Worry Is…


Tomorrow’s sermon is from Matthew 6, Christ’s advice about worry.  I’m opening the message by giving some of these definitions I’ve collected over the years regarding worry.

• The best one I’ve ever found:  Worry is a small trickle of fear that meanders through the mind until it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.
 
• Winston Churchill said:  Worry is an emotional spasm which occurs when the mind catches hold of something and will not let it go.

• A church sign said:  Worry is the darkroom where negatives are developed.

• George Washington reportedly said:  Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.

• Worry is today’s mice nibbling on tomorrow’s cheese.

• Worry is a complete cycle of inefficient thought revolving around a pivot of fear.

• The American physician, Charles Mayo, called worry the disease of doubt.  He said it affects the circulation, the heart, the glands, the whole nervous system.  I have never known a man who died from overwork, but many who have died from doubt.

• But the great Christian leader, George Müller, knew the antidote:  Many times when I could have gone insane from worry, I was at peace because my soul believed the truth of God’s promises.