasures of this earth! No wonder we worry, for we have to be slave to gather earthly treasures. Slave to our own greed and pride and we worry that we are not the best of slaves as there are always someone better than us!

"Don't worry" is neither a sloggan like "Just do it!" nor is it a chant like "Amituba" to cast away the evil spell of worry. Before I next say it to myself, I better remember to go through the 4 points check list to make sure that I have reasons to use it with clear conscience.