“Therefore don't be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day's own evil is sufficient.”
Almost all anxiety lives in the future. Notice it the next time your chest tightens. You are rarely afraid of this exact moment. You are afraid of a moment that has not arrived, and possibly never will.
That is why the fear is so exhausting. You are paying for events that have not happened, sometimes several versions of them, and you get no rest in between.
Jesus is doing something practical here. Each day's own evil is sufficient. Which is a blunt way of saying today has enough in it already. You do not need to add next month to it.
And there is a quiet mercy underneath. God gives grace for the day you are in, not for the day you are imagining. That is why the imagined future feels unbearable. You are trying to face it without the grace that would come with it, because that grace has not been issued yet. It will be there when the day is.
The Israelites in the wilderness got bread one day at a time and could not store it. That was not God being stingy. It was a daily lesson in dependence, and a promise renewed every morning.
So when your mind runs ahead, it can help to ask a simple question. What is actually in front of me today? Not this month. Today. Handle that, and let tomorrow be tomorrow's.
You will only ever be asked to live one day at a time. That is the only way anyone gets through anything.
Talk About It Together
Answer about today and this week only. Do not let the conversation run ahead.
- What future scenario are you paying for in advance?
- What is actually in front of you today, just today?
- Where has God given you grace for a hard day when it arrived?
Tonight’s Challenge
When your mind runs ahead today, say out loud: not today's problem. Then return to what is in front of you.
Prayer
Lord, we live in tomorrow and wear ourselves out there. Bring us back to today. Thank You that Your grace comes with each day and not before it. Give us what we need for the hours in front of us and let tomorrow wait. Amen.