In Matthew 6:34, which is the concluding verse of the section, Jesus shifts the object of worry from specific, tangible things to general, future concerns. In doing so, he acknowledges that typically our anxiety is focused on what is out ahead, so he declares—don’t worry about tomorrow. This is a prohibition that can be applied in so many different ways. It is not dependent on any specific circumstance, other than what can potentially take place tomorrow.
But look at the reason He gives—for or because tomorrow will worry about itself. By personifying tomorrow, Christ is teaching that tomorrow doesn’t need our help to solve its problems. The underlying truth, of course, is that it’s God who is the author of tomorrow and our worries aren’t helpful to him either. So it follows that worry is harmful to us and offensive to God.
Then Jesus ends this section by highlighting something somewhat surprising—each day has enough trouble to deal with. Here’s the implication—as a result of great effort being put forth to control tomorrow’s problems, today’s issues are being neglected and faithfulness is being forfeited. Isn’t that true? The greater the worry, the greater the bondage and the greater the bondage, the greater the disobedience and uselessness.
So we need to asking this–How can I navigate my circumstances today in order to be faithful? Instead of: What do I need to do to try to manipulate and control my circumstances so that I can ensure I’m comfortable tomorrow? If we take the control route, we are saying—”I can’t trust God to take care of tomorrow; I need to cultivate an undue concern over what might happen so that I can feel in control even though tomorrow will quickly and decisively demonstrate I am most certainly not in control.”
We can thus easily conclude that the sin of anxiety is evidence of both unbelief and irrationality.