Don't Worry

In the King James Bible Philippians 4:6 reads, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” The New International Bible reads, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” But the New Revised Standard Bible translation is my favorite. It says, “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

“Do not worry about anything!” Just let God take care of you. It reminds me that when we were children most of us turned to something for security. One of my daughters had a little blue doggy that she carried around and slept with. Others had a blanket and one even carried around pieces of batting that she loved to hold and rub against her cheek while she sucked her thumb. Those things are comfort, security, peace to a child.

But as we grow older we give up those things and replace them with other things. Money in the bank. Lots of friends. Good positions. Knowledge. Fancy neighborhoods. Degrees. These are some of the things that replace our blankets and stuffed animals as we seek safety, comfort, and security in life. But there is only one thing that allows us to live a life without worry and that is to turn to the Lord in “prayer and supplication with thanksgiving” and let Him guide us.

It is possible to “not worry.” But it can only happen if we let go of the things of the world and find our security in God. And then, "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:7).

Our Security

With all that has happened the last month, I’ve been thinking a lot about hope. Hope has taken on new meaning for me—I’ve experienced it in new ways and learned for myself what a life-line hope is. A long time ago I wrote about hope here on my blog (“The Golden Cord of Hope,” March 10, 2008) and how one of the Hebrew words for hope also means cord. The idea behind the dual meaning is that our hope is what we are tied to. If we think that if we have enough money we will always be safe and secure, our hope is in wealth. If we think that if we have a lot of friends or followers they will keep us safe, our hope is in popularity. If we think that if we know enough we will always be able to deal with every situation and therefore we will be safe, our hope is in intelligence or academic degrees.

These are just a few of the hundreds of things we mortals “tie” ourselves to in our quest to be safe and secure. But to fully understand the ramifications of hope we need to look at the meanings of the words safe and secure.

The English words safe and save both come from the Latin word salvus which also gave us the word salvation. The three words are related and are all about being safe which means not exposed to the threat of loss or injury. The word secure is formed from the Latin prefix se- which means “without” and the word cura which means “care or worry.” So being secure is to be without worries and to be safe or saved is to be without threats, loss, or injury. Sounds good, doesn’t it? That is what everyone hope for.

But there is only one source to that kind of salvation—Jesus Christ. There is nothing wrong with money, popularity, and intelligence or other such things. We can use them to do much good. But if we are seeking them to provide safety and security, they are false salvation systems. True hope, true safety, true security only comes through Jesus Christ. In other words, safety only comes by “tying” ourselves to Him.