Predicting the Future
Most of life has uncertainty. Professor of Psychology Robert Leahy tells of a scientific study where they asked chronic worries to predict what would happen and they followed it up by actually finding out what happened. They discovered that 85% of the things that people predicted would have a bad outcome had a neutral or a positive outcome. So 85% of the things that you worry about actually turn out okay. As for the other 15%, they actually found out that worriers 78% of the time said that they handled the situation better than they thought they would. Chronic worriers tend to be living in a world where 85% of the things that they worry about don’t happen and then they underestimate their ability to handle real problems. They are probably really good at handling a real problem, but they are probably really bad at handling 85% of problems that don’t exist! Jesus said “Do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” Jesus really meant If you are worrying, quit; if you haven’t started, don’t. The deep wisdom of Christ from 2,000 years ago transforms lives today. Invite someone who worries to take a closer look at Christ and his church.