On a flight back from Turkey I had the opportunity to watch a movie. (I actually watched several movies because it was a ten-hour flight.) In “Bridge of Spies,” Tom Hanks is a lawyer who plays the role of mediator in trying to make a trade with the Soviet Union. The United States captured a Soviet spy and the Soviet’s captured a U.S. pilot. The lawyer, Tom Hanks (James Donovan), was tasked with going to the Berlin wall to make the trade. He has some in depth conversations with the captured Soviet spy, since he was first assigned to defend him at trial. In the course of those conversations, James Donovan and the spy come to the realization that he (the spy) could be killed upon his return to the Soviet Union just because they think he might have divulged secrets to the Americans. To be honest there was really no good outcome for the Soviet spy. If left in the United States, he would most likely be given the death penalty and if returned to the Soviet Union he could potentially be killed simply on a precautionary basis. This prompts James Donovan (Tom Hanks) to make a statement. He says, “You don’t look worried.” The Soviet spy responds, “Would it help?” That one sentence, uttered in what could be considered the direst of circumstances illustrates a powerful point. I’m sure the spy had been through an immense amount of training and I’m sure he was prepared for any and every potential setback or pitfall. However, he was still human. He was still ultimately, as we all are at our core, afraid of the unknown. He was still subject to the rightful feelings that come with facing life’s toughest conditions. How would you respond under this type of pressure?
Jesus said,
“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 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? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matthew 6:25-34).
When we worry it can delay or cancel the pursuit of our purpose. So why do we worry? First, we often worry because we don’t trust God or have faith that the desired outcome will occur or occur quickly enough. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” However, if you’re only used to trusting what you can easily see it will be difficult to go through life without worrying. Second, we worry because we’ve failed before. We are fearful that ‘this time’ could be like last time. However, failures only repeat if we don’t learn the lesson from them. Lastly, we worry because people and society have conditioned us to worry. In order to overcome this last source of worry we will need to change our minds to a different way of thinking that aligns with our faith and facilitates our ability to grow.
This is why Paul said, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…”(Romans 12:2).
