a cancerous characteristic

Do you have any cancerous characteristics in your life? A habit or attitude that starts out small but rapidly multiplies until it holds nearly every aspect of your life in its iron-like clutches? For some, the cancerous characteristic in their life is an immoral relationship, others are consumed by fashion, finances, and fame. Me? Well, my heart has fallen pray to the cancer of worry.

I have always been a worrier. My imagination ran wild fretting of the what ifs that came into my life. What if one of my parents died? What if I can't go back to school/college next year? What if I never get a job? What if I never . . ? Of course, preparedness is one thing, but I become consumed with the [often] impractical & improbable what ifs.

For a long time I assumed that my cancerous characteristic was no big deal. I wasn't really hurting anybody by worrying & time eventually proved what my heart already told me: my imaginations were often impractical & improbable. Not until high school did I realize that my worry was a defiant sin against the character of God.

How? By the word's own definition. Dictionary.com defines worry as a verb meaning "to torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts; fret." I don't know about you, but even without spiritual application, I'm convinced. Did you read that? Worry is tormenting yourself. Anyone else sensing the stupidity of worry? But worry is more than tormenting yourself. One of my counselors recently defined worry as the decision to omit joy & contentment by believing that God is not who He says He is. Worry is a decision with disastrous side effects. Like the lifestyles of smoking or drinking, worry begins as a small act of rebellion or independence--a lifestyle that I claim can end at any time, but, before I know it the seed of selfish worry has grown into a cancer that grips & controls nearly ever aspect of my life. 

So what's the cure? How do I treat this cancerous characteristic? Scripture.  Proverbs 17:22 says, "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth up the the bones." If worry is the absence of God given joy & peace then the cure of worry is trusting in God! Only through Him can we find joy & fight against the cancerous characteristics of our lives.