Pulling Life Together When Worry Tries To Pull It Apart

Encountering Jesus

Allen Snapp

Grace Community Church

July 19, 2026

Pulling Life Together When Worry Tries To Pull It Apart

¹⁹ “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ²² “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, ²³ but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! ²⁴ “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Matt. 6:19-25

Pray

When I was 5 years old I began to get frequent stomach aches so my mom took me to see the doctor. After examining me and asking a few questions he told me the reason I was getting stomach aches was because I was worrying too much. His prescription was, “stop worrying” and I did stop worrying and the stomach aches went away.

But the reasons for my worrying didn’t go away. My parents were arguing a lot, there was a lot of tension in the home and it wouldn’t be long before mom and dad got a divorce. My childhood life would never be the same again. When the doctor said “don’t worry” he was addressing the symptoms, not the root problem.

In verse 25 Jesus’ advice might sound similar to my doctor’s advice: therefore I tell you do not be anxious about your life. The Greek word for anxious means to divide or to pull apart. Worry pulls us apart. It pulls our thoughts apart as we lie awake worrying about all the what ifs? and what abouts? It can pull our confidence apart as we second guess ourselves and exhaust ourselves trying to control things. Worry can pull our peace apart. And while it’s true that a lot of the things we worry about never happen, but some of them do happen. My parents did get a divorce. Our family was pulled apart. My childhood as I knew it was pulled apart. Sometimes what we worry will happen does happen.

Jesus says don’t be anxious about your life. Those words your life covers a lot of ground. Our life is a long and complicated subject and seems to give us an endless supply of reasons to be worried. Five-year-olds have five year old size worries, 15-year-olds have 15-year-old worries, 25 year olds, 30 year olds, 50, 65, 85 – every season of life has its own set of cares and worries. We worry about ourselves, we worry about our loved ones. We play Whack-a-Worry – as soon as we hit down one worry, another one pops up. What if my parents get a divorce? Will I fit in at school? What will I do for career? Will I ever get married? How will I pay my bills? What if I lose my job? What if I get cancer? When will I die? How will I die? What happens after I die? How can we NOT be anxious about our life?

Here’s the good news: when Jesus says “don’t worry” he doesn’t just address the symptoms like my doctor did, he goes to the root of the problem. Look at that word therefore. Therefore means, “you don’t need to be anxious because of what I’ve just said.” Jesus doesn't try to fix the 50,000 different ways that anxiety can pull us apart throughout life: he goes for the root of the problem. Because behind the question what are you worried about? lies the deeper question: what are you living for?

The way we keep the worries of life from pulling our life apart isn’t by focusing on our worries, it’s by focusing on living for the right things. Jesus’ prescription for ending worry is built on three life priorities:

1. What we treasure
2. Where we focus
3. Who we are devoted to
4. Store up treasure in heaven

¹⁹ “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Vv. 19-21

Jesus is giving us investment advice: if we’re investing all our lives in earthbound treasure, we should be worried because we live in a world full of moths, rust and thieves ready to take away every single treasure that we lay up on earth.

No matter how much we have, or how hard we try to safeguard it; no matter how much we try to protect our loved ones, or how high we build the walls around our earthly treasures, one by one they will be taken away from us. Everything on earth has a temporary shelf life. As Randy Alcorn puts it, when our treasure is on earth, we’re always heading away from our treasure. But when we store up treasure in heaven, we are always heading towards our treasure!

Jesus is giving us the best investment advice ever! Invest your life in storing up treasure in heaven. Treasure in heaven is safe forever. There are no moths. There is no rust. Treasure doesn’t decay in heaven. There are no thieves in heaven. The thief on the cross stopped being a thief when he got to heaven. No one locks their doors in heaven. No one has to buy a Ring security system in heaven. Treasure in heaven is safe

Jesus is telling us to check our life portfolio. Are we being faithful stewards of all that God has entrusted to us? Are we investing our time, our love, our prayers, our energy, our talents to further Christ and his kingdom in this world? Jesus says that’s never wasted. We may not see the results this side of eternity but our reward is being kept safe for us on the other side of eternity.

