Worry: Sinful Or Necessary? (October 2, 2005)

Is it wrong to worry?

I've always had a hard time figuring out a simple answer to that question. On the one hand, Jesus said, "Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear...Which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?...Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself," etc. (Matthew 6:25-34).

On the other hand, there seems to be a lot of worry in the Bible that is positively commended. Job worried that his children might have sinned, so he offered sacrifices on their behalf just in case (Job 1:5). St. Paul worried constantly about his congregations: "I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?" (2 Corinthians 11:28-29). He fretted that the Thessalonians might have apostatized: "When I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid to find that in some way the tempter might have tempted you and our efforts might have been useless" (1 Thessalonians 3:5). Was he disobedient to Christ's command
not to worry when he "struggled" (Greek "agonized") over the Colossian church (Colossians 2:1)? He did not seem to think so.

Even Jesus commanded worry (so it seems to me) in Luke 14:31-32 when he talked about the folly of a king going to battle at a 2-to-1 disadvantage. A foolish king "doesn't worry about it"; a wise king thinks ahead and sues for peace. And Jesus sure looks worried to me on the eve of his crucifixion. Matthew recalls him saying, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death" (Matthew 26:38), and
Luke writes that he was in anguish, and his sweat fell like drops of blood to the ground (Luke 22:44).

I've tried to come up with a definition of worry that is precise enough to isolate just the sinfully frettish part of it while leaving space for permissible (even commendable) fear and anguish and concern and planning. If I could produce such a definition, then I could condemn "worry" while making it clear that that is not at all what Job and Jesus and Paul were doing. But I have failed - every time I think I've nailed down criteria for distinguishing sinful worry from "legitimate concern," the thing falls apart in my hands as all these biblical exceptions come to mind.

The best I can up with for now are some general principles. They aren't exceptionless, but they may provide some guidelines.

(1) Worry about others, not yourself. Job worried about his children; Paul worried about the churches. Philippians 2:4 says, "Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." It is better to worry about bad things that might happen to other people than bad things that might happen to yourself.

(2) Worry about spiritual matters, not physical. Jesus said not to worry about things like food, water, shelter, clothes and safety. Instead we should worry about the welfare of our souls and the advance of the kingdom of God. "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Matthew 6:33). "Fear not those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul" (Matthew
10:28).

(3) Worry about things you can change, not things you can't. If worry provokes you to actions and prayer that will help prevent future misfortune, then that is a good thing. But if there is nothing you can do that would make any difference, and you have already prayed, then you are best off forgetting about the problem and thinking of other things.

By these criteria I suppose the best thing to worry about would be spiritual peril looming in the life of another that you can actually do something about. In that case, cry, fret, pray and intervene. "Whoever turns a sinner back from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins" (James 5:20). But if you're worried about a material, physical, social or economic problem that is facing mainly you and nothing but God's grace can change it, then relax. Trust that God will take care of you.

One more thing. When something you feared does not materialize, don't forget to rejoice and give thanks to God. Do that quickly and vigorously before falling back to the same old miserable pattern of worrying about the next big problem.