DEVOTION//Worried? No!

An unknown sage defined worry as "a small trickle of fear that meanders through the mind until it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained."

A reservoir for worry

To be manageable, that small trickle of worry-water needs a reservoir, a place it can drain into and disappear.

God's grace provides such a place. His grace is limitless. Nothing that we do, nothing that other people do to us, nothing that happens in this universe can defeat God's gracious plans for us.

A reservoir of grace

Jesus teaches us to drain our worries in the ocean of his Father's grace. The love that sent Jesus to be our Savior, the love that bound him to the cross, and the love that triumphed on Easter certifies worry is never justified. We are too valuable to God for us to worry about anything. He is too committed to us not to provide for us. So why worry?

His grace frees us to keep our focus on him, the place in his kingdom Jesus has won for us, and the eternal righteousness that we enjoy. Drain your worry into grace’s ocean.

A reservoir of promise

Jesus teaches us (Matthew 6:25-34):

“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?”

 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”