Adding an Hour

Welcome back to this one-week journey into overcoming worry. We are all susceptible to worry. The Enemy of our souls and spiritual growth wants us to become overwhelmed with worry. He wants us to use our energy, which could be used in passionately following Jesus, to fixate on parts of our life that we have little or no control over. We don't have to give in to the temptation to worry!!

Yesterday, we talked about putting God over EVERY detail in our life because "Greater is He that is us than he that is in the world"! We acknowledged that if God could care for EVERY living creature in the world, how much more would He care for those of us who bear His image?

 Here is another moment, when Jesus talks about overcoming worry in the Bible. He says to his disciples:

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?”  (Luke 12:22–26, NIV) 

Once again, Jesus reaffirms that if all of the needs of the ravens are met, then how much more should we celebrate that God values us even more, and will meet our needs as well!?

What comes next is an amazing and powerful question – And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to the span of his life?

Let's just pause for a moment and answer that question. Hmmm....I can't add an hour to my life by worrying but I certainly can waste an hour by worrying. What a waste!!!

friend, if worrying gains us absolutely nothing, then how much better would it be if instead of worrying, we spent that time and invested it in laying out our needs before God and then trusting Him to care for all of the details of our lives???

Think of it this way, how much of a miracle would it be in your life, if you took back all of the time you wasted worrying and instead invested it in the purpose God had for your life? That would be a miracle of epic proportions!

Let’s pray about that right now, together.

Jesus, we give you our cares and burdens right now, acknowledging that there is no benefit in us holding on to them. We give them to you with trust and hope that you will take care of every single detail. God, we thank you that you value us in miraculous ways and as we reclaim the hours we have lost in worry, we ask you to help us to trust you more and to invest that time for your Kingdom! We love you. Amen.

Let’s not waste another second in an activity that gains us nothing!

Never forget, you are a miracle!