"You, then, should not be worrying, saying, 'What may we be eating?' or 'What may we be drinking?' or 'With what may we be clothed?' For all these the nations are seeking. For aware is your heavenly Father that you need all of these. Yet seek first the kingdom and its righteousness, and all these shall be added to you. You should not, then, be worried about the morrow, for the morrow will be worrying for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own evil.
Matthews Account 6: 31-34, Concordant New Testament
I have often found it silly that man, with all of his technology, will have difficulty predicting what the weather will be yet still feel that they can comprehend what will happen a few days down the road. This, of course, is foolish thinking. For nobody knows what tomorrow will bring. Jesus Himself spoke to the dangers of worry in His sermon on the mount. In fact, He points out that despite our worries over tomorrow, the Father already knows what we will need {Matthews Account 6:32}. Every once in awhile in my travels I will pass a little shop with the blinking sign in front which reads "Tarot cards read...fortunes told." Let me tell you, if there were any credence at all to these hucksters claims, there would be zero element of risk involved in life. Want to invest some money? Have your fortune read and there's a good chance they could predict what to invest in. Every college football fan is aware of the various pre-season polls which follow each season. It seems that each and every news outlet has the inside scoop on what will happen before it even happens. Indeed, man has become good at predicting what may happen tomorrow, or the next day. The question we need to be asking is not what will happen tomorrow, but why we feel the need to dabble in that which has always been the Lords domain. Somehow, man has been deceived into the thinking that we are responsible for our own lives. This is the lie spoken by the deceiver in the garden. The false belief that we could ultimately "Be like God" {Genesis 3:5}. The lie has been perpetuated by the mainstream church, which preaches that our own sin has separated us from God. Yes, that sin which Jesus supposedly died to free us from. The author Norman Grubb has written that there can be but one self-operating self in the universe, and that is God Himself {No Independent Self ~ Norman Grubb}.
At it's base, I believe the reason for our worry over tomorrow is the false belief that we and God are two separate individual selves. Nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus Himself speaks to the truth of our life in the Father in the book of John {Johns Account 14:20}. Many of the false ideas harbored by man which I have recently written on can all be traced back to the false belief that we are an independent self. The free will of man and our ability to choose for ourselves are all based upon the assumption that we, and not God, are in command of our lives. So, if we are in control of our lives, why is it that we stress so much over what has not yet happened? Why did Jesus feel the need to proclaim to that crowd on the mount of Olives that day, 'Do not worry?' Why? Because He knew the truth, that to worry over such things is folly. That the Father already knows what we will ask Him for even before we do. That God already is well aware of what it is that we need. But we, believing that we alone control our life, continue to work overtime in order to predict what life will bring. It's well understood that stress and anxiety can cause havoc with these flesh bodies or ours. Yet I have found a remedy for the stresses of our anxiety. Trust in the words of Jesus when He declared, 'Do not worry!' Think about it, what good has worrying over tomorrow ever brought you? For me personally, to worry brings only distress. I have never gotten that feeling from trusting in God. What I have experienced is the peace which comes from knowing that in Him I no longer need to worry.
There is no independent, self-operating self in the universe, except the One who calls Himself the I AM {Exodus 3:14} and says, "I am the Lord and there is none else, there is no God beside Me {Isaiah 45:5}.
No Independent Self ~ Norman Grubb
~Scott~
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