With God all things are possible

 Read Mark 10:17-31

This passage contains a story that most of us know well. The rich young man, rich young ruler comes to see Jesus asking him what he must do to inherit eternal life.

We will dig into the question a little more at the next service. For now, we will pick up after the point where we are told that Jesus looked at him and loved him and told him to sell all that he had and give the money to the poor. The man went away sad.

What came next?

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”

The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

How hard is it for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God?  Just to skip past the logical follow-on and go straight to the answer, yes, that includes us.

We have so much stuff that rich is the only term that aptly applies.  This message is for us. We are rich. We have some stuff.

So, we come to the question, do we own our stuff or does it own us?  Who is the master here?  We should be master of our wealth and stuff and worldly possessions, but sometimes it seems like they are the master.

We cannot serve two masters. One of these masters goes by the name of money, stuff, or things of this world. That’s the one that we have to be on the lookout for so it does not supplant the one true God.

There is no way that anything could take the place of God in our lives. He is first. He is before all things. There are no other gods near him; yet, we can’t seem to work him into our day or our outing or our school event or our lives.

We park in the pews. We sing the songs. Some of you even get the words right, but is God first in our lives?

What if God told you to stop or cut down significantly the sports in your child’s life.  That’s stepping on some toes there. It’s my family’s time. I will manage it.

What if God told you to downsize your home or get a less expensive car? C’mon God, when I asked for help with my budget, I meant extra income.  I don’t want to cut my expenses. I want more money.

What if God told you to be reconciled with someone that you had planned on hating for the rest of your life? C’mon God, not him, not her.

Do you want to know if God is first in your life? Put a smile on your face and joy in your heart and do the thing he told you to do even though it’s the last thing in the world that you want to do.

Want to know if the one true God is actually the Master in your life? Do what he says even when you don’t like it and like it while you are doing it.

That’s some tough stuff. The disciples were exasperated.  Just who can get to heaven? How can any of us be saved?  This seems hopeless.

Left to our own devices, it is hopeless. The trappings and attractions of this world are too much for us. At some point, we will succumb.  It’s just too hard to do what God asks of us.

Unless we do it with him. We can do what seems impossible if we do it with God. Yes, we should do things for God. We should do things because God said to do them. We should desire to bring glory to God in everything we do. That’s some tough stuff and we probably can’t do it…on our own.

But God says, let’s do this together.

God did not just create us and kick us out the door with a “Good luck. See ya on judgment day.”

God is in this thing called life with us. He wants to be included in everything. If we must choose, we are to choose him first. It’s sort of like that Charles Barkley commercial where the kids are picking teams and the kid picks Barkley first. He is only two or three feet taller than the kids, but still he is excited about being chosen first.

I think God likes it when we choose him over the things of this world. I think he likes it so much that he will help us choose him.

I know that he loves us enough to make a way for us to spend eternity with him in right standing with him in spite of ourselves.

God wants us to put his words into practice. He wants us to have abundant life and he wants to help us get there.

God is with us.

God is for us.

God will never forsake us.

On our own, so much seems impossible. With God, we can do everything we need to do.

Listen to how this part wraps up.

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”

“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

We should commit to the Lord whatever we do and he will establish our plans.  God is in this thing called life with us. We are not on our own.

God wants us to succeed. The only things that should be impossible to us should be those things that go against God. We don’t want the things that go against God. For everything else, it is possible with God.

With God, all things are possible.

This pericope included the words camel passing through the eye of the needle.  Is that figurative language? Is the eye a narrow passage in some mountain range? Did Jesus mean to indicate a level of difficulty that would cause to to read that part literally?

Those are thoughts to pursue on another day. For now, remember:

With God, all things are possible.

Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blessed Assurance

 Read John 10:22-30

 How many people, even Christians, live their lives to the very end wondering about their final destination.  Am I saved?

How many people wonder if the blood of Christ did the trick?

How many people wonder if they can keep messing up and not get kicked to the curb?

How many people think that God is going to disown them this time for sure?

We have already looked at the first half of this chapter.  The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy. Jesus came so we could have life and live it to the fullest extent possible. To do that we must know our Master’s voice and put his words into practice.

