Latest / WholeHeart Conversations / Birds Don’t Sow, Yet They Eat: Biblical Strategies For Worriers
Transcript
- 0:00Constance Lavonice: We have a natural tendency to worry.
- 0:04Constance Lavonice: Worry involves focusing on some type of impending or future event, a state of mental unease involving our cognitions.
- 0:19Constance Lavonice: These thoughts are repetitive and negative and can be uncontrollable.
- 0:28Constance Lavonice: Worry causes distress, and you can see it manifested in anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive behaviors, and even panic attacks.
- 0:44Constance Lavonice: If you have a tendency to worry as I do, I want to share what Jesus says about it.
- 0:55Constance Lavonice: You're listening to Whole Heart Conversations, a podcast especially for women to receive biblical encouragement that fosters resilience through the practical application of God's Word.
- 1:13Constance Lavonice: I'm your host, Constance Lavonice.
- 1:17Constance Lavonice: In Matthew chapter six, Jesus is talking to his disciples and a crowd of followers about life's basic needs, food, drink, and clothing.
- 1:32Constance Lavonice: But there's a broader spiritual application for us about worry and how to handle it.
- 1:40Constance Lavonice: So if you have your Bible, you can open it and look at the passage as I read it.
- 1:47Constance Lavonice: Our passage is found in Matthew chapter 6, verses 25 through 34.
- 1:57Constance Lavonice: And this is Jesus talking.
- 2:00Constance Lavonice: Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear.
- 2:14Constance Lavonice: Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes?
- 2:20Constance Lavonice: Look at the birds of the air.
- 2:23Constance Lavonice: They do not sow or reap or store away in barns.
- 2:29Constance Lavonice: And yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
- 2:34Constance Lavonice: Are you not much more valuable than they?
- 2:39Constance Lavonice: Can any one of you, by worrying, add a single hour to your life?
- 2:47Constance Lavonice: And why do you worry about clothes?
- 2:50Constance Lavonice: See how the flowers of the field grow?
- 2:54Constance Lavonice: They do not labor or spin.
- 2:57Constance Lavonice: Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
- 3:07Constance Lavonice: 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?
- 3:23Constance Lavonice: So do not worry, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear?
- 3:33Constance Lavonice: For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
- 3:42Constance Lavonice: But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
- 3:52Constance Lavonice: Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.
- 4:01Constance Lavonice: Each day has enough trouble of its own.
- 4:07Constance Lavonice: Three things I want to point out in this scripture that we can apply to our lives.
- 4:14Constance Lavonice: First, Jesus tells us not to worry.
- 4:19Constance Lavonice: It's futile.
- 4:21Constance Lavonice: It doesn't change anything, it's useless.
- 4:26Constance Lavonice: God does not desire for us to get into a negative, repetitive thinking pattern about the future or anticipatory events or circumstances.
- 4:40Constance Lavonice: When we worry, we're not experiencing the present, which is the only moment we have.
- 4:50Constance Lavonice: We live in the present, moment by moment.
- 4:55Constance Lavonice: The past is over, it's already happened, the future hasn't come yet.
- 5:03Constance Lavonice: That leaves us in the moment, the reality where life takes place.
- 5:10Constance Lavonice: When we get ahead of ourselves, that leads us to worry and anxiety.
- 5:18Constance Lavonice: When we start to look back on something that's already happened that we can't change, that tends to lead us to depression.
- 5:29Constance Lavonice: When we worry, it takes us away from the present moment.
- 5:35Constance Lavonice: We stop experiencing the fullness of life that Jesus came to give us.
- 5:44Constance Lavonice: Second, since we are not to worry, what are we to do?
- 5:51Constance Lavonice: Jesus says, seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
- 6:04Constance Lavonice: What does that mean?
- 6:08Constance Lavonice: We have a helper, Jesus, who indwells us with his Holy Spirit.
- 6:16Constance Lavonice: When we make the decision to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we become his righteousness.
- 6:26Constance Lavonice: We are the righteousness of Christ.
