I've heard some people call worry sin. I don't see it that way. I see it as a spiritual malady and a symptom of deeper faith issues. And I see worry as a thief, always threatening to steal our peace and our joy. That means we lose our strength, since one scripture says "The joy of the Lord is my strength" (Nehemiah 8:10)

And another says "In quietness and trust is your strength" (Isaiah 30:15) Worry zaps our strength.

Jesus says "don't."

About food, clothes and stuff, Jesus says, "Life is more important than food and clothes." Of course, we would say that food and clothes are a bare minimum, and regarding stuff, most of us have moved our worries way up the line. To things and matters that are way less consequential that food and clothes.  We've upped the ante on what we believe is crucial, so we have more to strive for and more to worry about.

Recently, in one worrisome week, our family had one car get a flat tire, another car go down with an expensive structural problem and our daughter's car badly damaged in a non-injury accident. To make it all moot, the spring on the garage door broke, so we couldn't go anywhere anyway. Bummer! But we ate well and dressed well, and there are still more critical aspects of life that make it all pale into virtual irrelevance. In short, most of us have high class worries. Jesus say, "Don't have any."

About our value in God's eyes (the real stuff of life) everything is permanently secure. After all, Jesus says, the Father takes care of birds and clothes flowers that tomorrow are going to be mulch. Are you not much more valuable than they? Yes, Jesus is saying, you are. This ultimate matter is fixed and secure. Nothing matters as much as this. God loves you. Believe it. That's one thing you never have to worry about and it's the biggest.

As for those who don't believe God (pagans) this is how they live: they worry about things. And why not. This life and all its stuff is pretty much it. Jesus is saying "That's no way to live. Don't be like faithless people, who worry because all of their faith is invested in unworthy, temporary things."

As for you though, who believe, you don't have to worry. See God's kingdom. It's everlasting. It's better thank this world and its stuff. It's a worthy pursuit, And if you are worried about whether you are going to heaven, you can alleviate that worry in a heartbeat. And seek God's righteousness. Be the person God wants to you to be. That's another worthy pursuit. And if you're worried that you won't match up, then let me remind you that you live under grace and a perpetual state of forgiveness. Not that we want to abuse that grace or cheapen it by minimizing the importance of pursuing righteousness. But neither does God want us living in a state of worry over our shortfalls.

All this to say, the two worthy pursuits (heaven and righteousness) aren't anything to worry about. They are worth loving and living and most of all believing into. But Jesus says, "Seek those things, and the other details of life will fall in place."

This, by the way, is a proverbial teaching. It is a proverb that is true in principle. Sadly, Christian people who seek first His kingdom and righteousness are dying today in Sudan of starvation and other fundamental wants. In other words, this is a principle more than a promise. It is a life lesson about how we are to think and live. But it doesn't mean that God-loving, kingdom-seeking people are immune from famine and calamity. I wish we/they were.

But this is the principle – seek God's kingdom and God's righteousness first and let God take care of the rest. I might just add that part of seeking God's righteousness includes honest hard work and doing all things, including making a living as unto the Lord.

Of course God isn't telling us to sit like baby birds in a nest, squawking and chirping for food. Still, I hope we understand how dependent we actually are and understand that it's God who gives us even the strength or smarts to make a living.

Finally, about today and tomorrow, Jesus says that each day has plenty of troubles. Don't add on tomorrow. Frankly, it's tomorrow that adds the real strain. Even for the really heavy things like grief, some of the simplest and best advice is to take it one day at a time. So Jesus is saying, "Stop compounding your worry by trying to live tomorrow today, or by trying to solve all of tomorrow's problems today.

But what about good and careful planning? On the one hand, it can prevent worries and pave the way for peace. On the other hand, some people are avid planners because they are constitutionally terrified. What if, what if, what it. Avid planning can be a sophisticated form of deep-seeded worry. Or it can be wisdom. God knows the heart.

So just what is our problem?

1.  We keep increasing the number of attachments, so we have more to worry about. Rick Warren, in The Stewardship of Affluence wrote: "I never worry about getting barnacles on my yacht. I don't have a yacht. I never worry about my vacation home burning down. I don't have a vacation home. I never worry about a thief cutting off my arm to get my Rolex. Because I bought this one at Target. So really, you're just complicating your life, not making it easier. In fact, the Bible says it's dumb to put your security in possessions."

