Fostering uncertainty about tomorrow instead of living by faith …

We are our own greatest source of stress and anxiety.

Many people alive today are not naturally wired to be truly content if they have today what they need for today; most of us want in the bank and elsewhere what is needed for many days ahead, even though we have no promise of tomorrow. Rather than living by faith and trusting God for our tomorrows, we foster in ourselves the thoughts and feelings of uncertainty about our future if we do not have a supply of resources on hand.

In Matthew 6, Jesus teaches us about prayer, including what is well-known as “the Lord’s prayer.” In that portion of scripture, verse 11, Jesus says, “Give us today the food we need.”

Jesus teaches us to ask for the food we need for today. Not for today and tomorrow. Not for today and the rest of the week. Not for today, and a freezer full of meat for the month or months. Our need only exists for today; if there is a tomorrow, then tomorrow we’ll need food for that day.

That’s not how people in the 21st century think, or live. Just look at the design of the average kitchen, which comes equipped with multiple cabinets for storing food, and many homes (especially newer ones) come equipped with pantries for storing an even larger stash of food.

We make ourselves anxious if we have only what we need for today, and don’t have already on hand our needs for months at a time, even though we can live only one day at a time.

That’s irrational, and it’s not living by faith.

An example of how fostering thoughts and feelings of uncertainty could keep us from walking by faith was given by Jesse Pullen, who was a converted drunkard. One day, as he tried to lead an old companion to Christ, the man expressed a fear that he would not hold out. Pullen said to him, “I’m the engine man on a little steam boat in the summer. I don’t wait until I get up enough steam to carry me across the lake before I start. I would blow the boat all to pieces if I did. When I get about twenty pounds of steam up, I call out to the captain, ‘All right, go ahead!’ Down in the hold I have plenty of coal. As fast as we use up the steam, we make more, and so we go across the lake.” His friend saw the point.

Do you?

“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today,” Matthew 6:31-34.

Scotty