Are You Worried or Are You Concerned?

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It's very easy to confuse worry with concern especially in the midst of the current Coronavirus crisis, right? China even reports that Christians are persecuted in the midst of the crisis. A new virus in China called the Hantavirus is also emerging. However, the Bible says not to worry but it doesn't say we shouldn't be concerned. When Jesus spoke in Matthew 6:25-34 and Luke 12:22-31 about not to worry - He didn't mean that we're to be idle. On the contrary, you could consider that 2 Thessalonians 3:6-10 says that if any man works not then that man should not eat. 1 Timothy 5:8 says that you must provide for your family or be considered worse than a heretic. The Book of Proverbs also condemns laziness in 6:6-12, 10:4-5, 12:11, 12:24, 13:4, 14:23, 19:15, 20:4, 24:30-24, and 26:15.

If you ask, "If you're not worried then why do you work?" The answer lies in the difference between worry and concern. How do you differentiate both sides? Although the two words tend to be used interchangeably - I think it's best to really see what the Bible means not to worry. Here's a comparison from Self-Coaching about how one can differentiate the two:
To understand why worrying, as a strategy, is counterproductive, you’ll need to understand the difference between being worried and being concerned. Worry is the incessant, ruminative speculation of what might go wrong–an anticipation of chaos. This can be because of a past mishap: What if I insulted her? She may bad-mouth me at work; or because of a mishap that’s waiting to happen: What if I don’t find an apartment? Then what will I do? It’s a form of self-torment, best described as what-if thinking. 
Concern, on the other hand, is a calculated consideration and assessment of actual danger. Whereas worrying anticipates problems and things going awry (loss of control), concern is more fact-based and geared toward problem-solving. What do you think serves you when facing a life challenge: dealing with fact (being concerned), or dealing with fiction (worrying)?

Also, did you know that one of the major causes of laziness is being worrisome? Laziness doesn't only come from a wrong sense of optimism that you'll succeed without work or the desire to have no hardship. Also, did you know that laziness can also stem from worry? PsychCentral also presents laziness has eight voices. These eight voices are confusion, neurotic fear, fixed mindset, lethargy, apathy, regret, identity, and shame. These things are all linked to worry. Here are a few things to consider:
  1. You are worried and you can't plan anything. Let's say you only care about the lion in the streets (Proverbs 22:13, 26:13). Wouldn't that kind of worrisome behavior eventually discourage you to work? If you only care about rejection and failure then why bother working? 
  2. You are worried and you only fear failure than see it as something to learn from. Failure is indeed part of life. Peter went back fishing because he dwelt on his failure. It was when he stopped dwelling on it that he went back to his pastoral work. John 21 has Jesus pulling Peter out of his worry based on the latter's failure.
  3. You worry you can't make it because of having a fixed mindset than a growth mindset. Although humans have their limits - God calls for a growth mindset. The Christian life is called to a life of learning new stuff and growing in grace. God has no rooms for a fixed mindset because He is able to make us learn new things. If God can deliver people from sinful lifestyles (1 Corinthians 6:11, Ephesians 2:10, Titus 2:11-14) then can't He also make them more able than when they started?
  4. You get apathy because worry will eventually make the person too tired to care. It would be so easy to finally quit all because you did was worry about the negative outcome. Some laziness on the students' part is not just because of false optimism. Some of them eventually stop studying because their energies are too drained to care. 
  5. Worry will really drain your energy one way or another. Ever noticed that a person who thinks about nothing but negative will feel tired all the time? Negative thoughts continue to dwell which in turn makes the person say, "I'm too tired to work!" To negate means to make it ineffective. You become ineffective as a result of negative thoughts draining away any input of energy to drive one to work. 
  6. You get regret because worry only cares too much about past mistakes rather than repenting of one's wrong. Repentance is being sorry and seeking to resolve the situation. Regret is only feeling wrong because you got caught. While regretting is part of healthy living but too much of it can get rid of any room for repentance of one's wrongdoing. 
  7. Your establishing your own identity can also be a result of worry. Do you always consider your identity is something you can't change? The Christian has the identity in Christ which is different from the identity of "I'm a lazy person!" or "I'm so stupid I can't do anything right."
  8. Shame also comes in the problem of worry. Most of the shame happens by getting worried about humiliation and rejection. You only think of getting rejected but by doing so how can you get accepted? If you only think of failure then how can you have success? This would cause the person to backtrack eventually and crawl in their proverbial shells. 

So how can the person go from worry to concern? Should we say, "Do your best and God will do the rest."? Well, I'd like to restate it as, "Do your best by God's grace and He will do the rest." instead. God says not to worry because He will provide wisdom and energy to do His work. We are required to work by God. However, God doesn't say, "Work but you can't ask for my grace to help you finish it!" Instead, God commands Christians to work and trust His grace at the same time. Some say Noah was saved by obedience but not by grace. But do we ignore that God's grace made Noah obedient? It's God's grace that causes Christians to do their work? Do they realize that John 15:1-8 says that God will trim anything that causes unfruitfulness? All these can slowly get rid of worry and replace it with concern instead. 

As Romans 8:28 says all things work together for good. However, the condition is it's only for those who love God. It's all about keeping trust in Him that in the end - all things are in His will for the believer. 

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