Break That Habit Of Worrying

John 14:1 says ““Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.” Now, this verse tells us two key points. Firstly, no living person is without worries or troubles. The fact is, we all have a spiritual problem, and when are apart from God, we will naturally be brought to inclinations of being worried. The second point is that as we are all born in our sinful nature and the tendency to worry, not one of us have the ability to will ourselves out or resolve it by our own means.

The Habit Of Worrying

Now, if you are one that is troubled today, easily troubled and do not understand why you worry so much, then let us understand our problems from the truth of God, of why you need God in all these. Ever since Adam has fallen in sins, all of mankind is immersed in troubles and lives in it. Fear, anxiety, doubts, they all come from our nature. And we can even say that it is brought about by our habits. We have a habit to worry. Let us ask ourselves, how many times throughout our day or week are we worried about a matter or a person? And comparatively, how many times do we feel peace and at rest? We need to look deeper into our thought processes and emotions. More often than not, our first response is rarely to look upon the Lord or give thanks. We turn to the next worry and the one after that. This is an inbuilt wiring we have, finding it hard to let go, finding ourselves helpless and troubled. This is a spiritual problem. That is why the Lord says in Matthew 6:26, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” Yet, we still worry at the end of this read. Therefore, brothers and sisters, to break the innate habit of worrying, we have to first seek the righteousness of the Lord’s kingdom and all these will be added unto us in time. When we get to a certain stage, we have to realise that to rid or escape a troubled heart is not something that can be done by our mindset or determination.

The Power Of Information

Also, we have to understand that men’s minds are often manipulated by the information we receive. The news today, the messages we read, the pessimism, the undesirable, the dangers, the unknowns, all lead us into our vicious cycle of worries. We can have our usual worries playing in our own head, but information around us adds on and amplifies it. I could be worried about my child’s learning and speech, but when I talk to some parents and get word of some basic words or writing that their child is already picking up so well, it intensifies my worries. Or it could be someone who is worried about health, then reading some articles online and getting more insinuations. It is actually a very mentally, emotionally and definitely, spiritually exhausting process. Do you feel it, brothers and sisters? How we are pushed back and forth in this treadmill of anxiety from what we hear or see around us? That is why John 14:1 starts off with “Do not let your hearts be troubled” because the Lord only knows how worries can eventually drive us into many unnecessary routes in life, like compromising, falling into sins or being selective in how we want to know and thank God or taking in whatever teachings that suit our hearts. So let us not be deceived by our troubled hearts.

God’s Answer: Believe the Lord And Believe in Me

But how can our hearts “not be troubled”, as the Lord Jesus said? There is only one answer and that is to “believe in God and believe also in Him, Jesus”. Now this is entirely different from other religions that talk about having to resolve your worries by doing good, getting merits, meditate and all. These are all methods by human ways to ease ourselves. But the Lord Jesus says simply, the only way is to believe in God and Him. Only with a believing heart can we curb our troubled hearts, only by faith. But what is faith in this sense? Is it merely about acknowledging God? That is not the case. Faith is the outcome of our genuine relationship built with the Lord, that is not separable by the variables of life. Faith is not a feeling, a sudden drive or a touch of the heart. It is a relationship that transforms the way we act, make choices and rely on. It is a relationship that recognises God as the master, and us as His servants, Him as the Father and us as His children. When our relationship with God is right, even if sicknesses, sufferings and woes come to us, our heart is always ready to cast to the Lord. So faith is truly important.

If we are worried today about finances, lack in different areas, or fear of the future, let us not be merely brought to the Lord for the sake of solving our current issues.This makes us very vulnerable to all kinds of influences around us. The Lord’s teaching tells us that we should find contentment and satisfaction in “clothes and food”. But where do we find it? Where does our foundation of it come from? Who is the Lord of our lives now? It is the Lord, the Creator of all. Whatever we have today, whatever we possess is sufficiently provided. So if we lack in money, even if someone gives us a large amount of cash, we may still worry. Worry about debts, worry about future lacks and many more. But if we know that the person who has handed us the large amount of money is our own father, it would be a different story. So this relationship with Christ is the way to deal with our troubled hearts. In other words, it is the gospel. Therefore, in the book of John, it begins by saying in John 1:12-13, “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” The root of worry is resolved in this.

However, even as the root of worry is dealt with, because of our nature, our desires, our inclinations, we will still be laden with sins from time to time. Therefore, we need to always be rooted on the Word and building our faith foundation, so that we will keep our anxieties and worries at bay, and find it easier and easier to cast our burdens to the Lord. This is how the Word of God works in us. Once we have experienced His presence and help, we have to deepen our reliance and understanding in Him. The more we draw near, the more we trust, the more we enjoy our communion in Him. So let us carve this verse deep in our troubled hearts today: “Do not let our hearts be troubled but believe in God and believe also in Christ.”