THE KINGDOM AND TRUST - PART 1

TEXT: Matthew 6:34 (CSB): “Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

This year, we have had a lot to be troubling. Since March we have been dealing with the Covid-19 virus and major changes in our lives, economics, education systems, and for some – our faith. As we continue in the study on the Sermon on the Mount, this section seems to speak volumes to us. Over the next 4 days, we will see Jesus as He challenges us on our Faith. Here we see the Kingdom and Trusting.

Trusting is the opposite of Worrying. We have discussed Prayer, Fasting, Treasures – and now trusting. Trust is the reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence. It is also in the Greek the idea of a confident expectation of something; what we call HOPE.

Worry is to torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts; to fret.

“I have a mountain of credit card debt”, one man told another. “I have lost my job. My car is being repossessed and our house is in foreclosure, but I am not worried about it”, exclaimed his friend. “No, I’ve hired a professional worrier. He does all my worrying for me, and that way I don’t have to think about it.”

“That’s fantastic! How much does your professional worrier charge for his services?” “$50,000 a year”, he replied. “$50,000 a year? Where are you going to get that kind of money?” “I don’t know”, comes the reply. “That’s his worry.”

Worry affects each and every one of us. If I were to ask by a show of hands who worried about something in their life in the past hour, I wouldn’t be surprised if at least half of us raised our hands.

When you don’t worry about something, it isn’t the same as not taking action.

A story is told about a man who came face to face with the dangers of worry:
Death was walking toward a city one morning and a man asked, "What are you going to do?" "I’m going to take 100 people," Death replied. "That’s horrible!" the man said. "That’s the way it is," Death said. "That’s what I do." The man hurried to warn everyone he could about Death’s plan. As evening fell, he met Death again. "You told me you were going to take 100 people," the man said. "Why did 1,000 die?" "I kept my word," Death responded. "I only took 100 people. Worry took the others."

This interesting tale portrays so well the fact that half of all the people in America’s hospital beds are constant worriers. Some figures I have found show –

·      43% of all adults suffer health effects due to worry and stress.

·      75% - 90% of all visits to primary care physicians are stress-related complaints or disorders.

·      Worry has been linked to all the leading causes of death including heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis, and suicide.

·      An estimated 1 million workers are absent on an average workday because of stress-related complaints.

·      Stress is said to be responsible for more than half of the 550 million workdays lost annually because of absenteeism.

·      43% of all employee turnover is related to job stress.

·      Mental distress can even lead to death.

Add to the list the mental fatigue of nights without sleep and days without peace, and we get a glimpse of the havoc worry plays in destroying the quality and quantity of life.

Jesus these next three days will speak to us about Worry – and it’s antidote – TRUST. Tomorrow we will consider the Information, the next day we will see the Illustration, and finally, we will see His Invitation.