Sarah Bernhardt
Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Mark 4:18,19
I rely on the Word of God changing me when I hear it and when I study it. In these verses I find the reason I have not grown as much as I would have liked despite spending a lot of time in the Word: I am a worrier.
I feel like we need to start a chapter of WA. “Hello, my name is Sue and I’m a worrier.” My mind is adept and practiced at worry. Do you think I’m being a drama queen? (Okay, okay, I admit that my parents did used to call me Sarah Bernhardt.) Let’s read what Edward Welch wrote about the chokehold of worries:
- Worry is focused inward.
- It prefers self-protection over trust.
- It can hear many encouraging words–even God’s words–and stay unmoved.
- It can be life-dominating.
- It is connected to your money and desires in that it reveals the things that are valuable to you.
- It can reveal that you love something more than Jesus. It crowds Jesus out of your life.
Ouch! The good news is that I don’t need to know some spiritual jiu-jitsu to get rid of the choke-hold. I just need to focus on the Lord and switch from worrying to thinking about God.
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