What Keeps You Up at Night?

It is a common problem. We retire to sleep, only to lay there with our minds panicked about the next day. The unresolved issues of the past day combined with the anticipated obstacles of the next, cause us to toss and turn all night long, barely getting enough sleep to think we ever closed our eyes. We did of course, then only to set the stage for a night filled with anxious dreams. The morning comes only to remind us of the stress of yet another day, and so the cycle continues.

If you have nights like this, you aren’t alone. This is a common struggle for anyone with responsibilities especially in these days of uncertainty. Health crisis, economic stress, and political unrest have consumed our reality lately, and that is just the past few months. What if there was a better way? What if I told you that you could lay your head down to sleep each night and rest comfortably knowing that tomorrow was not going to be the end of everything you know? What if I told you that you’re not sleeping at night because you are worried about the wrong things?

Well, it isn’t just me that says this, but Christ Himself 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?…Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?…But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6.25, 27, 33) This promise of God isn’t about living a comfortable life, but about living a life free of anxiety. It is about living a life in which we are focused on heaven rather than earth. It is about living a holy life.

It may seem counterintuitive to think that we must live, especially as Americans, without worrying about money and food and clothing. Christ didn’t say we don’t need food and clothing, but that life didn’t revolve around food and clothing. God feeds the birds and He clothes the flowers of the field. “Are you not of more value than they?…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?” (Matthew 6.26, 30)

The issue my brothers and sisters is our priorities in life. God’s promise to ensure we have enough food and clothing and shelter is based upon our willingness to seek first His kingdom, not our willingness to have sleepless nights about the stock market or congress. When we make God our priority, it will become clear to us that the earthly comforts are just that, earthly. They are here today and gone tomorrow, but our souls will be with God in heaven for eternity. Why lose sleep over something so temporary?