00:00Have you ever noticed how much of your life you can lose thinking about something that
00:05has not happened yet?
00:08You can wake up with a perfectly normal day in front of you, and within a few minutes
00:13your mind is already somewhere else.
00:16You're thinking about a conversation that might happen, wondering how something is going
00:23to turn out, or trying to solve a problem that you cannot actually solve today.
00:30Now, I know what that feels like, and I think Jesus knew exactly what that feels like, too.
00:37That is why something he said in Matthew 6 has always stood out to me.
00:43Jesus said, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.
00:52Now, Jesus was not telling people who had easy lives to stop inventing problems.
00:57He was talking to ordinary people like you and me, who have real reasons to worry, you
01:04know, families to feed, bills to pay, uncertainty about the future, and lies that can change
01:12very quickly.
01:14So when Jesus told them not to worry about tomorrow, he was not dismissing what they were going
01:20through.
01:21He was teaching them how to carry it.
01:24And I think there is something in that lesson that you and I need today.
01:30You see, Jesus tells people listening to him to look at the birds.
01:35They do not know where tomorrow's food is coming from, yet they are fed.
01:41Then he points to the flowers growing in the field.
01:45They are temporary and fragile, yet God has covered them with beauty.
01:52Then Jesus brings the lesson back to us.
01:57If God pays that much attention to things we barely notice, why would you believe he has
02:04stopped paying attention to you?
02:07That is really what Jesus is teaching.
02:10He's not saying nothing difficult will ever happen.
02:14He's telling you that whatever happens, you are not facing it outside the care of God.
02:21That matters because worry has a way of convincing us that everything depends on us.
02:28We start thinking that if we can just look far enough ahead, consider every possibility, and
02:34prepare for every outcome, maybe we can protect ourselves from being hurt or surprised.
02:42But there is always another possibility.
02:46You know, you could spend hours trying to answer questions today that today simply cannot answer.
02:55Maybe you have one of those questions right now.
02:59You've done everything you know to do, but you still do not know how something is going to turn out.
03:05That is usually the moment when your mind starts filling in the blanks.
03:11And have you ever noticed?
03:13Your mind rarely fills those blanks with the best possible outcomes.
03:19Jesus brings us back to the day we are actually living in.
03:24He's not telling you to ignore tomorrow.
03:27There is nothing wrong with planning ahead.
03:30The problem begins when tomorrow takes so much of your attention that you're no longer living in today.
03:38There is a difference between preparing for something and worrying about it.
03:44You see, preparation eventually reaches a point where you have done what you can do.
03:50Worry never reaches that point.
03:53It just keeps going.
03:55That's why Jesus does not simply tell us to become better worriers.
04:01He tells us to trust the Father.
04:04When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he told them to ask for their daily bread.
04:11I think there is something so beautiful about that.
04:15He did not teach them to ask God to guarantee everything they would need for the next 20 years.
04:21He taught them to trust God for what they needed today.
04:27That does not come naturally for most of us, does it?
04:30We would rather know that everything is covered.
04:34We want to know what happens in the next month and next year.
04:38We want to know the people we love are going to be okay.
04:41We want some guarantee that the plan we have made will actually work.
04:46Jesus keeps bringing us back to today.
04:52Maybe because today is the only place you can actually follow him.
04:56You cannot obey a Jesus tomorrow yet.
04:59You cannot love someone tomorrow yet.
05:03You cannot make tomorrow's decision today when you do not have tomorrow's information.
05:12But you can walk with Jesus right now.
05:15And I think sometimes we exhaust ourselves because we're trying to carry tomorrow with strength that God gave us for
05:23today.
05:24Then we wonder why we're so tired.
05:28You know, maybe you do not need enough strength right now for everything that could happen.
05:33Maybe you need enough strength for the thing that is actually happening.
05:39That changes the way you look at faith, doesn't it?
05:43You know, faith does not mean you always feel certain about the future.
05:48Sometimes faith is simply saying,
05:53Jesus, I do not know how this turns out, but I'm going to stay with you while I find out.
