Back in the late 1980s, Bobby McFerrin gave the world a playful little anthem: Don’t Worry, Be Happy. With its Caribbean bounce and sing-song vocals, it promised to chase away anxiety with nothing more than a smile and a catchy tune.
It didn’t work.
“Don’t worry” may have become a cultural catchphrase, but worry is everywhere. Stress is the leading cause of heart disease. Work pressure fractures families. Anxiety drains people dry. If Bobby’s advice were enough, we’d all be whistling our way to peace. Clearly, something deeper is going on.
The man who multiplies bread is sitting right there, and they’re fretting about lunch.
And here’s the kicker: it often doesn’t look much different for many Christians. We know the promises of God, we’ve sung the hymns, we’ve quoted the verses—and yet our stress levels often mirror the world’s. Why? Because the root issue isn’t our circumstances. It’s how we see reality.
Take the disciples in Mark 8. Jesus has just fed 4,000 people with a few loaves and fish, and there were seven baskets left over. A chapter later, they’re in a boat with Jesus Himself and stressing because they only brought one loaf of bread. Really? The man who multiplies bread is sitting right there, and they’re fretting about lunch. Jesus warns them: “Watch out. Beware the leaven of the Pharisees.”
What’s He getting at? The Pharisees had just seen Him miraculously feed thousands. Yet they turned around demanding a sign to prove his authority. They were so blinded by their own conception of how they thought God would work that they missed God working right in front of them. Their tradition taught that the Messiah would come only once Israel kept the law perfectly. They though deliverance was the result of performance. But here stood the Deliverer Himself, offering the very thing they could not do for themselves.
The life they longed for is the result not of the bread they have but the presence of the Bread Giver among them. And they missed it. The disciples were sliding into the same trap. With the Bread Giver in their boat, their eyes were fixed on the bread they lacked.
The Pharisees demanded proof while ignoring His presence. The disciples worried about bread while ignoring His power.
That’s the heart of worry. When we fixate on what we lack, we lose sight of the One who provides. We reduce faith to problem-solving rather than a living relationship with God. But Jesus wants our eyes lifted to His face, not glued to his hands. When stress and anxiety weigh heavy, where do your eyes go? Are you scrambling to solve problems your way? Or are you learning to see who God is?
The Pharisees demanded proof while ignoring His presence. The disciples worried about bread while ignoring His power.
Scripture isn’t a self-help guide for better living; it’s the announcement that God’s kingdom has broken into our world. And in that kingdom, life isn’t secured by our performance or providing for ourselves but by trusting the King Himself. Jesus says, “Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you.”
That’s the lesson Jesus was teaching the disciples that day in the boat: When the Bread Giver is in the boat, we already have the bread.
It turns out, that’s the only real way to not worry and be happy.