Daily Devotional For Tuesday, June 25, 2024

Well, it is Tuesday and I thought for today we would look at a couple of questions that come back-to-back in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. They are found in Matthew 6:27-28a, “ And who of you by worrying and being anxious can add one unit of measure (cubit) to his stature or to the span of his life?      (28) And why should you be anxious about clothes?  (AMP-C). A cubit = 18 inches. Jesus in Matthew 6 focuses on stuff that typically gets our attention. It’s “eye candy” to us: food, clothing, luxuries, possessions, and things. We are enamored by the rich and how they live in such luxury and this creates envy in us — something strictly forbidden in the Ten Commandments. Look at Exodus 20:17, “Thous shalt not covet . . .” (NKJV).

 This is why the NC Lottery is so funded. I say funded because the lottery is like taxes — the state is going to make sure they get their share of it first. They make tons of money off the interests in that account and they make tons of money off the taxes from the winners. Though the government will not allow us to “double-dip,” it certainly gives itself permission to do so. 

 We see how we covet with TV shows. In 1963, a TV show called ,“Let’s Make A Deal” hit the TV airways hosted by Monty Hall, who was it’s host for 30 years — 30 years folks. Then they came out with the All New Let’s Make A Deal TV show, hosted by Wayne Brady. I don’t know if you knew this, but due to the show’s popularity, during COVID-19, the TV show was filmed with a hybrid of audience members in-studio seated enclosed pods as with virtual traders playing from their homes for prizes. 

The word Jesus used that is translated as “worry” is the Greek New Testament word [μεριμνάω, merimnao]. This word can mean “worry, anxious, and striving after.” In Matthew 6:27 above, Jesus asks, “Can worrying add 18 inches or a 1.5 feet more to your height?” Obviously the answer is NO! But worrying can take time from your life. It can shorten your life?

Jesus’ two questions in Matthew 6:26-27(a) come after Jesus’ command about this in Matthew 6:25,  “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious [μεριμνάω, merimnao] 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?” (ESV). Now, the Greek verb translated here as “anxious” or “worry” is a command or an imperative in Greek. It means “stop what is already being done.” Meaning we are to stop worrying and never resume worrying again. Some would say, “Jesus, easier said than done!”

 What is worry? Well, I think some of us probably could define it for ourselves but let me give you a biblical definition of worry that pastor and author John MacArthur gives:

“Worry is the sin of distrusting the promise and providence of God, and yet it is a sin that Christians commit perhaps more frequently than any other. The English term worry comes from an old German word meaning to strangle, or choke. That is exactly what worry does; it is a kind of mental and emotional strangulation, which probably causes more mental and physical afflictions than any other single cause.

It has been reported that a dense fog extensive enough to cover seven city blocks a hundred feet deep is composed of less than one glass of water—divided into sixty thousand million droplets. In the right form, a few gallons of water can cripple a large city.

In a similar way, the substance of worry is nearly always extremely small compared to the size it forms in our minds and the damage it does in our lives. Someone has said, “Worry is a thin stream of fear that trickles through the mind, which, if encouraged, will cut a channel so wide that all other thoughts will be drained out. Worry is the opposite of contentment, which should be a believer’s normal and consistent state of mind” (Source: John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, “Matthew,” p. 419).

 Every believer should be able to say what the Apostle Paul says and writes in Philippians 4:11-12,  “Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. (12) I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need” (NASB). The truth is the modern Christian has domesticated worrying, fretting and being anxious. I like what author and pastor Chuck Swindoll writes on this:

“We’ve adopted them (i.e., worry and anxiety) into the family, so to speak. Rarely do we hear of anybody rebuking or correcting a brother or sister in Christ over excessive worry—probably because most of us are guilty of it, too, at some level. Yet Christ is clear in Matthew 6:25–34 that worrying can be extremely detrimental to our lives. That’s because at the heart of worry is a distrust of God’s promises and providence. Jesus says, ‘Stop the self-tormenting anxiety that corrodes your inner peace; stop being obsessed with fear!’” (Source: Charles R. Swindoll, The Swindoll Living Insights New Testament Commentary, "Matthew,” p. 120).

 Think about this. According to The Center for Disease Control Control,. Over 20.3% of all Americans take some kind of anxiety medication for anxiety, worry, stress, depression, etc. (Source: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db419.htm). That is over ⅕. WOW! According to Jesus, our contentment is found in our personal relationship to God our Father through Jesus Christ.

 The Apostle Paul wrote this in 1 Timothy 6:6-8:

 “But godliness with contentment is great gain, (7) for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. (8) But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content” (ESV).

 Chuck Swindoll provides a great illustration of this through quoting another pastor and author, John Hague below:

“ I HAVE NEVER SEEN a gravestone that reads, “He died of worry.” But some of them ought to read that way. How many illnesses are directly connected with our worries, our anxieties, trying to take the responsibility that was designed for God to handle. If you can’t handle it, why are you trying to handle it? If you can’t change it, why are you worrying about it? But we do, don’t we?

In fact, I have a friend who worries when she doesn’t have something to worry about. She has to have that security. I think she keeps a mental list of those reserved areas, then when she runs out of the conscious ones she draws on the unconscious. And she just brings them on, just like ammunition in a machine gun, just to fire them into her life.

CORRIE TEN BOOM, for the last two years of her life, spent it in our congregation in Fullerton, California. It was a wonderful experience to have this godly woman in our midst during that extended period of time as we literally watched her die. She said on one occasion, “Worry does not empty tomorrow of sorrows; it empties today of strength” (Source: Charles R. Swindoll, The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart, Apple Books, p. 1897).

Questions To Consider

1. Do you tend to worry, if so, why? 
2. Worry is a form of control and manipulation. Worry says, “God needs some help. If God loved me, He would have taken care of this for me.” Does your life prove you believe God loves you and is in control? How?
3. How content would Jesus Christ say you really are and why?

 Scripture To Meditate On: Philippians 4:6, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done” (NLT).

Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, I know with my mind that You love me and that You are in control. It’s my heart that sometimes questions this. You are not the problem; I am. Help me to trust You no matter what happens and not to attempt to take matters into my own hands through worry and manipulation. Help me to be content with whatever You give, how You give it and the amount that You give. I love You Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

 I love you Southside!—Pastor Kelly