Jesus wants us to really live. That means that we will make a few or a lot of mistakes along the way but Jesus will never disown us.  Once we have truly professed Jesus is Lord, our eternal life has begun.

Not only will Jesus never disown us for we are faithful, he will not let anyone or anything take us away from him. We are his. That’s a done deal!

This promise is not for everyone but only for those who receive Jesus as Lord and have professed his name.  We are his faithful.

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

Our lives are not given to us to build a resume to see if we qualify for heaven. God himself has opened heaven to us. The blood of Christ has opened the door even though we were unworthy.  Christ has made us worthy.

And his promise is that he won’t let us go or lose us or that nobody is going to take us away from him.  Why don’t we meditate on this thought more than we do?

No one will snatch them out of my hand.

We are still trying to keep score. Jesus said that he wiped the slate clean.

We wonder if we will make it to heaven and eternal life with God. Jesus said, I’ve got you. It’s a done deal. Your eternal life is underway now

We wonder if we might have gone too far this time. We are told that God’s grace goes beyond our transgressions.

We wonder why we still have trouble in this life. Jesus told us that we would have trouble. We don’t hope in the world. We hope in Jesus, the one who has overcome the world.

If you have truly professed Jesus as Lord, why do we worry?

If we truly believe that Jesus is Lord and Savior, why do we worry?

If we believe that God not only created everything but gave us a way to reconcile the entire creation, just what do we have to worry about?

Why would we doubt?

Can we not live more fully than we do now? Is the life that I am living my best response to the grace of God that we know in Christ Jesus?

Do we have dissonance in our lives? Are there things that we can’t reconcile? Do we wonder if God will dispense justice upon the earth or just let all these yahoos get away with everything?

We should be the most confident people on the planet. Our eternity is secured. God will always love us. No one will take us from him.

But is that how we live?

We have already been counseled not to worry. We are told to be anxious for nothing. We are to be strong and courageous.

Do we live this way?

If you are struggling to step out in faith, remember, that nobody can steal you from God.

If you are worried that your best won’t be enough for God, remember, that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. God didn’t wait for us to get better to claim us for eternity. He rescued us while we were still broken.

If fear is still restricting your faith, remember that fear is not from God. God did not give us a spirit of fear. We are to be strong and courageous!

God loves you.

Christ died for you.

God raised him from the dead as a promise of what is in store for us.

The Spirit of God lives within you.

Knowing these things, how can we be timid in our discipleship?

How can we not put the words of our Master into practice?

How can we not work at everything we do as if we are working for God himself?

The questions are easy. The answers that come by way of our actions are sometimes more difficult, but they are not impossible for we are told that nobody will snatch us away from Christ Jesus. We belong to him for now and forever.

We have no excuse for not listening.

We have no excuse for not putting his words into practice.

We have no excuse for not producing a return for our Master and good fruit for the body of Christ.

Whenever we have doubts, we should realize that God does not. He wants us. He made a way for us to be with him in right standing. He will not give up on us. He is finishing the good work that he began in us.

And he will let no one take us away from him.  We are his.

This is for all of us who have professed Jesus as Lord. This is for all who seek God’s kingdom and his righteousness. This is for all who know his voice—the voice of the Good Shepherd.

He knows us. We know him. We know his voice. We can’t be taken from him.

We are assured of our eternal life. We should live fearlessly now for we know that our eternity has begun and is secure.

·       Let us live more boldly because of this assurance.

·       Let us love more often and with genuineness.

·       Let us help those in need more often.

·       Let us speak the truth in a spirit of love in whatever we do.

·       Let us work as if we are working for the Lord and not for men.

·       Let us love one another not only as much as we love ourselves but as much as Christ loves us.

·       Let us be known as his disciples by our love.

We belong to Christ Jesus. No one can take us from him.

Live with confidence and boldness. Your eternity is secure.

Amen.

He's got us!

 Read John 10:22-30

 Jesus was in the temple area and many Jews were gathered around Jesus.  They had questions.

Just tell us. Are you the Messiah or not?

Jesus responded: I already told you but you did not believe. Why didn’t you listen? I already showed you. Why did you not see? Because you are not my sheep.

