Bobby McFerrin’s mother taught him to love the Lord. When he grew up, he wrote the hit song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” The song’s opening lines say: “In every life we have some trouble. But when you worry, you make it double.”

Jesus said, “I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.” Consider the ravens; consider the wild flowers. God feeds them; God clothes them. And you are much more valuable in his sight than birds and flowers. Trust God for your daily bread and bodily needs.

Because so many of us live lives of little faith, we are often filled with fear and insecurity. We toil and fret and hold tight what we manage to earn. We set our hearts on these things. We run after these things.

So many of us are often so preoccupied with “getting and spending [that] we lay waste our powers,” as the poet William Wordsworth put it. And in the process we act like unbelievers.

There is a freedom that comes with trusting God. We can sell some of our possessions without fear of becoming poor, and we can give to people in need, becoming richer ourselves, with treasure in heaven.