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What Does Worry Say About My View of God?

Some people imagine that if they could just make more money, they wouldn’t have to worry. Wrong! Wealth increases worry. Wealth does not eliminate worry; worship does!

When we worship God by giving him part of our wealth, we realize the other 90 percent is his as well. This doesn’t mean we don’t work hard, save wisely, or spend carefully. Rather, it means we recognize God as the source of all our good. This takes the pressure off us. Our job is not to create wealth but to manage God’s resources. A right view of God allows a proper perspective on wealth. That’s why worship erodes worry. 

Jesus said, “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?” (Matthew 6:25).

Jesus offered two illustrations of the frivolity of anxiety—birds and flowers—as he stood on a Galilean mountain inflamed with flowers. It must have been an extraordinary sight. 

Jesus’s logic is clear: God cares more about you than birds or flowers, for which his provisions are extravagant. How much more will he meticulously see to your physical, emotional, and spiritual needs? 

Worry may increase our activity but never our productivity. As Jesus put it, “Which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” (Matthew 6:27). He used a mixed metaphor of time and distance. The word hour is literally “cubit,” or eighteen inches. He pictured life as a long journey. Worry won’t elongate the path of your life by a single step. 

Worry is practical atheism. It’s appropriate only for unbelievers who don’t know the Father in heaven. “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” (Matthew 6:31–32). Worry betrays an ignorance of our provider. To those of us who know the love of God, however, Jesus says, “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” (Matthew 6:33–34). 

In what ways does worrying keep you from worshiping God?