The message series Journey Christian Church is doing over the next few weeks is on the topic of worry. The primary text referenced in the message was from Matthew 6:24-34
24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
28 And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
There are many key concepts to pull out of this section of scripture. If we are serving God and not ourselves (in the scripture it is translated money or mammon but could easily be called the world or our own selfish ambitions) then we will not be worried. The exact opposite of worry is faith. In fact, if we catch ourselves worrying about something it is a red flag that we are lacking in faith in the area we are worrying about. Worrying is a mental act. We only worry about things that are on our mind. If we keep God on our mind, we will be far less likely to worry about anything that someone who does not. So if you find yourself worrying repent to God for forgiveness of lack of faith in Him and move on.
Think of worry and faith as two infant puppies. Whichever one we feed the most is going to get bigger and stronger and the one we feed the least (or not at all) will stay small. The larger dog will always dominate and rule over the smaller dog. So how do we feed the faith dog? Romans 10:17 says "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." Some good ways to feed the faith dog is to feed on the word of God by reading the Bible, listening to others read the Bible, listening to the Bible on CD. However, the absolute best way to feed the faith dog is to hear ourselves speaking the Word of God. We can gain a measure of faith hearing someone else speak God's Word but it sticks inside of us much better if we hear ourselves speak it.
This can not be a part time thing. It needs to be a part of our daily lives. Just as we feed our bodies with food we need to feed our heart with the food of God, His word. There is a passage in John 4:31-32 "31 In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. 32 But he said unto them, I have food to eat that you know nothing about." Jesus was talking about the spiritual food of the Word. When we "fill up" on the Word, there will be no room for worry as the faith dog will get stronger and the worry dog will get weaker.
Now this does not mean we go to the opposite extreme of apathy. We should take care of what needs to be taken care of, plan the things that need to be planned and then rest in the peace of God.
An example of this is in Luke 14:28-32. The context of the passage deals with the cost of being a Disciple of Christ but I think the message also can apply to not being apathetic and making proper plans.
28 "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29 For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30 saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'
31 "Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace."
Here are some other verses that encourage us not to worry.
"Cast your cares on the LORD
and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall."
Psalm 55:22
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.".
Psalm 46:1
-------------------------------------------------------------------
"Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe in me also."
John 14:1
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation."
Isaiah 12:2
--------------------------------------------------------------------
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Matthew 11:28-30
-------------------------------------------------------------------
"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me."
Psalm 23:4
--------------------------------------------------------------------
"I lift up my eyes to the hills— where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth."
Psalm 121:1-2
------------------------------------------------------------------
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take."
Proverbs 3:5-6
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"An anxious heart weighs a man down,
but a kind word cheers him up."
Proverbs 12:25
No comments:
Post a Comment