Jesus had been terse with the Pharisees before, but these were just the common people.  They had questions. They had plenty of evidence to consider that should have convinced them that Jesus was the Messiah, but they could not see it.

Jesus was telling people that the time for fence-sitting was over. If you disown me, my Father in heaven will disown you.  Yes, we are at that point.

We believe or we don’t, and if we believe, we know his voice.

We believe or we don’t, and if we don’t believe, we can’t distinguish the voice of our Master from the clutter for the clutter has become our god.

Imagine Jesus looking at you and saying, you are not one of mine. Could we bear to hear him say, I don’t know you?

Jesus will not disown us because we make mistakes.

He won’t kick us to the curb because that promise to work on my language is a few years late in the making.

He won’t cancel our reservation in heaven because we missed a day or two or two hundred in our Bible reading.

Do you want Jesus to disown you? Then disown him and the Spirit of God.

For those who believe, we do not need to go down this road. We disown the whole concept of God disowning us. We need to disown the status that the pagans give the things of this world, but Jesus will not disown us.

He has claimed us and that’s forever.

Jesus goes so far as to say no one can take away those I have claimed as my own—those the Father had given him.

We could go down a predestination and the elect rabbit trail here, but we will save that for another day.

For now, think about knowing the voice of our Master. If all we hear is the clutter, we need to declutter for his sheep know his voice and if you have grown deaf to his voice, it is time for action.

It’s easy to let the world creep in gradually, often unnoticed.

Long ago and far away in my college days, a new concept was introduced called narcotizing dysfunction.  Simply stated, modern media had become so overwhelming that it could bombard someone into a state of dysfunction.

We can get bombarded into a state of dysfunction as well.  How do we avoid this?

We know his voice.

How do we know his voice?  We pray and listen. We read his word faithfully. We discuss his word with other believers.

Here’s one that we should know. How do we know his voice? By putting his words into practice. Yes, his voice becomes clearer with each step of trust and obedience.

We know his voice because we talk with him often. We listen to whim all the time. We know his voice.

I said that I believe but how do I know that I meant it? Did I really mean it? How do I know?

Sometimes, we believe enough to be curious but do we believe enough to trust in the Lord with all our hearts?

The answer to do I really believe is can I trust the Lord.  If you want to test your own belief, try trusting the Lord with everything you have.

Trust is directly proportionate to our spiritual hearing.

Do you want to hear God’s voice more distinctly?  Start trusting him more.

Once we trust him enough to put his words into practice, this thing called abundant life can take hold and once the Lord is running everything in our lives, we can enjoy this eternal ride.

First, we need to know his voice. Know his voice.

·       Know his voice.

·       Put his words into practice.

·       Enjoy the blessed assurance of Jesus claiming you forever.

Amen.

The Thief comes...

 Read John 10:10-11

The thief comes for 3 purposes, to steal, to kill, and to destroy.

Stealing is easy to understand. You have something I want so I take it from you. The thief wants to take away from what you have.

What do you have? Life. You have life and the thief wants to take it away.

The thief can’t touch your eternal life.  That is 100% the gift of God. So, what is at risk? Abundant life!

The thief wants to kill you. That’s pretty straightforward. The thief doesn’t want to win your soul. Your soul is a trophy to the thief. The thief wants to kill you and mount your head on the wall.

That should about wrap up what the thief wants, but it doesn’t.  The thief wants more than to steal from you. The thief wants more than to kill you—you would think that would be enough.

The thief wants to destroy you. Killing you is not enough.  The thief wants your very existence removed from the universe.

The thief wants you—the image of God—removed from existence.

The thief is against life, life abundant, and life eternal.

The thief is against all things that are of God and he longs to destroy us. The thief is not your friend. But just who is this thief?

Most would say that it’s Satan or the Devil.  This is certainly his line of work and he surely has his hand in it, but if we read carefully, it appears that Jesus is talking more about the religious leaders and not the angel who was cast out of heaven.

If you jumped over to Matthew 23, you would find a whole bunch of those woe unto you Pharisee statements.  It’s not that much different here.

The priests, scribes, and Pharisees were supposed to have been the shepherds of Israel. They were to have cared for God’s sheep.  They lost focus. They got distracted.

By what?

