Telling someone not to worry is easy. Actually, not worrying about the things we care about is more difficult, isn’t it? Worry can be voluntary, but for me, a lot of the time it feels like an uncontrollable, involuntary response in my mind that rapidly spreads through the rest of my body and before I know it, I’m having a panic attack. But, what is worry? I’m sure I would get a lot of different answers, because everyone may experience it differently. So, to better understand the text, I want to ask, what is the opposite of worry? Is it joy or peace? To me if I’m joyful and have peace, I don’t think I’d be worried about too much.

If we dig a little deeper, we could say that peace and joy are products of faith (Romans 15:13), but the opposite of faith is not worry, it’s unbelief and doubt. When we have faith and trust in the Lord, we experience joy and peace, but when we start to doubt God, we begin to worry. If I were to put it simply, trusting Jesus produces peace and joy, and not trusting Jesus produces worry.

This is honestly hard for me to write about because I worry so much, but please don’t feel like you have a failing faith. You are human. We all have our own pitfalls in our faith, but we are also intricately made by the Lord of the universe who cares about us so much that He sacrificed His one and only Son to die a painful death so that we might know Him and have a relationship with Him that surpasses any other kind of joy in our life. That being said, let's consider the ravens. In verse 24 of our reading today, Jesus tells us to consider the ravens and the way they live their worry-free lives. They don’t plan their next meal, they don’t have a storeroom or barn to stockpile food for emergencies, and they fly around and eat the food God provides for them. I don’t want you to miss this. The word “consider” is written as the Greek word, “katanoeō,” which means to observe and understand with reflection. In the Jewish culture, a raven is an unclean bird (Deuteronomy 14:14). This hit me hard, not because I feel bad for the ravens, but because God himself provides food even for the unclean raven. God Himself makes a way for this black bird.

When we worry about food, we leave out the God factor. God feeds them, and then Jesus reminds his disciples that they are of much greater value than birds. This is the argument of lesser to greater. If God even feeds unclean birds, will He not provide much more for humankind whom He loves so much and sacrificed so much for?

I’m going to leave you with one more thing to think about. I did some research, and ravens mainly stay paired during the year. However, when times get tough in the winter and there is little food, they start to create flocks to help each other survive. We are all going to worry, it’s inevitable. My biggest hope for you today is that you don’t go through it alone. My challenge for you is to observe the raven and find community, because even the ravens know there are some things in life that should not be faced alone.

Reflection:

• Worry: What are you worrying about right now in your day-to-day life? How can you take small baby steps to give that worry to God and trust in Him?
• Community: The biggest enemy of worry and anxiety is a loving community grounded in Jesus. One of the reasons I love this church so much is because of the many opportunities to come together. I encourage you to join a House Church today!
• Prayer: God, thank You for this opportunity to spend time with You, to love You, and get to know You a little better. I pray that as we go on in our lives, you remain the focal point of it all. Through the turmoil, the struggles, and the worry, we know that You are the everlasting constant in our life. When this world inevitably lets us down, You are always there. I pray that we look closer at our lives and see the provisions You have given us as a reminder of Your love and grace. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Family Application: Luke 12

Author: Carrington Stuart

• Today we’re reading a story from the book of Luke, and guess who is speaking in this story? That’s right! It’s JESUS!
• Jesus is so wise, and a lot of people in the Bible would come to hear Him speak and ask for His advice. In this story, a large crowd of people had come to hear Jesus, and He was telling them all that they needed to know to live for God!
• He reminded them that even though there were a lot of people who acted like they knew everything about God, the best place to hear the truth about Him is in the Bible! Sometimes people say things about God that aren’t true, so it’s important to know who God says He is! Then we can tell everybody the truth about God!
• Jesus also talked about how important it is to always speak about God in a way that is loving, kind, and respectful. God made everything, including you and me, and it’s so important that we remember how powerful and awesome He is!
• He then reminded the crowd that even though the world says that having lots of money and fancy things are the most important, everybody should make sure that they focus on being a good example and sharing God’s love with others instead!
• How can we spend every day being a good example for others and telling them about Jesus? Is there anybody in your life who doesn’t know Jesus that you could tell about Him? Spend some time praying for that person this week and let them know that you love them!
• Prayer: God, thank You so much for sending Jesus to save me so that I can be with You in Heaven one day. Help me to tell everybody about Jesus so that He can be their friend forever too! I want to be kind to everyone and make You proud by being a good example. I want to pray for all of my friends and for other people who don’t know about Jesus. Use me to tell them about Him and how much He loves them! I love you, God. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.