Ten Learning To Live Without Worry

Matthew 6:33 is the key to the entire Sermon on the Mount: “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (niv). If we understood and applied this verse, every single teaching that has come before and after it would naturally fall into place. This principle—seeking the kingdom first—is the cure for all of the common human struggles we have looked at so far (exclusion, anger, lust, lying, retaliation, vanity and avarice) as well as the problem addressed in chapter eleven: judging others.

What does it mean to seek the kingdom of God first? It means making the reality and the principles of God’s kingdom our first and primary concern. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t work hard. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t care about anything or be responsible stewards of our lives and possessions. We continually look to God and what he is doing in the midst of ordinary life. Seeking the kingdom first means facing our trials and troubles not with anxiety but with trust that God can and will work in them.

There are many things, good things, which will compete for our allegiance. For example: Should we care for the poor? Yes, but first we must seek the kingdom. Should we pray? Yes, but first we must seek the kingdom. Should we fight injustice? Yes, but we must first seek the kingdom. Should we walk in the Spirit? Yes, but we must first seek the kingdom. Should we go to church, read our Bibles and witness? Yes, but we must first seek the kingdom of God.

Sometimes we focus all of our attention on a cause, a discipline or even a commandment of God, which are all essential aspects of being Jesus’ apprentices. But the most important thing is to seek first the kingdom of God. Then everything falls into its proper place. I pray, care for the poor, fight injustice and attend church not because my concern is prayer, poverty, justice or worship, but because my primary concern is what God is doing. When I am concerned about God and his kingdom, I will naturally do these things as they are needed. The moment I put any of them ahead of the kingdom of God, they become idols, though they are good things.

This is why Jesus says with such clarity and authority, “Seek first the kingdom of God.” The kingdom is never in trouble. Individual churches and ministries come and go; even our very lives are transient. Churches are viable insofar as they are connected to the kingdom. Our lives are strong and vibrant only as they are lived within the principles of the kingdom. Our wins and losses don’t define us. Who we are (indwelt by Christ) and where we live (in the kingdom of God) defines our lives.

Worry prevents us from seeking the kingdom, just as serving mammon prevents us from serving God. They are mutually exclusive. As Allison and Davies point out, “Anxiety is foolish and accomplishes nothing except to put God out of the picture.” This is why Jesus inserts this key verse in the section about worry. As long as we are worrying, we can’t seek first the kingdom of God. As long as we are seeking first the kingdom of God, we can’t worry.

The certainty of kingdom provision led Paul to write these encouraging words:

He echoes Jesus’ words: Do not worry. Instead of worrying, Paul says, we ought to pray. God has instituted prayer as one of his means of caring for us. We are invited to turn our cares into prayers. And when we do, we put the matter into God’s hands. This does not take away our responsibility in dealing with our concerns, but it places the concerns in the larger context of the kingdom. It allows God to use the resources of the kingdom to meet our needs. When we do this, Paul says, we discover a peace that surpasses our understanding.

The final admonition Jesus offers in this section of the Sermon is not to worry about tomorrow. “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today” (Matthew 6:34). Jesus knows that we worry about our lives, we worry about having enough, and we worry about how we look. He also knows that we worry about the future and simply states the obvious, but in a comical way, which probably made his audience laugh: “You can’t worry about tomorrow today because it is not here! Tomorrow will have enough problems! Let today’s problems be enough for today.”

Jesus says that the kingdom operates only in the present moment. We can only live in the kingdom today. We can’t live in it tomorrow. So worrying about tomorrow is a useless distraction. Just as we count on God today, we can count on him tomorrow. But we aren’t in tomorrow, and never will be; we live only in the present, in today.

Regarding today’s troubles, God is teaching us how to respond to them as they come, one by one. Think of the I Love Lucy episode where Lucy is wrapping chocolate candies on an assembly line. At first Lucy does all right, but then the conveyor belt speeds up and soon she is way behind. By adding tomorrow’s troubles to today, we double our troubles, which is like speeding up the conveyor belt, and suddenly we lose all margin and cannot keep up. We then suffer from worry sickness.

