Luke 12:22 "Do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear."

A wise person once observed, "Do you know why Jesus was always saying to His disciples, 'Don't worry'? It was because they were always so worried!" We might find ourselves chuckling over this, thinking that it does not apply to us.

But after our little laugh, we come back to serious business. Worry is a destructive thing. Obviously worry can hurt our physical health. Eventually it can kill a person. To top it off, there is another destructive dimension to worry that is even worse than the loss of physical life. Worry can destroy a person's spiritual life. Worry is one of Satan's favorite weapons. He encourages us to believe that worry isn't all that serious. Meanwhile he uses worry to separate us from our heavenly Father. Before we know it, we can find ourselves worrying about virtually everything. When we get to that point, worrying has actually become idolatry. Worry has become our god. This need not be true for us.

Having acknowledged what worry is--a temptation of Satan--we can take our worries to God in prayer. God gave us the greatest gift, His Son. He will also give us the gifts we need for the lesser needs of life.

PRAYER: Lord, give us a deeper awareness of Your love. Amen.

(Taken from "Words of Promise," copyright 1996, Concordia Publishing House (out of print). For information on other devotional materials, call 1-800-325-3040.)

Today's Bible Readings: 2 Samuel 19-20    John 5:25-47

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