Jump Start # 1456

Matthew 6:34 “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

  Worry—it’s a real killer that is so hard to overcome and put in it’s place. Here in the sermon on the mount, Jesus gives one of the longest discourses about worry. Multiple times the Lord says, “do not be anxious.” Don’t worry. Don’t worry about food, clothing or shelter. And in our verse today, do not worry about tomorrow.

Worry doesn’t do anything productive. Worry doesn’t give you a good night’s sleep. Worry isn’t good for your health. And what we find in this section is that worry is an indicator of low or weak faith. The greater the faith, the less the worry.

Our verse today finds the Lord saying, Do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Now a person has to understand some things about that statement. How easy it is to walk away from that verse and live carefree, which is actually carelessly. There are some things that we need to give some thought into tomorrow. For instance:

• Giving no thought about tomorrow will lead someone to live paycheck to paycheck. Without any planning about retirement, investments and thought about tomorrow, a person will one day be too old to work and too broke not to work. He then becomes a burden upon family, church or society. Jesus would not be in favor of that at all. Carelessly spending all you have each month is a sure sign of coming disaster. We need to give some thought about tomorrow and finances.

• Giving no thought about tomorrow would eliminate a congregation having plans, goals and dreams. They would not give thought to who the next shepherds would be. They would not develop future preachers. No thought about future growth. No thought about how to do things better next year. This would be a foolish way of conducting the Lord’s work. Some  seem to be conducting business that way. They seem to be stuck hopelessly in the 1970’s. Time to move forward, but that takes planning, effort and goals. We need to give some thought about tomorrow’s church.

• Giving no thought about tomorrow would take away the reason for some to obey the Gospel. The coming judgment, the certainty of death, and the thought of where will you spend eternity has led many of us to bow our knees to Jesus Christ. If we gave no thought to those future things, just thought about today and only today, many of us would still be living without Christ.

The worry that our passage mentions is connected to “trouble.” Don’t worry about tomorrow…each day has enough trouble of it’s own. The passage is emphasizing worrying about trouble. Don’t deal with tomorrow’s trouble. Deal with today’s trouble. Each day has enough trouble.

Now, that’s an interesting thought. We do well to do what Jesus says.

We can be guilty of worrying about yesterday’s trouble. Monday morning quarterback—a great expression for looking over Sunday’s games and second guessing what should have been done. But guess what? The game is over. One can learn from certain mistakes but the game is over. No going back. No changing things in that game. The Monday morning quarterback is never wrong. However, the game is played on Sunday, not Monday morning. We can worry about how we raised the kids, what we did with the kids and just  heap all kinds of guilt upon us. If wrongs were done, seek forgiveness. Other than that, let the past stay in the past. Don’t worry about what HAS happened.

We can, as our verse warns, worry about trouble tomorrow. The problem with tomorrow’s trouble is that tomorrow hasn’t happened yet. Things can change. We can waste a lot of time fearing this and that only to see that those things never happened. Tomorrow’s trouble will take care of itself. In other words, when we arrive at that point, then we can deal with it.

Today has it’s own troubles. There are physical and emotional troubles just for today. There are kids who don’t want to go to school. There are teenagers who have broken hearts. There are high school students who are trying to decide whether or not they want to go to college. There are co-workers who are living broken lives and are an emotional mess.

Today brings all kinds of physical troubles. The car won’t start. The furnace is making a funny noise. The dog is sick. There is nothing to eat in the frig. A bill is due today. You have a mountain of work to get through today.

However, I expect Jesus has spiritual things in mind when He said that. He usually did. I don’t think broken cars, furnaces, or teenager’s hearts is what Jesus had in mind. The trouble today comes from temptation. The trouble from today is taking care of God’s family when I’m so busy. There are folks to see after. The trouble from today is pushing the spiritual matters into tomorrow and not dealing with them and using them today. No time to pray. No time to read the word. All of which means, no time to feed my soul. There are opportunities that are unique to just today. They may not be around tomorrow. The visitor who needs some attention. The brother who has a question. The disciple who is not sure anymore. Spiritual troubles. Spiritual needs. Trouble in paradise. There is enough just for today that we don’t need to borrow tomorrow’s. You have enough to fill your plate with today.