2.  Not only do we keep increasing the number of attachments, but we keep increasing our levels of attachment. We get used to having something until the thought of losing it gets more and more troublesome.

3.  We don't believe our value in God's eyes. When we read that God loves us and values us, we have a hard time believing it because we don't really value ourselves that much. Sure, we can be too self-important, but that's a product more of our desperation and self-loathing, and insecurity that from any real self-love.

God values us healthily and if we really believe it, we'd live in such security that we wouldn't have to be self-important or arrogant.

4.  We don't trust God to promote our best interest. Many of us are afraid that if we left food, clothing and material things to God, he's probably skimp. He'd ask us to live more simply and share more freely. That is probably a legitimate fear and I don't know how to fix it, except by overcoming it and handing it all over and seeing just what God has in mind for each of us. But most of us don't want to trust God for our material needs because we are afraid that God might be cheap or petty or more principled that we are. And we might be right.

5.  We have adopted a faithless way of life. We really live like the pagans with a set of values that are embarrassingly acculturated. We are deeply imbedded in the values of this world. Or, as John put it, we love this world too much.

6.  We don't prioritize the kingdom. We meter out interest in kingdom values and we like to forget about heaven because it reminds us of death.

7.  We don't prioritize righteousness because the world has turned it into a dirty word. We're afraid to be prudes, so we try to straddle the fence between cultures.

8.  We are obsessed and overwhelmed by tomorrow. The notion of living for today is hard, and many of us load up in ways that make even the day's troubles and requirements look ominous.

So what do we need?

1.  Kingdom values. Yes, we need to set our eyes on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. And we need to own the kingdom values that will bring more peace to our souls and relief to others.

2.  We must learn to actually trust God. Sometimes, we should even set up some scenarios where our actions and involvements depend on a clear sense of calling from God, and without that we stand down and learn to live without frenzy and over commitment.

3.  Simplicity. Richard Foster wrote: "Simplicity is freedom . . . experiencing [this] inward reality liberates us outwardly." Speech becomes truthful and honest. The lust for status and position is gone, because we no longer need status and position. We cease from showy extravagance not on grounds of being unable to afford it, but on grounds of principle. Our goods become available to others. We join the experience of arctic explorer Richard K. Byrd, who wrote, "I am learning . . .  that a man can live profoundly without masses of things. Because we lack a divine center, our need for security has led us to an insane attachment to things."

So what do we do about that?

4.  Divestment. For some, this must be actual; even surgical. Jesus asked this of the rich young man, and that poor man couldn't do it. Some of us need something that radical. Others of us just need the frequent spiritual exercise of offering all that we have to God – emotionally and spiritually diverting, so that the things we own don't own us, and so that eventually, we understand that "the earth is the Lord's and fullness thereof . . ."

5.  Faith for today. Learn to live one day at a time. We will find that every one day is manageable, or at least, survivable. And, of course, with kingdom awareness, we erase the line between this world and the next and realize that we are already eternal being undaunted by the death of these bodies.

6.  Learn to pray. Philippians 4:6. "Don't worry about anything. Just pray about everything. And the peace of God . . . " This is so true. Sometimes I don't want to pray because worry is like scratching a mosquito bite.

Let's get real

1.  About money. We know that money can ease worry. Wealth is not evil and poverty is not spiritual. "The virtue is in the giving, not in the resultant state of poverty, and once all has been given away, further giving is precluded." – writer Dallas Willard "if giving is good, having is good." We need to remember that, when shared, it can east the worries of others, When we need more all the time to feed our growing appetite for things, our souls are in danger. We could be slave when we are trying to be master. Neither are safe positions in life. Steward and caretaker is a better place.

2.  About people. Most of our worries are about people. Love means being heart attached. Being heart attached means having our hearts broken. Love means having our hearts broken. It's worth it. We need to love more and worry less, and simply understand with optimistic fatalism – this relationship could just break my heart. Yes, and it's still a worthy investment. Still, if we worry too much about people, there might need to be a healthy divestment of controlling behaviors. We can't live people's lives for them.

3.  About death. Most worry about illness and death. I hope we get to the place where we find some value even in suffering, and where our greatest fear of death is separation from loved ones, not death itself.