Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. – Luke 12:22
America’s youth are anxious and worried. According to a Pew Research Center survey of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17, 61 percent of teens feel stressed to get good grades and 28 percent to fit in socially. Girls are more likely than boys to feel a lot of pressure to look good (35 percent vs. 23 percent). Roughly one-in-five feel similarly pressured to be involved in extracurricular activities and 21 percent to be good at sports. While about half of teens see drug addiction and alcohol consumption as major problems among people their age, fewer than four percent say they personally feel pressured to use drugs or six percent to drink alcohol.
Young people’s concerns about their family having enough money for basic expenses differ greatly by income: 36 percent in the lower-income group and 29 percent of those in the middle-income group say they worry about this daily or almost daily, whereas 13 percent of teens in higher-income households say the same.
So why are this nation’s youth so anxious? Perhaps that is what they see modeled in their homes and in society. But Jesus commands His followers not to worry. The Christian life is marked with problems and trials. But this is God’s design to help believers grow and depend upon Him while He promises to meet every real need.
Allow the Lord to free you from any anxiety caused by greed, covetousness or unbelief. Remember that worrying is foolish because the Creator of the universe loves you and will care for you. Pray also that America’s leaders choose to trust in Christ for their personal and public decisions.
Today’s Verse: Luke 12:22
And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Recommended for further reading: Romans 5:1-11
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
