“Do Not Be Anxious”

Article for August 10, 2025

Luke 12:22–23 22[Jesus] said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. 23For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.

The world we live in is a world of anxiousness, a world that is so anxious it creates uncanny chaos.  Look at what is going on around you, we have been taught to fear our future.  What is our future here on this earth that compares with the future God has planned for all believers?  Our youth have been caught up into a culture that demands they follow the latest fad if they want to be someone or something.  And this is the curse we put on our youth that creates anxiety and low esteem.

This is not new, the world of anxiousness, it has been with us now for many generations.  However, this anxiousness is coming to a head.  This anxiousness will destroy us if we cannot get a handle on it.  The problem lies in that there is a battle surging as to whose anxiety is to rule.  We have gotten so caught up in the world’s anxiousness that we can not see the path to calm.

Jesus is the path to calm.  As Jesus says life is more than food that we eat and clothing that we wear.  Life is more than the house we live in or the car we drive, and life is more than the toys we collect.  We are blind to life because we pay more attention to our world given anxiousness.  Yes, we are blind to life as we scurry along to keep up with the world.  We ask, what are we missing, and why do we bow to an urgency that creates a false happiness?

Luke 12:24–26 24Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 26If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?

Look at the birds of the air and the animals who walk on the ground.  They do not change their feathers, nor do they change their fur.  We dress in a man-made fur that is subject to the changes of the world, and we justify it as progress. 

A bird builds its nest in a tree, or a bush provided by God, with sticks, stringy fibers and stems that are provided by God.  We use wood from the trees which too is provided by God.  Then we paint the wood to give it a more worldly look and forget that the ingredients we use to make the paint also is provided by God.  God provides all our needs, and we think we have our needs because they are manufactured.

We are always in competition with God as we make our wonder meds.  Notice how these wonder meds are advertised.  They all have the notion to mask or react to the disease and then contain a long trail of possible side effects that will hurt you, harm you, and even take your life from you.  God’s healing has no side effect, unless you count faith as a side effect.  Yes, faith could be a side effect of God’s cure and even the cure for our anxiety.

Luke 12:27–28 27Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!

Faith is a medicine that is given to us by God.  God has the cure for living anxiously in this world of anxiety it is having faith in Him.  Faith in God can build a reliable faith in oneself, but that faith starts with having faith in the one who saves us, the one who created us. 

Ephesians 2:8–10 (ESV) ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Do you get it?  Faith is a gift of God, and our salvation is a gift of God.  God is providing the means to rid our selves of the world created anxieties.  Follow the world and be anxious, follow God and live in the calm of faith that can only come from God.

Luke 12:29–31 29And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. 30For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

God knows what we need and God has provided all that we need.  We of the world have been trying to compete with God in that we create a false goal that consumes many.  This consummation wrought with anxiety that the world creates is keeping us from enjoying the calm God has created for us.

Seek God above all other things.  Do not put to much value in the stuff of temporary happiness for it causes one to become overanxious.  Rather, listen to the faith that comes from God and live an assured calm that says God has given you salvation and this salvation is a life changing eternity.  Faith is listening to the Holy Spirit.

Luke 12:32–34 32“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33Sell your possessions and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

Jesus walked the trail of suffering, pain, and humility to a cross meant for sinners.  This walk Jesus took upon Himself was to give us true hope in our God who loves us.  Jesus died on that cross He walked to, and then He was carried and placed in a grave that could not hold Him.  Here is the faith that is given to us by God, that He resurrected Jesus Christ to show us He is in control, and life for all believers is His goal.  Have faith, we have a true God who loves us to life.  Amen.

Written by Pastor Curtis A. May