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Worrying

             And which of you by worrying can add a single day to his life’s span? (Matthew 6:27 NASB)

And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life? (Matthew 6:27 RSV)

Apparently, this verse is a little challenging for translators. The last part has been translated both as “a single day (hour) to his life’s span” and “a single cubit to his height.”  And then there are those who approach it as the RSV does and mixes the two: single cubit and span of life. I did some quick checking, but didn’t find anything that really addressed the incongruity.

The NASB translation above makes perfect sense. It is an example of a change that is impossible for us. Other translations use the terms “cubit” and “height.” That makes sense, too. Both are impossible. Oh, we can try to take better care of ourselves and tell ourselves we’re adding to our lifespan, but I suspect we’re deluding ourselves. Yes, we may life longer than we, or some other person, expected us to, but not longer than God expects us to. We can put on shoes that make us taller, but that’s playing games. Our height hasn’t really changed.

But, a few translations take the impossibility up a notch. No, we can’t add time to our lives, or inches to our height, but how much more impossible is it to add distance to time? As logical as Jesus would have been to talk of time and lifespans or distance and height, it has a greater impact if we mix them. The concept is not only impossible, but also ludicrous.

It is equally ludicrous to think that worrying is going to make the impossible possible. Chances are good that we’ll convince ourselves and others that our worrying isn’t about such impossible stuff. We worry about things that could happen, and the goal of our worry is to influence the outcome. We say. But here is my challenge to myself and to you. If we catch ourselves worrying, take a closer look. Is what we’re worried about something that our worry can change? If not, should we not find a more effective activity than worry?  Given that I have sometimes caught myself worrying about nothing – literally – just going through the motions of worry without a focus for it, I suspect I’ll find much of my worrying is closer to adding time to my height.

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