All of us worry.

About everything.

We worry about a child, spouse, or friendships. We worry about our parents’ health, our kids’ health, our spouse’s health, our friends’ health, and our health. We worry about finances, education, job prospects, and making ends meet. We worry about conversations we’re going to have, discussions we’ve had, and conversations we only imagine having.

We worry when we get into a car, take a walk, go to the gym, and get on a plane, train or boat.

We worry.

We worry in the woods, in a cabin, in an apartment, or a beach house.

Around every corner are disasters and calamities.

Some of us worry more than others.

The other day I was talking to someone, and he told me, “But I’m anxious. I was born this way. There’s nothing I can do about it.”

As we talked, he had a lot of anxiety. Much of it was about real things, but some of it was about imagined things, things that had not happened.

Most of our anxiety is about imagined things. Yes, we worry about things that are happening, but the conversation we’re worrying about having we haven’t had yet. Our kids haven’t walked through all of life that we have imagined for them yet, but we still worry.

As my friend and I talked, I asked him about some of the promises of God, like Jesus telling us in Matthew 6:25 to not worry about your life.

He shook his head and said, “But this is how I am. What am I supposed to do?”

What is so beautiful in Matthew 6 is that Jesus doesn’t berate us, guilt us, or scold us.

He simply asks, “Why do you worry?” What does worry add to your life? Does worry add to your joy?

Jesus wants us to evaluate our worries. This is incredibly important and powerful. It helps us to see what we focus on, and what gets our hearts and attention.

Think for a moment about what you worry about. If it helps, list it out on a piece of paper. Here are some questions to ask about those things:

• What is worry adding to your life?
• Are you fully trusting God with those things? Those relationships?
• What is your worry revealing about your focus?

The reality is, my friend (like many of us) is a worrier about everything. That is his tendency.

So I asked him, “What is a sin, something in the Bible that we’re told not to do, that you don’t struggle with?”

Once he told me, I asked, “What if I told you people think they are just that way in the same way you think you are worrier, and that’s who you are?”

All of us have some tendency.

Some of us are more prone to struggle with sexual sin, greed, being a workaholic, or co-dependent in relationships. We don’t struggle with all those things.

I know that some of you read that last sentence and thought, “I don’t struggle with that.”

Just because you struggle with something doesn’t mean you get a pass, or you can disregard a verse about that or think that you can’t change that in your life. Jesus can.

Worrying, like many other sins, is a matter of focus. That is why Jesus points us to focus on the things of God, the kingdom of God and then, all that we need, will be added to us.