“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:34 (NKJV)

There are three days that we encounter in life on a re-occurring basis. There is yesterday, today, and then there is tomorrow. Of these three days, there is only one that we have even the slightest control of, that being today. The time to fulfill our dreams, recast our vision, reconcile broken relationships, and draw nearer to our loving Heavenly Father is today. Our yesterday can never be relived and our tomorrow is not promised. Our ability to live each day to the fullest will help us relieve ourselves of stressing out over tomorrow. What we do and accomplish today means far more that what may occur on tomorrow. “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, as in the day of trial in the wilderness.” Psalm 95:7-8 (NKJV) Here the psalmist extends a call to worship and obedience not based on yesterday’s outcomes or tomorrow’s unfulfilled potential, but it is an invitation to worship the Lord today.

In verses 25 through 34 of Matthew chapter 6 Jesus begins this section of His Sermon on the Mount by admonishing His disciples then, and to every believer now, not to worry about our life. Then He concludes His dissertation in verse 34 that contains our devotional passage by saying, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow.” The operative word that brings reality and revelation to our subject matter is the word “worry.” Worry more appropriately defined as it relates to our passage means “to divide into parts.” It is the picture of someone wringing their hands and being distracted or preoccupied with things causing anxiety, stress, and pressure. Jesus cautions us against worry because it has absolutely no value with regard to how we live our life today and it is to have no effect on what may or may not happen tomorrow. “Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?” Matthew 6:27 (NKJV)

Worrying about tomorrow renders us ineffective concerning today. Worrying about today will rob us of our effectiveness on tomorrow. Today gives us the opportunity to take advantage of a plethora of possibilities. Tomorrow only gives us potential which are “unrealized” possibilities. As a result many remain torn and in agony over the regrets of yesterday and the worries of tomorrow. From a much larger perspective, Jesus is simply saying to us, not to worry about yesterday, live today to its fullest, and refuse to agonize over tomorrow. The reason is quite clear. “Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” Matthew 6:30 (NKJV) Since God knows what we need, He knows what is best, He knows how to control the issues of our life, and He knows how much we can bear, then guess what? He can handle tomorrow too.

Jesus is not suggesting to us that we not plan or prepare for tomorrow. Planning for tomorrow is time well spent. When we worry and become anxious about tomorrow, that is time wasted. When we plan and prepare for tomorrow just be sure that it is God’s plan that is being promoted and not our own. Our todays will ultimately become tomorrows and tomorrow has enough trouble of its own. “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen to tomorrow. For what is your life? It is a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” James 4:13-14 (NKJV)