Is worry just lack of faith?

"For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, {as to} what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, {as to} what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?" (Matthew 6:25, Luke 12:22, cf. Matthew 6:31-34)

The Greek word for 'worried' means anxious, troubled with cares, care or provide for. The term does not render judgment to being anxious or troubled with cares. But caring takes energy. The Greek term for no (me) is used in the sense of "don't even think about it" rather than a negation of the thing itself. In other words, don't dwell on the concern. Concern and care is the human condition. We aren't to deny these things or feel guilt over them but are not to dwell upon them for where we focus, there are our concerns.

This is why Jesus tell us to seek first the kingdom of heaven. In so doing, the cares of this world will not consume us. When focusing on the cares of this world, it is too easy to be consumed and dragged down.

That is the goal.

But how do we do it that when the bills are piling up, when the job security is disappearing, when the bill collectors are daily at your door, when food is scarce and everything seems to be slipping away?

We often feel guilt when worrying, as if in so doing we lack faith. Perhaps in an idealistic sense, we have not yet attained that perfect faith. But it doesn't mean we lack faith. It isn't so black and white; it's more of a continuum.

Perhaps what worried us in the past doesn't worry us today and so our faith is actually stronger than it used to be but it isn't quite strong enough to bypass the worries of today. Perhaps in days to come what worries us today will not worry us tomorrow, even though the circumstances themselves may be no different.

So the kingdom of heaven, whatever that is, should be our focus. That is the goal. Without a goal of some kind we drift and are blown about like the wind, consumed with the things of this world which are never ending and are never resolving, any comfort and solace found only temporary.

The human soul longs for something long lasting, something eternal, absolute. It is what drives us and the reason that "things" never satisfy. In focusing on the kingdom of heaven, we help alleviate the problem of attachment and desire.

It is the desire, the craving, that is the trouble and it is freedom from desire that is one of the true commonalities of all religious traditions.