“Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying?” (v. 25)

Here’s a worthwhile rubric for your life:

How many times has worry affected the outcome?

Think about all the things you’ve worried about: the bill that’s due, the medical diagnosis, the way your kids might turn out. Your home and your things and your accounts. That overdue conversation.

Think back through the worried-over things, and ask the question: “Did the worrying make any difference?”

Jesus’ word for us here isn’t just a proscription against worry. It’s a prescription for faith: faith in Him, faith in His Father’s goodness, faith in His care. Not every outcome will be what we might have wanted, but it is all ultimately filed under His promises and His purposes, meaning we are not forsaken and not abandoned.

Worry robs us out from under Him, as if the worrying act might accomplish something He won’t. It comes to nothing! And you’ve already got the evidence of it in your own lived days.

So stop worrying yourself onto a throne that doesn’t exist—and trust the Sovereign who cares for you.

— Tyler