Fret Less Base

Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!  Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.  — Psalms 37:8

Psalm 37 is one of my favorites, and this verse is one that is essential to commit to memory.  Christians should not be worriers.  While I am for prudence, forethought, and positive action, fretting is a hindrance to all of those good things.  God's rule is for us to find out the best thing to do, do it, and leave the cares to Him.  As Peter tells us, [Cast] all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.  And Jesus Himself says, Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Worry is a sin in a very real sense.  It is a rejection of God's command to entrust the future to Him.  We do not know what tomorrow holds, as the song says, but we are able to rely upon the One who holds tomorrow.  Not worrying does not mean we don't can green beans in the summer.  It means we don't give needless thought to whether what we have canned will be enough.  Trusting God does not mean that we waste what we have; it does mean that we do not concern ourselves with what we have or do not have and that we are always generous with our resources.   

Let's consider another of Peter's admonitions:  The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.

I sincerely believe that a great upheaval is at hand in the world.  I don't know that it is "the end of the world as we know it", which is likely what Peter meant — and what was indeed the case in his day — but the times are definitely a'changin'.  Now is the perfect time to stop living in conformity to the world and abiding by its dictates.  Now is the perfect time to seek the kingdom and righteousness, to simplify one's life and establish it on the firm foundation of obedience to the word of God.  There will never be a better time to reassess our priorities, to decide what is important, to separate wheat from chaff. 

For the first few years of our marriage, my wife and I moved a lot.  Moving, especially given that our money was very limited, forced us to carefully consider everything we carried along with us.  Every move was a chance to get rid of accumulations of junk that everybody tends to build up.  As our moves grew less frequent, we accrued more to move.  At this point, we have lived in the same spot for nearly nine years — our new record.  Moving all this stuff is no longer an option.  We would have to have an auction or something to trim it down to size if we had to go somewhere else.  We should look on our current times as a move out of the material and into the spiritual.  The more junk we set out at the curb, the less we will find ourselves worrying about. 

Despite the trials and tribulations of life in 20th and 21st Century America, most of us have not had it too rough.  We have been able to indulge in fretting because the neighbor has a nicer car or bigger television than we have, or because we have the better one and have to pay for it.  We are now able to worry that our smart phone isn't smart enough, that our 4G connection is too slow, or that our iPad is too heavy.

Isn't there something to this?  Is our society's very consumerism a function of its fretting?  Does not our obsessive and compulsive consumption both arise from and deepen our worry, our discontentment, and our fear?   

Materialism is the bitter root that bears the bitter fruit of worry.  A spiritual person may become distraught over failures and cry for deliverance in holy fear, but it is our old fleshy nature that feels the unholy dread of loss related to our goods, our pride, or both. 

Simple arithmetic says that the world cannot go on the way that it is.  Western civilization is consuming and contracepting itself into oblivion.  Debt will be its downfall.  Our fretting over material wealth and things has led to our destruction.  I do not think there is much we can do to correct the trajectory of nations.  Voting may help.  Praying will help.   Fretting makes it worse.  

What we can reset is our own course as individuals, families, and faith communities. 

Repent.  Don't worry.