Rules without relationships. These religious leaders knew the rules backward and forwards but did not grasp the importance of our relationship with God and with each other.

Regulations without righteousness.  Sometimes, they just checked the block.

Self-importance. Sometimes the perceived importance of their title blinded them to the fact that the greater the title, the greater the service should be.

Knowledge without understanding. They just didn’t get it.

Knowing all of God’s words and not knowing his heart. They knew the limits but didn’t know love.

They failed to understand that God’s words give life.

Jesus has told us that if these divine rules are to amount to anything, we must put them into practice. Our lives must produce fruit. We must blossom. We must produce.

We must live to the full. God’s directions and directives are not to restrict our lives but to enable them to be lived to the fullest extent, and in so doing bring glory to God.

To fully live, we must reach beyond ourselves. We must confront our comfort zones. We must grow.

To live to the full, we must grow.

We must grow.

Those who would lead us in another direction are thieves, whether teacher, preacher, self-proclaimed person of God, or Satan himself.  The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy.

If you are leading people away from abundant life, you are a thief.

You may sound knowledgeable.

You may deem yourself important.

You may have rank and status among those of the world or those in your religious hierarchy or those following you for whatever reason, but if you are leading people away from God—a God who has made himself known to us as a God of life and a God of love—then you are a thief.

If you value rules over relationships, you might just be a thief.

We have read this scripture before and most of the time, we might think, be on the lookout for the thief.

Today, I tell you, don’t be a thief.

Don’t take away from the abundant life that God has in store for us.

Don’t destroy that which God has intended for good.

Today, I personalize this text to say to us:  DON’T BE A THIEF.

 Don’t lead others down the wrong path.

Don’t turn away from life.

Don’t second guess God.

Put God’s words into practice.

·       That might mean more prayer.

·       That might mean more suffering.

·       It might mean more giving.

·       It might mean more peace that goes beyond what we can comprehend.

·       It will absolutely mean living this life as fully as we can.  Jesus didn’t come just so we could check the not going to hell box. He came so that we can really live and life means fullness.

This is just for the preacher, right?

We are all a Royal Priesthood. We are all leaders. We all set the example for the world. People should see our example and what we do should bring glory to God.

Let us experience life and joy and peace and the very presence of God. He died for us. We live for him.

He wants us to know the fullness of life not shrink back from it.

Be on the lookout for those who would steal and kill and destroy. They are working against us.

Be on the lookout that we do not become the thief.

Be on the lookout for life—the fullness of life—that Jesus wants us to know.

Be on the lookout.

Amen.

 

The Greatest Commandment

 Read Matthew 22:32-40

We began the new year with a series we call the Words of Jesus. We had spent a year in the Old Testament and wanted some words from our Master. We surely find them here.

This part of Matthew brings the ministry of Jesus to a crescendo. He has his triumphant entry into town—that had to push the buttons of the religious leaders.

Jesus was teaching, frequently in parables. The Pharisees and Sadducees wanted to discredit Jesus.

Jesus was a new force to be reckoned with and he spoke with authority, not like the Teachers of the Law or the Pharisees or the Sadducees. He had been all over the countryside and had a substantial following.

Anyone who could take him down publicly would surely have some street credit. We are not talking a gunfight at the OK Corral. We are talking about discrediting the One who claims to be from the Father with the law that came from the Father himself.

The Pharisees and Herodians teamed up with the perfect question. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar?

Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar?

It may seem like just a coffee shop question.  Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar?

Answer yes, and many of these people think that Jesus is a sellout.  At the moment when people were ready to follow this revolutionary. Telling the people not to pay taxes to Caesar would certainly end up in a jail cell for Jesus.

You don’t have to be right. You just need to give the Roman soldiers a reason to lock this guy up and throw away the key. The Romans were fond of their taxes.

If the Romans governed your area but you paid your taxes, they didn’t much care if you worshiped the one true God or a carved wooded pole and made offerings to it all day.  Just pay your taxes.

All the Romans wanted was to conquer the known world and have that world pay them taxes. It’s good work if you can get.

Tell people to go ahead and pay taxes to the emperor who said he was god would make Jesus a sellout.  Either way this question will take Jesus down a notch or two no matter how he answers.

It was a perfect setup.  So, there Jesus, is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?

