The first point: The evil can be avoided. “Do not be anxious about anything,…” Paul says. And the old King James Version of the Bible translates that section “Be careful for nothing…” What does Paul mean there? Does he want to teach us by this expression that we as Christians should be totally careless about ourselves, about our families, about our fellow men? Should we take the “Alfred E. Newman” approach to life? You remember that character from back in the ‘60’s? Mad Magazine? You know, the goofy-looking grin with the expression, “What? Me worry?” I’m not sure if Alfred is with us anymore, but… Anyway. That’s not what Paul is suggesting here. Not at all—because there is an attention and carefulness which the Holy Spirit enjoins upon us as Christians in contradiction to the excessive worldly anxiety which Paul is forbidding here in this text.

We know, for example, that we to care for our physical body, for it is the temple of the Holy Spirit, 1 Corinthians 6, verses 19 and 20. My body belongs to God by right of creation. And my spirit belongs to Christ by right of redemption Hence, with both my body and my spirit I need to glorify God. Anything, therefore, which would be destructive to the health of my body, I should eliminate it and keep my body in good health for the glory of God.

We know also that we are to care for our business, our employment, our secular affairs. We cannot afford to approach these things with a half-hearted interest because we are commanded to “Be careful to do what is right in the sight of everybody,” Romans 12, verse 17.

We are to care for our reputation because “A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold,”Proverbs 22, verse 1.

We are to care for our families because “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever,” 1 Timothy 5, verse 8. But this means not just caring for our family’s temporal needs, but also caring for our family’s spiritual needs because we are instructed to bring up our children “in the training and instruction of the Lord,” Ephesians 6, verse 4.

We are even to provide for and care for our neighbors because we should “Look to the interests of others,” Philippians 2, and verse 4.

And finally, and above all else, we should be giving great care and concern for our own soul because it is worth more than all of the world, Jesus tells us in Matthew 16, and verse 26. And Paul tells us that we need to be continuing “to work out” our “salvation with fear and trembling,” Philippians 2, and verse 12.

The point here is that we cannot be careless people. I believe what Paul is telling us in this text concerning “do not be anxious about anything,…” is that we, as Christians, need to exercise proper care for our physical bodies, our work, our families, our reputations, our neighbors, our own souls, but when that care becomes excessive and it turns to worry and anxiety, then it becomes wrong.

Well, that sort of begs the question: How may we know when our care becomes excessive, and therefore, wrong? The answer is: When it causes us to lose our proper perspective and to undervalue the spiritual part of our lives.

This is well illustrated, I think, in the attitude of Martha when the Savior visited her house on one occasion. Her care and concern for the comfort of Jesus was quite commendable, I think, but she was so overanxious about it that it caused the Lord to gently and lovingly admonish her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things,…” Mary, on the other hand, was more concerned about hearing the Words of Jesus, and therefore, Jesus continued by saying, “Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken from her,” Luke 10, and verse 41.

Our care becomes excessive when it makes us distrustful of God’s providence. Do we really believe with confident assurance that, as Paul writes in Romans 8:28, “…in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, and who have been called according to His purpose?” Strange it is sometimes that we’re willing to depend upon God for the greater gifts of His grace, and yet we distrust Him for the lesser gifts of His providence.

In the “Sermon on the Mount” Jesus offered several reasons why we should not worry over the necessities of life or the concerns of the future. Look at Matthew, the 6th chapter, verses 25 through 34, and we’ll examine what Jesus has to say there in this regard.

[Matthew 6:25-34, New International Version of the Bible. Jesus is speaking: (25) “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? (26) Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? (27) Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

(28) “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. (29) Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. (30) If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? (31) So do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat?’ or `What shall we drink?’ or `What shall we wear?’ (32) For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. (33) But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (34) Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”]