It’s Worse than We Thought | Matthew 6:25-34
Fear is an adverse, emotional reaction to an actual threat.
Anxiety is a similar reaction to the possibility of a threat.
19.1% of US adults facing some kind of anxiety
31.1% of US adults will face anxiety at some point during their lives.
11% had “seriously considered” suicide
25% for people aged 18 to 24
Matthew 6:25 “Therefore I tell you, 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?
worry
to be anxious
“to draw in different directions, to distract.”
“to be pulled apart.”
Worry may…
1. Damage your health.
2. Cause the object of your worry to consume your thoughts.
3. Disrupt your productivity.
4. Negatively affect the way you treat others.
5. Reduce your ability to trust in God.
Matthew 6:26 “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?”
Matthew 6:27 “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”
Matthew 6:28-30 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 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?”
Matthew 6:31-32 “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
Matthew 6:33 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Matthew 6:34 “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Planning for tomorrow is time well spent, being anxious about tomorrow is time wasted.
The 8 steps to Overcoming Anxiety
1 Peter 5:7 “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”
1. Pray before you do anything else.
Philippians 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
2. Resolve all personal and spiritual conflicts by submitting to God and resisting the devil through genuine repentance.
James 4:7 “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
3. Declare the problem.
“A problem well stated is half solved.”
4. Focus on facts, not assumptions.
5. Pinpoint what you have the ability to control.
1 John 2:6 “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.”
6. Make a list of everything you can do that is related to the situation that is your responsibility.
Isaiah 32:17 “The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever.”
7. Then complete everything on your list.
8. Submit to God in prayer everything that lies outside your responsibility and ability to control.
Key Point: Consider medical attention and therapy.
Do all you can to address anxiety so you don’t let tomorrow steal your today.