do not worry.

Oh, do I worry.  Right now, all I can think about is how much I want the house we put an offer on.  We're going on week 9 waiting to hear back.  And I'm worried because I keep looking online for what else is out on the market... there is NOTHING!  That's why I'm worried.  

But this is what God says...

Matthew 6:19-34
"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

"The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

"No one can serve two masters, for 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 God and money. 

"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, 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.  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 

'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

{ field of flowers in Rome; taken on last year's spring break }

I want my treasures to be in heaven, not here on earth.  I want to enjoy what God has given me- but trust in His provision.  I don't want to be one of little faith-- putting my faith in things that can't/won't provide & will fail me.  I want to have the kind of faith that moves mountains!  So, the only way I can not be anxious about what tomorrow is going to look like is if I choose to seek the kingdom of God & His righteousness today!  I can't do anything about tomorrow.  I can't make sure we have our house tomorrow.  

But I can choose to pursue God today-- to choose to store my treasures in Heaven.  To choose to seek the One who is faithful-- to put my little bit of faith in Him, the One who is in control.  It will have to be a choice.  Because I want to obsess over my future in this house that we don't even own yet!  I need to choose to trust God & His value for me-- I am more valuable to Him that the birds that He faithfully provides for... more than the flowers... He knows what I'm worried about.  And He will provide.  And it may not look like I want it to.  I need to choose to have faith & stop all my worrying.  

Worrying won't get me a house.  

Today I will choose to seek treasures that will last forever-- to seek Jesus-- the One who knows. Who provides. Who values me. The only One who is worthy of my faith.