Jesus said, who has a coin?

A coin is produced.

Whose image is on the coin?

Caesar’s.

Then give Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God that which is God’s. 

What did Jesus say?

First, Caesar is not God.

Second, if it is of this world, don’t get wrapped up in it. It belongs to this world. It is something that the pagans chase after and make into their gods. It is neither here nor there as far as we are concerned. It’s just stuff. If we need it, God will provide it.

Third, there are absolutely things that belong to God and are not to be shared with others.  He is God. He is sovereign. He is holy. He is righteous. The list goes on.

Give to Caesar that which is Caesar’s and to God that which is God’s.

Not only were the people amazed, so were the Pharisees.  They surely didn’t see that one coming. They left the area. There was no victory for them on this occasion. There was no street cred. They had been publicly humiliated in a single sentence.

If the Pharisees struck out, that didn’t mean game over, it meant there was an opportunity for the Sadducees to score big. You see, the events of this day were more like a Shakespearean play than just a day in the town square.

The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. That is why they are SAD YOU SEE. That explanation is required neither by law or prophecy but by the pastor’s guild that it be used twice a year.

So the Sadducees had this little scenario dreamed up, probably for the torment of the Pharisees, but surely it would work on Jesus as well. I mean, it was well thought out.

A man had a bunch of brothers. There were 7 in all. The oldest took a wife and then died. The next brother took his brother’s wife as the law required, but he died.

The woman is still unmarried and childless, but her original husband had more brothers. They marry and die without child, so the question is: Whose wife will this woman be at the resurrection?

That’s a good one. The Sadducees had put some effort into this one. They had surely frustrated the Pharisees with this one. It would get Jesus for sure. They could chalk up this victory for sure. This was the no-win scenario for Jesus.

Mathematically, I can prove that 0=2. The math is flawless but the logic is absent. We need to understand that if the premise is false, you can prove whatever you want to prove. If the premise is false, you can make just about anything you want look to be true.

Jesus replied by saying, “Your premise is false. There is a resurrection. The insurmountable question quickly dissipated into nothing.

Jesus said, there is a resurrection. You got that part wrong and everything thereafter that you have painted as truth is false as well.

There is a resurrection of the dead. It’s coming. You might want to prepare. What’s not coming is all this physical restraint. We will be like the angels, ready and able to worship God in everything that we do.

Here is how Jesus ended this encounter.

Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.

The Pharisees got wind that Jesus had put an abrupt end to the efforts of the Sadducees to trick him. They shouldn’t give up so quickly. They thought they might give it another try.  It was time to pull out the big guns.

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

That seemed straightforward enough.

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Jesus answered directly and without hesitation. He took over the conversation at this point.  Here’s the typical answer to your question and here is the full answer.

You must love God with everything that you have and are and will be. He is God. He is worthy of you worship and praise, and OBTW—love each other while you are at it.  This is the whole of the law. 

Love God.

Love one another.

Everything in the law and the prophets is anchored to, rooted in, and otherwise connected to these two basic statements.

Love God.

Love each other.

This is our answer to most questions that come up in our lives.  What do I do?  Do that which shows love for God and for each other.

Jesus turned his teaching point into a route of the Pharisees. He flipped the script on them.

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”

 

“The son of David,” they replied.

 

He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,

 

“‘The Lord said to my Lord:

    “Sit at my right hand

until I put your enemies

    under your feet.”’

 

 If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.

 Jesus had answers for those who would confront him. Within those are answers for us. He has more answers for us if we will take his yoke and learn from him.

Jesus has plenty of answers for those who will put his words into practice. He has plenty of answers for those who want to challenge him as well. I prefer his counsel over his admonishment.

I would rather be on the teaching end of a Jesus parable than the stinging end of one of his woe unto you sentences.

Jesus told us in the clearest terms that the essence of what we do—the things that are important in our lives—is to love God and to love each other.  Everything is built upon this very real premise. It’s all about love.

So just what is the greatest commandment in the law?

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

We know what we need to know to please the Lord. Love God. Love each other. Everything else stems from these two premises.

These premises are true and our instructions for life are clear.

Love God.

Love one another.

Amen.

