If a panic attack is a sudden, intense, relatively short burst of fear (usually not lasting more than an hour while it feels like eternity), worry is the constant nagging drip of fear that just does not go away. And unfortunately even a Christian can worry.

Worry may be prodded and poked by the accumulation of stresses from commutes and work and grades and kids and relationships and money and health and bad things that happen in our world. We may worry over a decision or decisions that may bring loss as well as gain. We may worry because we feel threatened, for example, by loss of our reputation or we become worried that we may be inadequate for our job or as a parent or spouse or friend. And sometimes it gets to a point where we are not sure exactly why we are worrying or we panic.

There is nothing new about people worrying. Many centuries ago, Jesus addressed the problem (Matthew 6:25-34). In doing so, arguably He did not intend to encourage people to take little thought or care in fulfilling God's commandments. He assumes that humans work to reap harvests and store in barns, for example (6:26). Nor on the flip side was He was callous toward human suffering. If He was, why would He bother to speak about alleviating our worry?

Jesus thus gives principles that can help the Christian to defuse and deflate worry.

One, if God cares for His lesser creatures, then God will care for us humans. If God feeds the birds, how much more will he provide for humans. If God clothes the lilies, how much more will He clothe us humans. Humans are more valuable than birds and lilies. Lilies are here today and gone tomorrow, yet God cares for them. How much more will He care for humans.

Two, stop focusing on your "what if" future and start focusing on what God has already done for lesser creatures. The past works of God show what God will do in the future. He already clothed the lilies, therefore He will clothe you. Don't worry about your tomorrows (cf. v. 34).

Three, worrying does not give you control over your life. Worry just does not accomplish what you want. It is ineffective. Which of us by worrying can add to the pathway of our lives? Nobody. So why bother worrying?

Four, God knows your need and cares for you. A Christian's worry implies he or she does not believe God knows our needs and cares for us. The Christian's belief and behavior is thus the same as that of pagans (v. 32).

And how do pagans believe and behave? As if there were no benevolent Deity supervising all of history and human lives in particular. As if survival were entirely the result of our actions. So they desire and search after what they need or think they need. Or whatever they think will stop them from worrying.

Is Jesus then saying that the Christian is forbidden to work? Just trust and God will provide? Certainly the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe has such power. Certainly He is good and benevolent. Certainly there was a time when the Israelites did not toil or spin in the wilderness wanderings so that they might be taught that "man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Deuteronomy 8). But again, the underlying assumption here in Jesus' teaching is that the hearers are working--reaping and storing in barns, laboring and spinning yarn, and so on (vv. 26, 28).

Jesus also assumes the whole religious system of Moses is governing or ought to govern the Jewish society to which He speaks. Part of that is normal labor, such as reaping and making clothes for oneself, having a hand in providing for one's family, the poor, the priesthood, and civil society.

The problem with pagan worry is that it leads them to trust and worship earthly treasures rather than God (Matthew 6:19-23). The "worries of this life and the deceitfulness of riches choke out" the seed that is the message of the kingdom (Matthew 13:19, 22 NIV). Worries and the deceitfulness of riches lead the Christian to being unfruitful and of no use in God's kingdom.

I know that sounds harsh. Jesus is also not addressing every possible worrisome situation in Matthew 6:25-34. Maybe you are thinking of your own situation. But remember that Jesus is giving principles that teach the Christian how he or she can avoid being afraid and worried.

Trust God instead of worrying. If there were no difficult circumstances, no testing, nothing to make us worry, we might for example say to ourselves "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me,"whereas it is God "who gives you the ability to produce wealth" (Deuteronomy 8:17, 18). Now try substituting the word "wealth" with "whatever makes me feel calm and comfortable." Things that make us worry are an opportunity to learn to trust God.

Five, the Christian needs to keep priorities and perspectives in order. Situations that contribute to our worry are sometimes like the Israelite wanderings in the wilderness, when the Lord humbled His people and tested them "so that in the end it might go well with them" (Deuteronomy 8:16). The Israelites wandered for 40 years in the wilderness. Satan tempted Jesus for 40 days while He fasted. God tests His people that it might go well with them in the end. After we learn from our wanderings, we will have our priorities straight.

As the Israelites were to live in larger measure by every word God spoke (rather than living by bread alone), so the disciple of Jesus is to seek God's kingdom and His righteousness as of first priority. We worry when we see our pressing needs and worrisome situations as more important than what God says is most important. The Lord's prayer includes "give us this day our daily bread," but it begins with "Our Father who art is heaven, may your name (and character) be considered holy, may your kingdom come and your will be done." If we seek first God's kingdom and His righteousness, God will give all things needful in consequence (Matthew 6:33).

What Jesus means by seeking God's kingdom and righteousness as of first importance may be judged in part from Matthew 6:25-34 and in part from Jesus' other teaching in the Gospel of Matthew, which I urge us worrying Christians to read carefully. Here, suffice it to say we are to love God and our neighbor, trust God that He has our best interest in mind, and that God intends that we learn though our trials to trust Him rather than worry.