The Worth of Worry

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Luke 12:25-26.

The original for this verse reads, “add a single cubit to his height?” a euphemism for adding length to life. It seems to be the perverseness of life that although we can’t add to our life, which we would like to, we can add to our girth, which most of us would like to avoid!

The context of this verse is that God will provide for the necessities of life—food and clothing—but standing alone, the verse reminds us that we can’t put off the date of our death. However, while most of us rather not think about it, worry will not change it.

For many, death is a fearsome prospect, mainly because they have no idea what to expect on the other side. Some try to avoid this by hoping there is nothing beyond the grave. That there might be prompts a natural fear of death, fueled by an innate sense of guilt.

At least this text should be a wake up call to prepare for death if we can’t avoid it. A current advertisement suggests that we spend more time selecting vegetables than choosing life insurance. Similarly, we spend more time preparing for life which is transient than we do for death which is certain and eternal.

So if it doesn’t make sense to worry about death, it is just as foolish not to prepare for it. For the life of me, I cannot understand why, when God has given us the perfect reprieve in His son’s sacrifice, so many will not take advantage of it. If we reject that, we can expect no other concession from Him.