THOUGHTLESS

“How could anyone be so thoughtless, and not care.”

That is one application of the word, thoughtless.
I will pursue another use of the word, thought.

For hundreds of years, thought was associated with worry, with something negative, without using the word ‘worry’. (I’ll explain that later.)
Then, it seems to me we had to doctor up the word ‘thought’ to better fit into modern America, where thought is how we get things done.
So now we say ‘anxious thought’ or ‘worry’ for anything that steps over the line from just figuring things out, to fretting over something.

Combine this with the prevailing pressure to perform—at work, at play, at home, even at church—and we are expected to apply thought and get results, on time.

At a time when we emphasize and even worship leisure and entertainment, for many it comes at an ever-increasing cost.
Does it not seem to take more effort, more energy, to accomplish more—so that, then, we can enjoy the something we work so hard for ?

And there is the hard-to-define fine line between ‘thought’ and ‘anxious thought’, or ‘worry’.
Everybody is on their own to come up with the answer, to draw the line.
Most people expect most people to keep going, producing—get it all together, keep it all together.
Anyone can choose from a hundred things on the shelves to help you do just that (just a little more, a little longer).

When does a boost deliver a down ?
Usually.
When does another batch of boost solve that ?
Usually.

But then, the big picture—what this article is all about—perhaps nothing profound—but profoundly ignored.

“For hundreds of years, thought was associated with worry, with something negative, without using the word ‘worry’.” (explained now)

“Take no thought for tomorrow.
Tomorrow will take thought for the things of itself.
Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.”
—–Jesus said that

A bit more detail,
“I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor for your body, what you will wear.
Is not life more than food, and the body than clothes?”
—–and Jesus said that, and more on the subject

I have observed many interviews with authors of Christian ‘how-to’ books, and translations re-wording to make it ‘easier to understand’ the Bible.
It seems that the more new ways of explaining things (marriage, family, finance, the times, God) we have available, the more new ways are required to explain things.

The words of Jesus above served us well for centuries, and count just as well today as far as I can tell.
To take ‘no thought’ sets a higher bar against worry, than to take ‘no anxious thought’.
There are other examples from Jesus’ words, like “I am the Way (the only Way)” and “Strait is the gate (limited) and narrow is the way to life (in heaven).”

I think we want Jesus to not be so restrictive in His Words, for modern American audiences, for modern American churches.