The Difference Between Concern and Worry

COVID-19 has forced us to take a look at our lives. With opinions and advice coming from all different directions, you may have found yourself wondering where the line between concern and worry is. Dr. Tony Evans has an encouraging and challenging message to help you walk through this time in the way God would have you to.

“Well, friends, I join you in all that’s coming at us right now. It has engulfed my life, my world, my family as it has yours. The feeling of “what’s coming up next?” and “how do we make it through?” Figuring all this out, looking to our leaders and they’re trying to figure it all out at the same time and trying to bring this crisis under control. I was in Las Vegas (not to gamble ?). We were doing a taping on a Bible study on U-Turn…how God can turn your life around. In fact, we started the Bible study off at the welcome sign into Las Vegas and we ended the Bible study with the good-bye sign, with folks leaving Las Vegas. Everybody was leaving Las Vegas because it was shutting down. I found myself in a semi-crisis situation because flights were being canceled, the hotel told us we were going to have to leave, and so we were trying to figure stuff out on the run. So I, like you, am in the midst of this figuring things out, and I’m doing it in the midst of teaching the Word of God. Isn’t that how life works sometimes? You’re doing something that’s consistent with the Word of God and there’s chaos happening all around you. When we get into situations like this, when we get into scenarios where we believe in God, we have a knowledge of the Bible, but then life hits us- and not only hits us, it hits everybody around us. It’s hitting my family and we’re talking to each other. I’m calling, checking on them and they’re worried about their father, (who they keep reminding me is now in that vulnerable age group). 

So, they’re concerned about me, and there is the temptation and the tendency to turn legitimate concern into illegitimate worry. I want to make sure we understand the difference. We ought to be responsibly concerned because this virus is real. We ought to be concerned about social distancing. We ought to be concerned about our loved ones being protected. We ought to be concerned about where we go, what we touch, washing our hands because that’s a responsible concern. But worry is when the situation is controlling you, and you’re no longer controlling the situation and how you respond to it. Worry is concern gone haywire. It tells you “you can’t sleep now. I’m going to keep you up.” It tells you “I’m going to make your heart palpitate.” It tells you “you’ll sweat now.” It begins to dictate your well-being. When that happens, you’ve crossed over from legitimate responsible concern to illegitimate worry. God allows for concern. He does not want us to worry, because we have a Father. Now, we talk about God, but when Jesus talked about God in the context of worry, like He did in Matthew 6, He says “Don’t worry, don’t worry, don’t worry- He says it 3 times- He then says “Because you have a Father.” If you can think about God in the midst of this chaos as a Father- yes, He’s all-powerful, He’s all that, but He’s also “Daddy.” You can take a deep breath because that sense of His care in the midst of crisis brings a calming sense into your life, into your emotions, and it brings down fear. In that same passage, He makes a rather convicting statement. He says “Oh ye of little faith.” Because you’ve turned concern into worry. Do not let (and I’m talking to me, too) because not only do I have me, my family, but thousands of people in our congregation and then the community that we’re here to serve and then ministering even more broadly…it can get a little shaky. But Jesus told me “Don’t do that. Don’t let it go there, because you have a Father.”

I just want you to know that this Father we have love us, cares about us, and even though He’s allowed this crisis, because this couldn’t have happened- nothing happens that doesn’t go through His fingers first- to look to the spiritual in the midst of the medical and the physical. What is God saying to you, individually? What is He saying to your family? What is He saying to our nation, and even our world? He is speaking, by the way, and the basic thing He is saying is “I need more of your undivided attention. You’ve wandered too far from me. Now I’m changing your habits, I’m making you talk to people. I’m making everybody listen to the same thing. Folks talking about prayer that weren’t talking about prayer before. Crisis has a way of producing care. People are caring about one another, asking about one another, and we get news reports of people trying to help one another. People are talking about unity and “can we all get along now?” Crisis has a way of creating something that the absence of crisis does not do. You can become pretty independent when nothing is wrong. So what I want to come out of this for me and for you and for us, is to raise the question “God, what are you saying I need to adjust in my life?” Because I’ve been forced now to sit home, I’ve been forced to talk to family members I haven’t been engaged with yet. Encouraged to reach out to other church members who need a word or some relative that I haven’t called in a while… let me make sure they’re ok, that they have enough food. Crisis is an opportunity for caring, not for fearing. Don’t worry- why? You got a Daddy. Your Daddy says if you put Him first in the midst of a situation that will cause you to worry, you’ll see that He can meet your needs. So, do me a favor. While you have to adjust your life on a dime- because things are changing on a dime- remember this is a time to be concerned, it’s not a time to worry.”

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