Three Reasons Not to Worry about Money

Who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?
—Matthew 6:27

Of all the things we worry about, money is often at the top of the list. We are afraid we will not have enough to take care of our needs or the needs of the people we are responsible for. But in Matthew 6, Jesus gave us three reasons why we should not be infected with anxiety over money.

First of all, worry is unnecessary. Look at verses 25–26: “Do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?” In other words, God takes care of His creation, including you and me. Yes, we still have to go to work, just like the birds still have to go out and search for food, but God provides for our needs. Worrying gets us nowhere.

Second, worry is ungodly. Verse 31 says, “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What we will eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things.” Unbelievers worry about their basic provisions because they do not believe in a God who can take care of their needs. But believers should be different.

I am reminded of an old poem: “Said the Robin to the Sparrow, ‘I should really like to know why these anxious human beings rush about and worry so?’ Said the Sparrow to the Robin, ‘Friend, I think that it must be that they have no heavenly Father such as cares for you and me.’” We do have a heavenly Father, and it does not bring glory to God when His own children are worrying about their basic provisions.

Finally, worry is unfruitful. Jesus said, “Who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?” (v. 27). Worrying is not going to add a single minute to your life span or a single dollar to your bank account. But it will sap you of your physical, emotional, and spiritual strength. Nineteenth-century minister Alexander McLaren said, “What does your anxiety do? It does not empty tomorrow . . . of its sorrows; but ah! it empties today of its strength.” Worrying does not result in worth.

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “Straight Talk about Your Money” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2022.

Elizabeth Cheney, “Overheard in an Orchard,” Sunday School Times, November 20, 1920, 1; Alexander McLaren, “Anxious Care,” in Sermons Preached in Union Chapel, Manchester (Manchester, UK: Dunhill, Palmer, and Co., 1859), 288.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org