Jesus is not giving us permission to worry about today’s troubles. Worry is never ok in Jesus’ book. Don’t worry is the theme of this section of Scripture. The trouble for today shouldn’t be worried about. It needs to be dealt with. Work on those troubles. Give those troubles to the Lord. Don’t let those troubles weigh you down.

Now, what so often happens, a guy is still worrying about troubles in the past. He has troubles today. And he is over loaded with worrying about tomorrow’s trouble. He’s in a real mess. Everywhere he turns there is troubles. He feels overwhelmed and overloaded. He hears the preacher saying that God never gives you more than you can handle, but he’s beginning to doubt that. He wonders if he will ever see the sunshine of life again. He’s not happy. He’s stretched, strained and stressed. Poor guy. He doesn’t have to be this way. Let go of the past. He’s still dragging the past around like a child drags his blanket. Let it go. And then, don’t be reaching into tomorrow’s world. Look at the present. Look at today. Now, there isn’t so much to work with. Now, using the spiritual tools God gives you, start working on Today’s troubles.

There is enough in today to keep you busy. But don’t worry. God is with you and will help you.

Past, present and future—those things can use get us dizzy and mixed up, especially when we are worrying about them, which we shouldn’t be doing in the first place!

Roger

Jump Start # 775

Matthew 6:34 “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

One of the great lessons Jesus teaches us is how to view the day. Matthew six is a powerful series of principles against being anxious or worrying. Several times, Jesus plainly says, “Do not worry.” God takes care of the flowers and the birds, Jesus reminds the disciples. You are of more value than those. He will take care of you. Worry closes our eyes to blessings. Worry is faithless. Worry is not productive and generally makes things worse in our minds than what they actually are.

One cause of our worry is tomorrow. Our verse tells us not to worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow represents the unknown. We worry about the school test we have to take. We worry about the surgery we are going to have. We worry about what someone may say. We worry if we will run out of money in the future. Those fears build up inside of us. They rob our sleep and steal our appetites. We are a miserable wreck because of our worries.

For many people, guilt over the past and fear over the future destroys the peace that they ought to have for today. One of the great paradoxes is how Jesus wants us to view the calendar. Indeed, we are not to worry about tomorrow. That could lead us to the conclusion that we live for today and only today. That doesn’t work either. That narrow sightedness will catch up with us. The foolish virgins were not ready nor alert. Jesus’ stern warning, “You do not know the day nor the hour,” teaches that living for the moment, living with no thought about tomorrow is not the answer.

There are two considerations. First, the disciple of Jesus must give thought to tomorrow. Our life, our coming judgment, Heaven, are all future. We must make choices today that will affect our future. We must see beyond the moment.

However, in doing all this, we must not worry about tomorrow. We make plans and choices that will affect our tomorrow, but we must live today. That is the contrast. We understand this financially. A person who lives paycheck to paycheck is going to be in trouble some day. Not planning for a retirement will catch up with him and he will be in want. The wise person saves. He invests. He makes choices that will affect his future. He understands that what he does today will affect his tomorrow. He doesn’t know what tomorrow will bring. He can’t worry about that now.

Jesus said, “each day has enough trouble of it’s own.” Boy, that’s the truth. There is enough bad news today, that I don’t need to borrow tomorrow’s or dip back into yesterday’s. There are enough things to be done today. There are plenty of things to pray about today. There are  enough concerns today to keep us busy. There is no need to worry what’s coming around the bend, focus on where your boat is now.

It seems that some do all of this better than others. Some really get worked up about the unknown and what could happen tomorrow. They invent fears. They see things that aren’t there. In doing all this, they most likely miss out on opportunities today that would ease those fears about tomorrow. Our kids bring a lot of these worries and fears. Who they hang out with, how they do in school, the type of jobs they get and how they spend money can drive mom and dad crazy. The wise parent instructs today, knowing that the lessons today will affect tomorrow. A teenager who is irresponsible about money can’t see past Friday and going to a movie with friends. Warning him about how he will make it when he’s married and has a mortgage is way beyond his thinking. His mind is filled with what kind of pizza to eat. He doesn’t even think about life beyond high school. Parents do. They get worked up about these things. We try to pound life lessons into their heads and it doesn’t seem to get anywhere. They are so focused on today that they can’t see tomorrow and parents can be so focused on tomorrow that they don’t see today.

