Why Do You Worry About So Many Thins?
Why Do You Worry About So Many Things?
When Your Mind Won’t Shut Down
Have you ever been physically exhausted, yet the moment you lie down, your mind begins to race?
What about this?
What if that happens?
Did I take care of everything?
What am I going to do?
Sometimes our greatest exhaustion is not physical—it is mental. We can be sitting still on the outside while running a marathon on the inside. Our worries may be different, but they often center on the same five areas: our health, finances, relationships, future, and safety.
Beneath them are usually two persistent questions:
“What if?”
“What am I going to do?”
These questions can pull us into imagined possibilities, frightening scenarios, and future difficulties that may never happen. Before long, we are no longer responding to what is actually occurring—we are emotionally suffering through something that exists only in our minds.
Martha, Mary and the Presence of Jesus
In Luke 10:38–42, Jesus enters the home of two sisters, Martha and Mary.
Martha welcomes Jesus and begins attending to the responsibilities of hospitality. Mary sits at the Lord’s feet and listens to His teaching. As Martha continues serving, she becomes increasingly distracted and upset. Eventually, she asks Jesus to tell Mary to help her.
Jesus answers her tenderly:
“Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things.”
Jesus was not condemning Martha for serving. Her hospitality was valuable, and the work she was doing mattered. The problem was not her service—it was that worry and distraction had taken control of her heart.
Martha was doing something good, but she had lost her peace while doing it.
Mary chose to be fully present with Jesus. She recognized that, in that moment, listening to Him was more important than responding to every demand around her. Jesus described her choice as the “one thing” that was needed.
This does not mean that work, responsibility or service should be abandoned. It means that our actions should flow from our relationship with Christ—not replace it. We can become so busy doing things for Jesus that we forget to spend time with Jesus.
Take the Thought Captive
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 10:5 that we are to “take every thought captive to obey Christ.”
That is an active instruction. We are not required to accept every thought that enters our minds as truth. We can stop, examine it and bring it under the authority of Christ.
When a thought begins with “What if?”, ask:
Taking a thought captive does not mean denying reality or pretending that genuine problems do not exist. It means refusing to let fear become the loudest voice in our minds.
If we do not take our thoughts captive, our thoughts can eventually take us captive.
Choose the One Thing
Today, identify the worry occupying the most space in your mind. Name it honestly before God.
Then pause.
Instead of immediately trying to solve every possible outcome, sit with Jesus. Listen. Breathe. Remember that His presence is available before the problem is resolved.
Replace “What if everything goes wrong?” with:
“Even if life becomes difficult, God will meet me there.”
Replace “What am I going to do?” with:
“What is God asking me to do today?”
There may still be work to complete, decisions to make and people to care for. But we can approach those responsibilities from a place of trust rather than panic, presence rather than distraction, and faith rather than fear.
Martha reminds us how easily good and necessary responsibilities can overwhelm us. Mary reminds us where we must begin.
At the feet of Jesus.
A Prayer for the Worried Mind
Jesus, You know the thoughts that keep running through my mind. You know my concerns about my health, finances, relationships, future and safety.
Help me recognize the difference between a responsibility I must address and a burden I was never meant to carry alone.
Teach me to take fearful thoughts captive and bring them into the light of Your truth. Quiet the questions that have no answers today. Help me release what I cannot control and faithfully do what You have placed before me.
When I become worried and distracted by many things, call me back to the one thing I need most: Your presence.
Replace the worry in my mind with the peace of Jesus in my heart.
Amen.
Faith Between Sundays
One church family. One continuing journey of faith.
When Your Mind Won’t Shut Down
Have you ever been physically exhausted, yet the moment you lie down, your mind begins to race?
What about this?
What if that happens?
Did I take care of everything?
What am I going to do?
Sometimes our greatest exhaustion is not physical—it is mental. We can be sitting still on the outside while running a marathon on the inside. Our worries may be different, but they often center on the same five areas: our health, finances, relationships, future, and safety.
Beneath them are usually two persistent questions:
“What if?”
“What am I going to do?”
These questions can pull us into imagined possibilities, frightening scenarios, and future difficulties that may never happen. Before long, we are no longer responding to what is actually occurring—we are emotionally suffering through something that exists only in our minds.
Martha, Mary and the Presence of Jesus
In Luke 10:38–42, Jesus enters the home of two sisters, Martha and Mary.
Martha welcomes Jesus and begins attending to the responsibilities of hospitality. Mary sits at the Lord’s feet and listens to His teaching. As Martha continues serving, she becomes increasingly distracted and upset. Eventually, she asks Jesus to tell Mary to help her.
Jesus answers her tenderly:
“Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things.”
Jesus was not condemning Martha for serving. Her hospitality was valuable, and the work she was doing mattered. The problem was not her service—it was that worry and distraction had taken control of her heart.
Martha was doing something good, but she had lost her peace while doing it.
Mary chose to be fully present with Jesus. She recognized that, in that moment, listening to Him was more important than responding to every demand around her. Jesus described her choice as the “one thing” that was needed.
This does not mean that work, responsibility or service should be abandoned. It means that our actions should flow from our relationship with Christ—not replace it. We can become so busy doing things for Jesus that we forget to spend time with Jesus.
Take the Thought Captive
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 10:5 that we are to “take every thought captive to obey Christ.”
That is an active instruction. We are not required to accept every thought that enters our minds as truth. We can stop, examine it and bring it under the authority of Christ.
When a thought begins with “What if?”, ask:
- Is this happening now, or am I living inside an imagined future?
- Is this thought grounded in truth or driven by fear?
- Is there an action God is asking me to take today?
- What must I release because it is beyond my control?
- What does the character of God tell me about this situation?
Taking a thought captive does not mean denying reality or pretending that genuine problems do not exist. It means refusing to let fear become the loudest voice in our minds.
If we do not take our thoughts captive, our thoughts can eventually take us captive.
Choose the One Thing
Today, identify the worry occupying the most space in your mind. Name it honestly before God.
Then pause.
Instead of immediately trying to solve every possible outcome, sit with Jesus. Listen. Breathe. Remember that His presence is available before the problem is resolved.
Replace “What if everything goes wrong?” with:
“Even if life becomes difficult, God will meet me there.”
Replace “What am I going to do?” with:
“What is God asking me to do today?”
There may still be work to complete, decisions to make and people to care for. But we can approach those responsibilities from a place of trust rather than panic, presence rather than distraction, and faith rather than fear.
Martha reminds us how easily good and necessary responsibilities can overwhelm us. Mary reminds us where we must begin.
At the feet of Jesus.
A Prayer for the Worried Mind
Jesus, You know the thoughts that keep running through my mind. You know my concerns about my health, finances, relationships, future and safety.
Help me recognize the difference between a responsibility I must address and a burden I was never meant to carry alone.
Teach me to take fearful thoughts captive and bring them into the light of Your truth. Quiet the questions that have no answers today. Help me release what I cannot control and faithfully do what You have placed before me.
When I become worried and distracted by many things, call me back to the one thing I need most: Your presence.
Replace the worry in my mind with the peace of Jesus in my heart.
Amen.
Faith Between Sundays
One church family. One continuing journey of faith.
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1 Comment
The Mary Martha story has always kept me slightly off balance since I see Martha as serving the Lord in her industriousness. I am beginning to understand that being FULLY PRESENT and engaged is the only path to God. The other stuff, the service we do, is an extension of that not a replacement.