God is working with me, and his kingdom pace is one day at a time. He has wisely ordered and measured what I can handle. Adding tomorrow’s problems to today’s is actually impossible, but many of us try to do so anyway. Today is the tomorrow that we worried about yesterday, and it added nothing but misery.

Ultimately, worry is futile. Most of our worries are due to the bad habits we learned while living outside of the kingdom of God, when we trusted in things like money and approval, even though they always disappointed. Jesus encourages us to resist the temptation to worry and concentrate on the fact that God is with us in all that we do, which is the right attitude toward the present and the future. My focus ought to be on the present moment. But when we do think about the future, as kingdom-dwellers we can think with hope, plan with confidence and rely on prayer. We have many past blessings on which to base this confidence.

I ask two questions of people going through the apprentice series: Who are you, and where are you? I repeat those questions often because repetition is one of the keys to learning. I am looking for these responses: “I am a child of God, one in whom Christ dwells, and I am living in the unshakable kingdom of God.” When a person grasps those two realities, many of the problems that plague him or her begin to diminish. This is certainly true of worry. I think about Paul and the hardships he faced, and how he kept his focus on who and where he was:

The treasure we have is Christ in us, and our mortal bodies are the jars of clay. We are Christ-inhabited people, endowed with power to do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

We live in the unshakable kingdom of God, so that even when we are tested, we never fail. This is why I am confident that our world is perfectly safe. Safe? you may be thinking. Are you kidding? This world is scary and dangerous! That is true if you are on the throne of your life, living outside of the kingdom of God. Inside the kingdom of God we are in no danger.

No danger? You could get cancer, hit by a bus, lose your job or lose a loved one in a heartbeat. Let me say clearly: none of these things can harm those who live in the kingdom. If we die, we step into glory. If we lose a job, we can learn how to trust God for something better. If we lose a loved one, we can be certain that we will soon enjoy their company, for all eternity. As long as we live in fellowship with our good and beautiful God in his mighty kingdom, we have nothing to fear, not even fear itself. For nothing in life or in death can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:38-39). When we know this to be true, we can let go of worry and begin living with confidence and joy.

In this chapter is a verse in which Paul makes a direct connection between prayer and worry:

Once we have done all we can do in a given situation, we simply turn the matter over to God and thus prevent worry from taking over. For example, C. S. Lewis once said that a person who has weeds in his or her garden should not pray about the weeds but pull them up. But when we face situations we cannot change by direct effort, such as a loved one who is ill or a financial problem that extends beyond our resources, then we turn the matter over to God. Here are some practical guidelines to help you turn your cares into prayers this week:

Be very specific in your prayers. Why? Most of our prayers are so vague that we would not even know if God had answered them. God can handle your specificity. If God has a better way of answering your prayers or dealing with your problems, you can be sure he will. Let him know what you need and desire. Cast your cares on God. Then wait and see what God does.

Prayer helps us deal with our worries in several ways. First, we realize that the provision of the kingdom of God is available to us in every circumstance, large or small. Second, we see things from God’s perspective, which puts our problems and concerns in a new light. I find that the practice of writing my prayers forces me to think about my concerns: are they driven by false narrative or centered on the advancement of the kingdom?

This is why I keep a prayer journal. I turn my cares into prayers on a regular basis, and I colabor with God in composing them. This helps my prayer life become a little less selfish. It is hard to write, “God, give me huge amount of money,” or “God, can you make my enemies suffer.” In the middle of these sentences I would have to stop and laugh at myself. I may actually hope for those things, but they are not legitimate concerns or needs, and they are certainly not driven by seeking the kingdom first.

Prayer is a totally gratuitous gift. God is not obligated to give us this privilege. God gives us this gift to help us discover how loving and caring he is, and to help us grow and mature, which is evidenced by what we ask for. The deeper my heart is in the kingdom of God, the more my prayer life is focused on the well-being of others. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t pray for our own needs, but even prayers for our own well-being will reflect the values of the kingdom more than the values of this world.

May you experience the present strength and power of God as you pray, and may your worries diminish with each prayer.