Mr. Worry

Matthew 6:24-26

Watch on YouTube

Everyone’s got worries. It’s so commonplace, it would probably be abnormal if you didn’t have worries. Well, there’s this children’s book series. They’re called Mr. Men Books, and every character has an absurd name that describes everything they are and everything they do. So Mr. Happy? Well, he’s always happy. Well, poor Mr. Worry. He is just constantly worried about every little thing. Everything in his life, whether he goes to the store or whether he doesn’t go to the store. He’s worried about it. He’s worried about his groceries. Whether he gets too much or too little. Spends too much. Everything causes him a great deal of worry and stress. Maybe you can relate to Mr. Worry.

Maybe if you were a Mr. Men book, you’d be Mr. or Mrs. Worry.

Well, if that’s the case, then these words of Jesus are especially for you. We read from Matthew chapter six, verses 24 to 26.

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. You cannot serve both God and mammon. For this reason I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? (Matthew 6:24-26)

Notice what comes before Jesus telling you not to worry. He says you can only serve one master. The master you should serve is God because God cares for you.

He cares for you while money, mammon does not. God cares for you more than everything else. And we see this especially in how he provides for us, especially in our most important need, in our need for forgiveness.

Because God saw in you more value than his Son’s life. And he gave Jesus to die in your place. Jesus lived a life perfectly trusting in God, perfectly serving God as his only master. He died to take away your sins of worry. Of mistrust when you followed after other masters. So don’t worry. Your sins are forgiven because God cares for you.

In these Mr. Men books, there’s a pretty good moral, I think, moral tale to Mr. Worry. At the end, he submits all his cares, all his worries on paper to a wizard, and the wizard makes sure none of those worries ever happens. Do you know what? Mr. Worry sleeps easy. Well, we don’t submit our worries on paper to a wizard, but actually, God provides us a much more abundant means to submit our worries in prayer. God promises to listen to your prayers, to listen to you, submit all your worries, all your cares, all the time.

And God promises to care for you. That’s a promise you can trust because of what God has done for you in His Son.

Amen.