How many wasted minutes do we spend daily with our thoughts on “God Things”?  By that I don’t mean wasted thinking godly things.  I mean wasted time thinking about things in the dominion, concern, and control of God.  How much time do we waste in worry over things we cannot control?  If we wasted only 10 minutes a day, that would be 3,650 in a year.  That’s 60 hours in a year which is 2.5 days a year wasted in worry from 10 minutes a day.  But if you wasted 30 minutes on worry every day, that’s 7.5 days over the course of a year.  If we stay with math and are  honest, if you worry, you worry more than 10 minutes, more than 30.  If you spent an hour consumed by worry, that’s 15 days of worry in a year.  That is a full 3 work week vacation wasted on worry.  That’s a vacation away from completing the tasks of God in your life.

Jesus says in Matthew 6 that we have a worry problem.  The problem with worry is that we are serving two masters when we worry.  He says we are trying to lay up treasure in places that are not safe.  We are treasuring earthly things, things that will rust, or be destroyed, stolen, or otherwise consumed outside of our control.  So, Jesus says, lay up treasure in Heaven.

So, in v24, Jesus says “no one can serve two masters.  Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” (NIV84)

“Therefore” v25 “Do not worry …”(NIV84) The KJV says “take no thought about your life” … “what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear … Is not your life more important than food … the body more important than clothes?”

Of course this is not saying “don’t think about food, just eat whatever.”  Nor is it saying “don’t think about clothes, just wear whatever.” No, it is saying “don’t wast time in worry about these essentials.” The word is merimnao = be anxious, care for, be concerned about, meditate upon, ponder, to be burdened.  It is the idea of wasted worry untrusting thoughts, misused moments.

Misused moments turn into squandered hours.  Squandered hours turn into desecrated days.  Is not your life more important than that?  It comes down to what we know and believe about God.

Yesterday I was walking in nature and I saw a tiny bird clothed in the most beautiful red garment of feathers.  I saw an eagle soaring majestically, powerful wings spread and covered in feathers around his strong frame.  I saw a pheasant, oh how beautifully he was clothed.  Beautiful rust colored garment with multiple hues covered his body.  As he strutted in front of me he was showing off his clothes.  his neck was covered in iridescent green.  His long tail extending out and his head covered in a red hat.  He wasn’t worried.  I saw a snail, large, almost 2 inches tall, was his beautiful house he carried on his back, while he dined on a leaf in my path.  None of those simple creatures went shopping, God clothed them and housed them.

v26 Look at the birds of the air … your Heavenly Father feeds them …

And then comes the worry eradication phrase …

“… are YOU not MORE VALUABLE than they?”

diaphero = more valuable, superior to … Oh listen, this world IS subject to death and decay, because of sin … but Jesus didn’t leave heaven and become a bird, or a dolphin, an ape, or a rock for that matter.  No, he left heaven and became one of us so that he might redeem US into a relationship with him.  Nature is blessed as a by-product of God’s love for US, redeeming US.  We are so valuable to him.  He sought us as a pearl of great price, a treasure buried in a field.

So, v28 says “why worry … look at the lilies of the field …”  They don’t worry.  But he says Pagans worry about these things … why?  Pagans worry because they have dead gods.  When we waste our thoughts on worry, it is as if we have a god that we know is our own creation.  A god who really can’t do anything for us.  But David says “lead me to the Rock that is higher than I”

v33 But Seek first the Kingdom of Heaven … and Righteousness … and leave God to worry for the rest of it.

because, v27 “who by worrying can add a single hour to life?”  Well you can’t ADD days to your life by worry, but if you DON’T worry, then you are saving Days … so you CAN add to your life by TRUSTING God …

Reclaim your clock … Banish worry … and do something fun and eternal with the unwasted moments