Two different words – worry and concern. If there’s any difference, why create two separate vocabularies?
Worry and Concern are not friends
These entries have been strongly inspired by Harold J. Sala’s book: “Making Your Emotions Work for You”
Worry, as we’ve read from my two previous entries for this series, “Top 5 reasons why you should not worry” and “Worry is a murderer”, is not a very friendly emotion to our health – physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. It is something that eats you up – literally.
So if worry is such a detrimental emotional state of mind, then what much difference does it make with it’s closely synonymous counterpart, concern?
There’s not much difference, really. Concern is just a form of worry with which you can directly affect with your decision of choice. It is a positive state of knowing the matter at hand and being able to do something about it – and doing it.
Concern, according to Dr. Sala “should be a positive force resulting in our enrichment and betterment.” But don’t take it from him, he just got it from the apostle Paul in the Bible.
“so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.” – 1 Corinthians 12:25
In one hand we have worry, which gives you nothing but sickness and anxiety, and on the other hand we have concern, which drives you to do something about your knowledge of the current situation – given that you are able to do something about it with a decision of choice.
It’s not much, but that little difference between worry and concern can mean years of life and wisdom for your everyday situations. So choose carefully and make sure that, with God’s help and wisdom, you are able to identify the fine line between worry and concern in the decisions you face in your life.