“It’s o.k – no worries.”
That’s a phrase I find myself saying often. It’s my way of minimizing a potentially contentious situation.
The problem is that when I say it, oftentimes it is an inaccurate descriptor of what I’ve been doing. I’m focusing on how the person didn’t respond according to my timetable, or how they behaved in a way that I didn’t anticipate, or even how they failed to do what they said they would. I’m stressing over my inability to control their behavior, and the cataclysmic outcomes that I envision as a result of that. In short, worrying has been my exact response. I just don’t want them to know this. Because when it does get resolved, worrying seems like such a futile activity. And of course, that’s because it is.
The Bible makes this clear. In His longest recorded sermon, Jesus takes up this topic precisely. He reminds us that worrying doesn’t accomplish anything and that worrying is a sign that we lack trust in God’s sovereignty. Similarly, Paul writes in Philippians 4:6:
[D]o not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. [emphasis mine].
We might try to rationalize what’s “acceptable” to worry about – money, our kids’ future, issues in the church – but God doesn’t leave any room for negotiation. He says we aren’t to worry about anything – and when He states that – He means anything.
This of course is hard. Not because God isn’t trustworthy – because He certainly is. And not because God can’t handle the situation – because He certainly can. But because we fool ourselves into believing that control is in our hands. And the truth is, if it was up to us – we should worry. But it’s not – so we shouldn’t.
I hope that in the future when I say “no worries” that I’ll be able to fully mean it. I hope that I won’t be saying it as a way to make myself or the other person feel better, but I’ll be saying it as an acknowledgment that I trusted in God and not man, and therefore, there really wasn’t any reason to worry.
How do you fight the temptation to worry?