06:01And I think that kind of faith is much more real than pretending you are never afraid.
06:07Jesus never seemed interested in people pretending with him.
06:11Look at Peter.
06:13Now, you remember, there's a moment when Peter sees Jesus walking on the water and asks Jesus to let him
06:20come out of the boat.
06:22Jesus tells him to come and Peter actually steps onto the water.
06:26Now, for a moment, he walks toward Jesus.
06:30Then, Peter notices the wind, and I actually love that detail because the wind was already there.
06:39The storm did not suddenly begin after Peter stepped out of the boat.
06:48Once the storm became bigger in Peter's mind than the one standing in front of him, he started sinking.
06:56And I think we do something similar, don't we?
06:59The problem becomes all we can see.
07:02It may be a real problem.
07:05Jesus never asked Peter to pretend there was no storm.
07:09But Peter was not alone in it.
07:12And you know what?
07:14Neither are you.
07:17Sometimes, the lesson is not that Jesus will immediately remove the storm.
07:23Sometimes, the lesson is learning that the storm does not get the final word while Jesus is standing there with
07:31you.
07:32That is also why prayer matters.
07:36And prayer does not have to sound religious.
07:40You do not have to pretend that you trust perfectly when you do not.
07:46You can actually tell Jesus that you're worried.
07:49You can admit that you're having trouble letting go of something.
07:53You can tell him that you keep thinking about the same problem and you do not know how to stop.
08:00He already knows.
08:02Jesus said that your father knows what you need before you ask him.
08:07Think about what that means.
08:10God is not waiting for your prayer so he can finally learn what is happening in your life.
08:17Prayer does not give God new information.
08:20Prayer is bringing yourself back into the relationship.
08:24It is remembering that you are talking to someone who already knows what you're carrying.
08:32And then, Jesus gives us something practical to do.
08:36He tells us to seek first God's kingdom and his righteousness.
08:43Now, I think that's one of the most important parts of the lesson.
08:47Because Jesus moves our attention away from what we cannot control and toward what we can actually do.
08:55You may not control how tomorrow turns out.
08:58But you can decide who you are going to be today.
09:03You can decide whether you're going to follow Jesus in the situation you have been given.
09:09You, you know, that may mean having a conversation you've been avoiding.
09:14It may mean admitting you were wrong.
09:17It may simply mean doing the next responsible thing and refusing to spend the rest of the day imagining ten
09:25different endings.
09:26You do not need to know everything to do what's right in front of you.
09:31And I think that is where peace actually begins.
09:36Not when you finally control the future.
09:40But when you stop requiring the future to cooperate before you trust God.
09:47Maybe today you've been asking God to show you exactly how everything is going to work out.
09:53I get it. I understand that.
09:56I would like that too.
09:59But sometimes Jesus does not give us the whole road, does he?
10:04He gives us enough light to take the next step.
10:08So, maybe the question today is not,
10:11Jesus, how is my entire life going to work out?
10:15Maybe it is simply,
10:18Jesus, how do I follow you through today?
10:22And you know what?
10:24That's a question you can actually live.
10:27Tomorrow will come.
10:30There will be another decision, another problem, another unexpected turn, and probably another reason to worry.
10:38But Jesus will still be there.
10:41That's the part we forget when we try to imagine the future.
10:46We picture ourselves standing in tomorrow's problem with today's strength.
10:51We forget to put Jesus in the picture.
10:55Whatever tomorrow brings, you will not arrive there before God does.
11:01I can assure you.
11:03So, deal with today.
11:06Walk with Jesus today.
11:08And when tomorrow becomes today, walk with him then too.
11:12Maybe you cannot see very far down the road right now.
11:17You know what?
11:19That's okay.
11:21Jesus never said you had to see the whole road.
11:25He just said,
11:27Follow me.
11:30Beautiful, isn't it?
11:33Friends, God bless every single one of you.
11:38And God bless everyone you love.
11:45Bye-bye.
11:47Bye-bye.
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