Jesus’ words help. We don’t forget about tomorrow. We don’t ignore tomorrow. However, we live today. There is enough to do today. Make today a good day. Make today a trophy day to give to God. We live today as if one foot is already in Heaven! This day, I will give to the Lord!

Roger

Jump Start # 394 

Matthew 6:34 “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” 

  Worry—that demon that fills our hearts with fear, steals our sleep at night, and robs our appetite for life. We worry. Jesus tells us don’t, but we do. This section of the sermon on the mount is very intense.

• Jesus tells the disciples not to worry (v. 25, 31, 34).
• He tells them that worry doesn’t change things (27).
• He asks them, ‘why are you worried’ (28)

  Worry is really a faith problem. We don’t like to admit that, but it is. That’s the direction Jesus goes with this in His thoughts. The birds are taken care of by God, aren’t you worth more than birds? Trust God. The flowers are beautiful, they don’t get that way by worrying. God provides. Trust God. The greater our trust the less we worry. The more we worry, the less we trust. That’s just how it works.

  Our verse today is the one area of worry that so many of us have trouble with. We worry about tomorrow. We bring tomorrow into our today.  There is so much that may happen tomorrow. We just want it all to be fixed, solved and smoothed out before we get there. We want to know that the kids will be ok. They will find good jobs, marry well. We want to know that our retirement funds will pay off as we are planning. We worry about tomorrow.

  Jesus says,  ‘tomorrow will care for itself.’  We live with today, not tomorrow. This is not to say that we don’t plan for tomorrow. The farmer who plants is anticipating a harvest, not on the day he plants, but tomorrow. We save for retirement, which will be used not today, but tomorrow. The Proverbs reminds us that the slothful or lazy man doesn’t have because he didn’t prepare. The wise man uses the illustration of the ant, that is always busy. The Lord is not saying spend all you have today, live for today, don’t think about tomorrow—that’s not the thought here. He is talking about worry. Don’t bring tomorrow’s problems into today. Don’t anticipate. Don’t fear what is not there. When you get to the next day, you will deal with the things there. Things tend to change and we can’t figure out tomorrow, because things may not be the same. You can’t life a lifetime in one day. You make plans for tomorrow, but they may have to be adjusted or even changed once you get there. Don’t fret about that now.

  Secondly, the Lord tells us that each day has enough trouble of its own. Isn’t that the truth. We didn’t need the Lord to tell us that, we know that from living it. There is trouble today! Problems…crisis…issues…heartache…disappointments…failures…sins…big stuff! And that’s just on today’s menu. Get through today. You have enough in your heart with today that you don’t need to squeeze in tomorrow. You need the Lord today to make it.

  A strange thing about worry, once the crisis has passed, we tend to forget about it. Most of us don’t remember what we worried about three years ago. At the time, it was major. We got through it. Life took us further down the road. New problems. New adventures. The old worries past. God helped us. God got us through. We tend to forget that. I think this is what Jesus was trying to get the disciples to see. God has been there for you. He is always there for you. He will get you through. The trouble of today is not carried by you alone, God is with you. This is more than a discourse on worry, it is a lesson about realizing the value of God and how much God loves you and cares for you. God is active in your life. We sometimes don’t see it or realize it, but He is. He loves you. He wants the best for you—and that may not be financial as we’d like it to be, as it is spiritual. God wants you to grow in love and trust of Him.

  A new quote I saw the other day, “Don’t worry about tomorrow, God is already there!” He’s there before we are. He’s there before our problems are. He’s there. But He’s also here, today. Live for God today. Make today a good day with God. Bring glory to God in what you do.

  Don’t worry—easy to say. Hard to do. With God it is possible. Without Him, impossible!

Roger