 

Don't Worry

 Read Matthew 6:25-34

There is godly counsel. We listen to it weekly if not daily. We should trust it.

There is our own understanding. Sometimes we can trust it if it is in sync with God’s way.

Sometimes our own understanding gets it. We are counseled to take God’s counsel over our own understanding, but sometimes our own understanding gets it.

Here are some thoughts on the matter of worry that has come from the understanding of many.

 

“Worry a little bit every day and in a lifetime you will lose a couple of years. If something is wrong, fix it if you can. But train yourself not to worry. Worry never fixes anything.” – Mary Hemingway

 

“Turn your attention for a while away from the worries and anxieties. Remind yourself of all your many blessings.” – Ralph Marston

 

“The truth is that there is no actual stress or anxiety in the world; it’s your thoughts that create these false beliefs. You can’t package stress, touch it, or see it. There are only people engaged in stressful thinking.” – Wayne Dyer

 

“A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety.” – Aesop

 

“Worry pretends to be necessary, but serves no useful purpose.” – Eckhart Tolle

 

“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.” – Corrie Ten Boom

 

“A day of worry is more exhausting than a day of work.” – John Lubbock

 

“People become attached to their burdens sometimes more than the burdens are attached to them.” – George Bernard Shaw

 

“Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.” – Marcus Aurelius

 

“Always do what you are afraid to do.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

“To him who is in fear, everything rustles.” – Sophocles

 

“Worry is a misuse of the imagination.” – Dan Zadra

 

“If you ask what is the most important key to longevity, I would have to say it is avoiding worry, stress and tension. And if you didn’t ask me, I’d still have to say it.” – George F. Burns

 

“The reason why worry kills more people than work is that more people worry than work.” – Robert Frost

 

“Rule number one is, don’t sweat the small stuff. Rule number two is, it’s all small stuff.” – Robert Eliot

 

“Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, faith looks up.” — Anonymous

 

“Worry is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.” – Arthur Somers Roche

 

“That the birds of worry and care fly over your head, this you cannot change, but that they build nests in your hair, this you can prevent.” – Chinese Proverb

 

“Worry compounds the futility of being trapped on a dead-end street. Thinking opens new avenues.” – Cullen Hightower

 

“Worry is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere” – Erma Bombeck

 

“People get so in the habit of worry that if you save them from drowning and put them on a bank to dry in the sun with hot chocolate and muffins they wonder whether they are catching a cold.” – John Jay Chapman

 

“I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them have never happened.” ― Mark Twain

 

“If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today.” — E. Joseph Cossman

 

“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.”— Elbert Hubbard

 

“Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith.”– Henry Ward Beecher

 

Jesus tells us that we can get this no-worry business and understand it from our perspective too.

Look at nature. The flowers, the birds, and everything around us rely totally on God but you don’t see stressed songbirds and flustered flowers. God knows what they need in season and he provides. We can see this. Even for the grass that lives but for a short season. God provides.

We understand this but we need help to apply it to ourselves. Sure, God takes care of the birds and the flowers and the spiders and snakes, but I’m a person. I’m more complicated.

Jesus tells us that maybe we are not that complicated. We need to trust God. We need to have faith in God. We need to put God’s words into practice and in this case, those words say don’t worry.

Yes, we may absolutely have trouble tomorrow, but it does not need to cut into today’s joy. We make reasonable plans, we listen to God when we pray and all day long while we work at our jobs as if we are working for God, we listen to what he is telling us.

We want to trust God enough that we know the outcome will be exactly what it needs to be but that we won’t worry about how we get there.

We don’t need to worry along the way.

Paul would later reinforce this thinking with his own words. Be anxious for nothing…

Understand that trouble is one thing.  Worry and anxiousness are another.

There might be a bear on the road to work tomorrow.

That’s correct but there might be a gold coin too. You should not be worried about one to the point it takes away your joy for today and you should not obsess on things that might bring you pleasure. Let today have its life and tomorrow its own life.

The Proverbs remind us that heaviness can weigh down the heart.  Jesus tells us that hope, not heaviness, should be on our hearts.

Message for today:  DON’T WORRY.

They say the proof is in the pudding, so here’s your pudding.

“If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today.” — E. Joseph Cossman

Amen.