Tomorrow’s sermon is from Matthew 6, Christ’s advice about worry. I’m opening the message by giving some of these definitions I’ve collected over the years regarding worry.
• The best one I’ve ever found: Worry is a small trickle of fear that meanders through the mind until it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.
• Winston Churchill said: Worry is an emotional spasm which occurs when the mind catches hold of something and will not let it go.
• A church sign said: Worry is the darkroom where negatives are developed.
• George Washington reportedly said: Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.
• Worry is today’s mice nibbling on tomorrow’s cheese.
• Worry is a complete cycle of inefficient thought revolving around a pivot of fear.
• The American physician, Charles Mayo, called worry the disease of doubt. He said it affects the circulation, the heart, the glands, the whole nervous system. I have never known a man who died from overwork, but many who have died from doubt.
• But the great Christian leader, George Müller, knew the antidote: Many times when I could have gone insane from worry, I was at peace because my soul believed the truth of God’s promises.