- 6:30Constance Lavonice: He instructs us to look, pay attention, to notice his creation, specifically the birds and the grass of the field.
- 6:46Constance Lavonice: The birds, Jesus says, do not sow or reap.
- 6:52Constance Lavonice: They don't plant or plan or store away or prepare for a rainy or snowy day.
- 7:01Constance Lavonice: But God feeds them.
- 7:04Constance Lavonice: They're not concerned about their next meal.
- 7:07Constance Lavonice: And God says, Are you not more valuable than the birds?
- 7:14Constance Lavonice: The next example he gives us is the grass of the field.
- 7:20Constance Lavonice: God clothes the grass in beauty.
- 7:24Constance Lavonice: And we've seen it, the beautiful flowers, wildflowers, in spring and summer.
- 7:33Constance Lavonice: All of the colors, the beautiful complementary colors, reds and greens, yellow and purple, blue and orange, just for us, just for our eyes to enjoy the beauty of his creation.
- 7:55Constance Lavonice: And as we focus on the present, not only do we see God in his creation, our mind pulls away from worry.
- 8:11Constance Lavonice: And we become more mindful of what's happening in the present.
- 8:17Constance Lavonice: That's the gift, but we can't enjoy it if we're worrying.
- 8:23Constance Lavonice: The more present we are, the more we can interrupt the cycle of worry.
- 8:32Constance Lavonice: Jesus says, seek Him.
- 8:35Constance Lavonice: Instead of looking at the problem, look at the problem solver.
- 8:41Constance Lavonice: Train your brain to control your thoughts.
- 8:47Constance Lavonice: Having a thought is not the problem, it's how we respond to the thought.
- 8:54Constance Lavonice: We can't control every thought that comes into our mind.
- 8:58Constance Lavonice: But once we recognize it, we can switch the focus.
- 9:06Constance Lavonice: We can train our brain to do something new with those thoughts.
- 9:11Constance Lavonice: Instead of focusing on or strengthening them, ask yourself, what do I want to think about?
- 9:19Constance Lavonice: Some practical strategies are replacing the worry with something more helpful in the moment.
- 9:28Constance Lavonice: That could be scripture, an affirmation, or a reminder.
- 9:35Constance Lavonice: Remember that we can only think of one thing at a time.
- 9:42Constance Lavonice: Even though those thoughts keep running together, we can only think of one thought at a time.
- 9:49Constance Lavonice: The second strategy is to schedule worry time.
- 9:55Constance Lavonice: That's right.
- 9:57Constance Lavonice: Set aside a time for you to worry.
- 10:02Constance Lavonice: A specified time, and during that time, just worry.
- 10:10Constance Lavonice: You'll find that you can control your worry.
- 10:16Constance Lavonice: And worry doesn't master you.
- 10:20Constance Lavonice: To schedule something takes intention.
- 10:25Constance Lavonice: Opposite of that is to have a designated worry-free zone.
- 10:33Constance Lavonice: A time when you decide and choose not to worry.
- 10:41Constance Lavonice: It can be when you're at work, a particular room in your home, a specified time during the day, vacation, going out with others.
- 10:59Constance Lavonice: You choose the zone.
- 11:01Constance Lavonice: Remember that we can interrupt and replace.
- 11:09Constance Lavonice: Interrupt the thought when you find yourself worrying, and replace it with something more helpful.
- 11:22Constance Lavonice: The last tool is to practice intentional mindfulness, being sensitive to the helper who indwells us, reading and listening to scripture, especially scripture pertaining to worry, intentionally focusing on creation, nature and people, spend time in nature.
- 11:51Constance Lavonice: And when you're spending time with people, focus on engaging and being present in the moment.
- 12:02Constance Lavonice: Remember, all behavioral change comes through practice.
- 12:10Constance Lavonice: And in the words of James chapter one, verse 22, be a doer of the word and not just a hearer.
- 12:25Constance Lavonice: As we interrupt and replace the thoughts that produce worry, the grip that it has diminishes.
- 12:36Constance Lavonice: If this message resonated with you, please subscribe and share, and text the show a message and let me know what's on your heart.