WORRYING IS A SIN

Worrying as defined is a verb meaning to torment with or suffer from disturbing thought; fret.

In medical terms, Worrying is feeling uneasy or being overly concerned about a situation or problem. With excessive worrying, your mind and body go into overdrive as you constantly focus on “what might happen.”

In the midst of excessive worrying, you may suffer with high anxiety -- even panic -- during all your waking hours. Many chronic worriers tell of feeling a sense of impending doom or unrealistic fears that only increase their worries. Ultra-sensitive to their environment and to the criticism of others, excessive worriers may see anything -- and anyone -- as a potential threat.

Chronic worrying affects your daily life so much that it interferes with your appetite, lifestyle habits, relationships, sleep, and job performance. Many people who worry excessively are so anxiety-ridden that they seek relief in harmful lifestyle habits such as overeating, eating junk food, cigarette smoking, or using alcohol and drugs.

Those are not what God wanted for us. This is what God's plan is for us:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”  Jeremiah 29: 11- 13

In Matthew chapter 6 Jesus said v25 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what will you eat or what will you drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

v28 "Consider the lillies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these"
v31 Therefore, do not worry, saying What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or What shall we wear? 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

As humans, we have the habit of praying for our predicaments, problems, situations, for God to help us. And yet, even if we already lifted it up to the Lord, we still worry, or doubt, or try to solve them by what we think can help us. We gave them to the Lord, let the Lord do the helping and us do the receiving in thanksgiving. Let us NOT DOUBT! Just BELIEVE! We have to pray earnestly for discernment and LISTEN to what God is telling us. I am so guilty of this. It is easier said than done. If you read my post entitled "The Voice of Truth", you will understand what I am saying.

How lucky are we that we have a loving and merciful God who loves us just as we are. Most of us cannot comprehend God's love for us. Honestly, I have just recently been enlightened. And these words I read fromthe Lent issue of "the WORD among us" helped a lot: JUST AS WE LOVE OUR CHILDREN SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY ARE OURS, GOD LOVES US SIMPLY BECAUSE WE ARE HIS. We love our kids to death and that love does not diminish no matter how many times they do wrong; in the same way God loves us for He does not keep record of our wrongs (1 Corinthians 13:5). Instead, He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres (v7) for He is the God of Love.

In St. Paul's epistle to the Philippians, 4:6-7, he wrote: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Amen to that.

Faith is the key. "For whatever is not from faith is sin" - Romans 14:23 That is why worrying is a sin - because it is not of faith.

Faith is defined as the confident belief or trust in the truth or trustworthiness of a person, concept or thing. For me, Faith is the confident belief and trust in the truth or trustworthiness of our God. It is the faith demonstrated by Abraham when he was ready to slay his son Isaac for his God. It is faith that made Noah build the Ark when everybody scoffs and laughs at him. It is by faith that Moses refused to be called the son of Pharoah's daughter, choosing to suffer affliction with the people of God, later on manifesting that faith by delivering the Israelites from slavery as His God told him to. It is faith that made that woman touch the cloak of Jesus so she can be healed; the same faith that made Pope John Paul II forgive the man who tried to kill him.

So let us put our faith in God, the only One we should put our trust on. When we pray, we must have faith that God will act on our prayers and never doubt.

Let me end this post by sharing with you a very powerful song by Kutless:

Everybody falls sometimes
Gotta find the strength to rise
Anyone can feel the ache
You think it’s more than you can take
But you're stronger, stronger than you know
Don’t you give up now
The sun will soon be shining
You gotta face the clouds
To find the silver lining

It doesn’t matter what you’ve heard
Impossible is not a word
It’s just a reason for someone not to try
Everybody’s scared to death
When they decide to take that step
Out on the water
It’ll be alright
Life is so much more
Than what your eyes are seeing
You will find your way
If you keep believing

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
THAT'S WHAT FAITH CAN DO!

                                        --That in all things God may be glorified--