You Are Much More

Matthew 6: 25-34

Here's a little song I wrote
You might want to sing it note for note
Don't worry, be happy
In every life we have some trouble
But when you worry you make it double
Don't worry, be happy

Ain't got no place to lay your head
Somebody came and took your bed
Don't worry, be happy
The landlord say your rent is late
He may have to litigate
Don't worry, be happy

(Bobby McFerrin)

We human beings are prone to worry. We worry about everything – our health, the pandemic, cost of living, jobs, retirement, relationships. Parents worry about children, and children worry about parents. We worry about big things, and about little things. We worry about things we know of, and things we don’t know about. We worry about the present, and we worry about the future. We worry about life, and we worry about death. You name it, we worry about it.

Won’t it be nice if we can stop worrying and just be happy?

The pressures of modern life, and the worries those pressures bring, have had a devastating effect on many of us. Many suffer from illnesses brought on by the anxiety and worry which characterize so much of our society. And thousands go into eternity every year because they, quite literally, worried themselves into an early grave. Worrying is indeed a serious problem.

But it is a problem that is not unique to today’s world. The crowd that sat listening to Jesus on that Judean hillside obviously could identify with it. And it must have been a serious enough problem for Jesus to feel the need to address it.

What advise does Jesus offer to deal with the chronic problem of worrying.

From the words of Jesus, there are at least three things we can do.

First, we must recognise our value.

Things may not be going well with us. We may be facing seemingly insurmountable challenges. We may be finding it hard to cope, the future may not be looking bright, we may be made to feel worthless, helpless, hopeless, overlooked, neglected, unappreciated. but that does not mean that we have lost our value.

Regardless of who we are and what is going on in our lives, we are all equally valued by God. Our value is found not in our possessions, our position, or our circumstances; our value is found in whose we are. We are God’s – we belong to God who loves us. So, although our lives may not perfect or as good as we would like it to be; although we may be broken; damaged by sickness, emotional upheavals, social dislocations, poverty, acts of discrimination and injustice; we don’t lose our value, because God does not stop loving us.

It is for that reason that Jesus says: "Look at the birds of the air (those little insignificant sparrows); they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?"

Regardless of what we may think of ourselves or how we may be made to feel, the fact is that we are all valued by God. And we can only begin to deal with the problem of worrying when we understand and appreciate our value as people made for life with God, a life that is not determined by our circumstances.

I know that may not be as easy as it sounds. I am not trivializing the serious challenges and worries that a lot of people live with daily. I am not dismissing the very real and sometimes crippling fears and anxieties that plague a lot of lives. I am not downplaying the stresses and feelings of inadequacy that wreak havoc on the mental health of many.

I am asking us, as I believe Jesus is, to see ourselves as “more than” – more than our worries and anxieties, more than our inadequacies and fears. More than our circumstances and needs.

We may not be able to change the circumstances of our lives the way we change the channel on our television when we don’t like what we are seeing. What we can do, however, is change the way we approach those circumstances. We can be assured that we don’t have to face those challenges alone.

If we believe that we have to face our threatening situations by ourselves, we will be overcome by anxiety and worry, but if we know that we are not alone, if we believe that God is with us, and if we understand that “Greater is he that is in us, than he that is in the world”, (1 John 4:4) we can face our challenges with greater confidence.

God values us enough to care for us.

Second, learn to live in the present.

Jesus says “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

We don’t know what the future holds. For all we know, we may be worrying about something that will never happen. We may be worrying about something that will eventually sort itself out. We need to live more in the moment and be thankful for what we have.

We sometimes worry so much about tomorrow that we don’t allow ourselves to enjoy today.

We sometimes worry so much about what we don’t have that we don’t allow ourselves to enjoy what we do have.

God did not give us today so that we can worry about tomorrow. “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Very often when we worry, we allow our imagination to take us on a journey into the future which we may never have to travel. No wonder it is said that worry is a waste of the imagination.

This is not to trivialize the very real problems that many of us face and the genuine concerns that we have, but it is a fact that when we worry, we rob ourselves of the joys that life has to offer.

Give thanks for the blessing of each moment.

Third and most important, get your priorities right.

Jesus says: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”.

For many of us, each moment of our day is accountable, from the time we wake up to the time we go to bed.

This raises an important and fundamental question: “In our business, in the midst of our many pursuits, in our scheme of things, where does God fall? Where does the business of God’s kingdom fall?

That is not difficult to determine.

How ready are we to do things for the God, compared with our readiness to do things for ourselves? How far are we prepared to go, how much are we prepared to do to ensure that the things done for God succeed, compared to what we are prepared to do for our own success?

What place does God have in our daily routine?

What place does God have in our decision making?

Who sets the direction for our lives and the values by which we live? Who is in control? It is God or someone else?

If we believe that God is the source of all goodness, then it makes absolute sense to seek God first and to seek God at all times. To seek God, not out of convenience or as a matter of courtesy, but to seek God as the one who loves us, who cares and who is in control of all things, even those things that give us cause to worry.

As we journey through life, there will always be things that will cause us to be concerned, but our concerns need not degenerate into worry. Let us recognize the value God has placed upon us, let us live in the moments God has given to us and let us order our lives as God has directed us.

Thanks be to God.