You love Jesus. You read your Bible. You pray regularly. Yet anxiety still grips your heart when you think about tomorrow. If this describes you, you’re not alone, and you’re not spiritually deficient. I’ve discovered that the issue isn’t your faith; it’s understanding the biblical difference between healthy concern and destructive anxiety.
Recently, while studying Matthew 6:34 where Jesus says “do not be anxious about tomorrow,” I uncovered a revolutionary truth that completely changed how I understand Christian anxiety. The Greek word for “anxious” isn’t what most of us think it means. This discovery has the power to set you free from the guilt of feeling anxious while also helping you calibrate your concern in a biblical way.
We’re obsessed with the next thing. The next promotion, the next relationship, the next chapter. But if we can’t embrace today, we will not be ready for tomorrow. We’ve got to learn how to embrace the rat-infested venue until we get the next venue.
The Greek Word That Revolutionized My Understanding
When I dove into the original Greek for Matthew 6:34, I was mind-blown by what I discovered. The word “anxious” comes from a Greek root that essentially means “to be drawn in different directions” or “to fracture your focus.” But here’s where it gets fascinating: this same Greek word appears in Philippians 2:20, where Paul describes Timothy as someone who will be “genuinely concerned” for the welfare of others.
Same word. Different context. Completely different translation.
This revelation hit me like lightning: concern exists on a spectrum. When I read it again with this understanding, Matthew 6:34 takes on new meaning: “Therefore, do not be drawn in many different directions about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be concerned for itself.”
The Spectrum of Concern I Had to Learn
Genuine concern will cause you to prepare, but too much concern will cause you to panic. I realized that many Christians think Jesus was giving us a “Bob Marley quote” about being anxiety-free. As if when someone asks, “How are you feeling about the inauguration, the potential quademic, and the snowstorm coming?” we should respond, “Life is life, bro!”
That’s not the true interpretation. The apostle was saying in Philippians that Timothy showed genuine concern for people’s welfare—he wouldn’t let them go unaccounted for. So there’s a spectrum of concern, and I had to ask myself: when did my concern become anxiety, and when did it stop being preparation?
If you’re worried about your health, do the things that produce better health and stop worrying about it. Doing workouts with a meal plan and supplements while still worrying will break down your body because the mind is connected to the body.
My Discovery About Daily Bread: God’s Ultimate Test
I’ve always known that Jesus called Himself the bread of life, but studying Exodus 16:4 opened my eyes to something profound. When God provided manna for the Israelites, He said, “that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.” Daily bread wasn’t just provision, it was a test of trust.
But here’s what absolutely blew my mind: the Hebrew word “manna” literally means “what is that?” When the Israelites saw bread raining from heaven, they couldn’t even recognize God’s provision because it didn’t come in the form they expected.
Why I Missed God’s Provision (And You Might Too)
I realized I was doing the same thing. We look at our paycheck and say, “What is that?” We look at our car and say, “What is that?” We look at our job and say, “What is that?” The very thing God has provided to take care of us, we’re naming “manna”—”what is that?”—because it’s not the job we want, not the amount we want, not the car we want.
Because it’s not what we would’ve prepared, we can’t recognize it as God’s provision. I had to learn that one person will come into a city and curse the soil, while another person will come in and start a revival. Same circumstances, different perception.
What I Learned About Anxiety vs. Peace
After years of ministry and personal struggle, I’ve come to this conclusion: anxiety is living in a future that has not happened yet, but peace is what happens when we worship God in our present moment.
The enemy doesn’t have to ruin your future if he can just get you to despise your present. I used to despise certain seasons, certain venues, certain circumstances. But I learned that those who are faithful with little become ruler over much. Some of us want to skip from faithful to fruitful, but we haven’t been faithful to what He’s given us right now.
My Personal Example of Missing the Moment
I’ll never forget when I was doing construction in my early twenties, flipping houses. Julie would bring me lunch with our daughter Bella, who was just a young child running around. On the last day of one project, the older contractor I worked with pulled me aside and said, “Son, I noticed something. When your family’s around, you’re not paying attention to them. I’m an old man now, and I would do anything to go back to the days you’re in right now.”
At the time, I thought I understood. But now, with 18 years of distance on that story, I realize: it goes so fast. These are the good old days, and we can’t even understand that we’re in them.
The Four Practical Steps I Had to Learn
1. Discern the Season You’re In
I had to stop fighting my current reality and start asking what God was teaching me. If you’re in a season with young children, don’t be upset that they’re always crying and whining. One day you’ll wake up to a silent house and miss it. If you’re on the coffee team at church, revel in that. I can tell you, if you’re faithful on the coffee team, you won’t be on the coffee team always.
2. Observe and Fully Embrace Today
Observe means stop, look around, breathe fully, take it in, and have gratitude in your heart. I realized that God loves every version of me, not just the perfect version I’m working toward. The Bible says while we were yet sinners, He loved us and treated us like our future before we became our future.
3. Practice Daily Gratitude
Here’s something that revolutionized my life: only those who are grateful end up becoming great. The door of greatness swings on the hinge of gratitude. I had to rewire my mind for gratitude because my negative mind was never going to get promoted to God’s purposes.
4. Calibrate Your Concern
I learned to ask myself: “How much should I be concerned?” A parent who’s overly concerned gets into witchcraft because too much concern turns into control. When you’re super concerned about leadership not doing things right, but you spend more time talking about them than praying for them, your concern just turned into control.
The Question That Changed My Perspective
James 4:14 asks, “What is your life?” I realized I needed to stop looking at my circumstances asking “What is this?” and start looking at myself asking “What am I?” Your circumstances don’t make you generous, a generous person with any circumstances will be generous. It’s not about how much you can have; it’s about how much you can hold.
I’ve seen people get divorced and remarried, and their second marriage becomes a lifetime marriage. Same person, different perception. We could be so concerned about what tomorrow holds that we don’t actually hold our loved ones today.
Living With Daily Bread Mentality
I don’t ask God to grow our church. I ask God to grow me, grow my leaders, grow our team. Big people end up having big houses, just like big people have big beds. The bigger the leaders, the bigger the church, because we can handle it.
I remember our early days when V1 worship crashed more times than we safely landed worship sets. People see the stadium full of people now, but they always see the debut, never the development. The development happened when I said, “I don’t despise today. I’m embracing this environment, the broken technology, all the problems.”
My willingness to embrace today became the preparation for tomorrow.
My Call to Action for You
I want to end where I started—with daily bread. Before you can own the field, you have to own the moment. Make today yours by doing it with all your might and all that’s within you.
Stop chasing tomorrow and start embracing today. Your next level is disguised as a situation you wouldn’t choose. The very thing you’re looking at saying “What is that?” might be God’s provision for your breakthrough.
I see a vision for 2025 of believers having hallway revivals, saying, “God, I’m not waiting for the next house, I’m building an altar in this house. I’m not chasing, I’m embracing. If it’s going to be this house, there’s going to be revival in this house.”
Your daily bread is here. Will you embrace it?
Ready to discover more about walking in spiritual freedom? Visit Inherit Your Freedom to explore my ministry resources, or consider supporting this ministry financially as we continue bringing messages of breakthrough to cities across America.