So invest! Invest generosity by giving to the needy and to God’s work. Invest love by offering compassion, encouragement, or forgiveness to others. Invest prayers for people in your life who have a need or who don’t know Jesus or are going through a hard time. Invest faith into that situation where you are being tempted to worry.

Jesus says where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The goal isn't the location of our treasure, it's the location of our hearts. What we love. If we want our hearts to see and feel the reality of heaven more than we do, make investments and store some treasure in heaven and your heart will follow.

2. Focus on Christ

²² “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, ²³ but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! Matt. 6:22-23

Remember that children’s song that said, be careful little eyes what you see. The eyes represent what we focus on. Whatever we focus on will be what fills our minds, fuels our hearts, and guides our steps. If we focus on healthy things, it will take our lives in a healthy direction. If we focus on unhealthy things, those unhealthy things will fill our mind, fuel our heart, and guide our steps. Our moral compass will be corrupted. Darkness will seem like light. Evil will seem good, good will seem evil. Isaiah warns about this:

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Isa. 5:20

What we put before our eyes has a powerful effect on our lives. What we focus on bends our minds and affections towards it and steers our lives either in a good direction or a bad direction.

Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of [our] faith. Heb 12:1-2 NIV

God has a race marked out for you. It’s a different race than the person next to you. It’s not an easy race – there will be hard times, there will be challenges, there will be sadness, there may be suffering. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus! He is the author of our faith, he is perfecting our faith as we run our race. When we come to trials in our race, we fix our eyes on Jesus. When we come to forks in the road, we choose to fix our eyes on Jesus. When life situations tempt us to worry, we fix our eyes on Jesus and trust in him. Jesus is the light that fills us with goodness and hope.

3. Be devoted to God

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Matt 6:24

The question behind what are you worried about is what are you living for? What do we love? What do we serve? What are we devoted to? What do we derive life from? Our identity from? Our security from? We can’t serve two masters. If we try to live serving and loving and devoted to masters who pull us in opposite directions, we will be anxious. That is the definition of anxious – divided, pulled apart.

Money represents anything we try to derive life and identity and security from other than God. The problem isn’t having money. The problem is loving money. Serving money.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. 1 Tim. 6:10

Notice that the love of money isn’t spiritually neutral. It leads people away from Christ and faith. Money promises peace, it delivers pangs. Pangs of worry. Pangs of sorrow. Pangs of emptiness. Money can’t give us what it doesn’t have: it can’t give us peace. Or self-worth. Or meaning. Or joy.

Those things can only come from God. Worry pulls us apart in 50K different directions. God pulls our life together. We see these three priorities all pull us in one direction: towards God, who is our life, our joy, our confidence, our hope and our peace. Our treasure is safely laid up for us in heaven, our focus is Christ, and we are devoted to God as the Master of our lives.

Jesus will continue to help us deal with anxiety and worry by pointing us to trust in our heavenly Father who cares for us. But as we close, let’s consider two application points:

• As we run this race called life with its many twists and turns and ups and downs, let’s keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Jesus was there at the beginning of our faith, and he will be there cheering us on when we break the tape and enter our eternal home!
• Consider how you can make one heavenward investment this week. Whether it be sharing the gospel with someone or giving to a need or lifting someone up in prayer or speaking a word of encouragement. It doesn’t have to be a big thing to be a big thing to God. God can use the smallest things to make an eternal difference in other people's lives. Jesus pointed to little things that can have huge impact: giving a cup of water to a disciple or welcoming a child in Jesus' name. I believe the people least recognized in this life will have the greatest treasure in heaven because, like the poor widow, they give sacrificially out of simple love and devotion for God. Think about – maybe even write down – a way to make an investment in heaven.
• This pulls our hearts in one direction: love God. A heart that isn’t bound to earth but is invested in heaven. A life that isn’t defined by the ups and downs of life but is steady because our life is hidden in Christ and devoted to God.