Tucking an Octopus Into Bed

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Matthew 6:25-30 paraphrased (NIV):  "Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.... Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?  ... God clothes the grass of the field, will he not clothe you - you of little faith?"  

Who among us doesn't struggle with anxiety?  Compare worry with trying to tuck an octopus into bed.  One tentacle or another keeps popping out from under the covers.  If we're not worried about one thing, it's the other.  If we're not worried about our kids, it's our aging parents.  Or the medical bills.  Or the funny sound under the hood of our car.  

In the Bible, Jesus spoke much about worry.  In a nutshell, He told us not to!  Jesus never dismissed the untidy realities of daily life - He knew those troubles first hand, having spent years as a carpenter in Nazareth, probably living hand-to-mouth as He helped to support His family. 

But Jesus also knew that, without looking to God in faith, worry would leave us stuck in a wrestling match with the octopus.  Only when we look to God to provide for our needs are we released from worry's grip.  "Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well," Jesus promised (Matt 6:33).  

At that point, worry no longer has a hold on us.  It is replaced by a liberating confidence in the power of God.

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