What are you worried about?
Cares of This World
What, Me Worry?
Worry is a word that sounds so negative that we are sure that
only other people are doing it. But what is worry, really, stripped of
its pejorative connotations? To worry is to furtively plan for possible future contingencies,
most of which are not likely to take place. The old King James
rendered it as "take thought for the morrow". At its essence, to worry
means to be caught up in the cares of this world. Jesus tells us not to.
Matt 6:25-26 (TEB) "...Do not be worried about the food and drink you
need to stay alive, or about clothes for your body. After all, isn't
life worth more than food? And isn't the body worth more than clothes?
Look at the birds flying around: they do not plant seeds, gather a
harvest, and put it in barns; your Father in heaven takes care of them!"
Matt 6:27-30 (TEB) "Which one of you can live a few more years by
worrying about it? And why worry about clothes? Look how the wild
flowers grow: they do not work or make clothes for themselves. But I
tell you that not even Solomon, as rich as he was, had clothes as
beautiful as one of these flowers. It is God who clothes the wild
grass--grass that is here today, gone tomorrow, burned up in the oven.
Won't he be all the more sure to clothe you? How little faith you
have!"
Matt 6:31-34 (RSV) "So do not start worrying: 'Where will my food come
from? or my drink? or my clothes?' (These are the things the heathen
are always concerned about.) Your Father in heaven knows that you need
all these things. Instead, be concerned above everything else with his
Kingdom and with what he requires, and he will provide you with all
these other things. So do not worry about tomorrow; it will have enough
worries of its own. There is no need to add to the troubles each day
brings."
Where Your Heart Is
Luke 12:31-32,34 (Phi) "No, set your heart on his kingdom, and your
food and drink will come as a matter of course. Don't be afraid, you
tiny flock! Your Father plans to give you the kingdom... For wherever
your treasure is, you may be certain that your heart will be there too!"
Oswald Chambers: "The great word of Jesus to His disciples is abandon.
Immediately we look at these words of Jesus, we find them the most
revolutionary statement human ears ever listened to. 'Seek ye first the
kingdom of God.' We argue in exactly the opposite way, even the most
spiritually-minded of us--'But I must live; I must make so much money; I
must be clothed; I must be fed.' The great concern of our lives is not
the kingdom of God, but how we are to fit ourselves to live. Jesus
reverses the order: Get rightly related to God first, maintain that as
the great care of your life, and never put the concern of your care on
the other things."
Accusing God of Ignorance?
Matt 6:8 (NKJ) "...Your Father knows the things you have need of..."
Luke 12:30 (NKJ) "...your Father knows that you need these things..."
Note the implication: to worry, then, is to accuse God. By
worrying we are saying either: 1) "God doesn't know", or 2) "God doesn't
care". Think about it. Does God really not know; does He not see it
so clearly as we do? Does God really not care; is He so unloving that
He will not provide for us? Rather, God knows; and He loves us with
great and tender care. Such knowledge needs to course through more than
just our heads, it needs to be embraced by the heart--resulting in
peace, joy, and love. For if we really know God, then we will really
trust Him. God knows what we need. God cares. To suggest otherwise,
by worrying, is a tacit form of slandering God. That is why it is
forbidden.
Soil Check ...
1 Peter 1:23 (NIV) Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the
truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another
deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of
perishable seed, but of imperishable.
Matt 13:18,22-23 (Phi) "Now listen to the parable of the sower... The
seed sown among the thorns represents the man who hears the message, and
then the worries of this life and the illusions of wealth choke it to
death and so it produces no 'crop' in his life. But the seed sown on
good soil is the man who both hears and understands the message. His
life shows a good crop, a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."
Mark 4:13-14 (Wey) "Do you all miss the meaning of this parable?" He
added; "how then will you understand the rest of my parables? What the
sower sows is the Message."
Mark 4:19 (KJV) "And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of
riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and
it becometh unfruitful."
Mat 6:25 (KJV) "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life..."
Oswald Chambers: "'Take no thought...' Don't take the pressure
of forethought upon yourself. It is not only wrong to worry, it is
infidelity, because worrying means that we do not think that God can
look after the practical details of our lives, and it is never anything
else that worries us. Have you ever noticed what Jesus said would choke
the word He puts in? The devil? No, the cares of this world. It is
the little worries always. I will not trust where I cannot see. That
is where infidelity begins. The only cure for infidelity is obedience
to the Spirit."
Luke 8:14 (KJV) "And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when
they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and
pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection."
Careless Treatment of an Awesome Invitation
Luke 14:16-24 (Jer) "There was a man who gave a great banquet, and he
invited a large number of people. When the time for the banquet came,
he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, 'Come along:
everything is ready now.' But all alike started to make excuses. The
first said, 'I have bought a piece of land and must go and see it.
Please accept my apologies.' Another said, 'I have bought five yoke of
oxen and am on my way to try them out. Please accept my apologies.'
Yet another said, 'I have just got married and so am unable to come.'
...I tell you, not one of those who were invited shall have a taste of
my banquet."
Matt 22:4-7 (NIV) "Then he sent some more servants and said, 'Tell
those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and
fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready, Come to
the wedding banquet.' But they paid no attention and went off--one to
his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants,
mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his
army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city."
Luke 14:26 (NIV) "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father
and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even
his own life--he cannot be my disciple."
Oswald Chambers: "Whenever we put other things first, there is
confusion. 'Take no thought for your life...' Our Lord points out the
utter unreasonableness from His standpoint of being so anxious over the
means of living. Jesus is not saying that the man who takes thought for
nothing is blessed--that man is a fool. Jesus taught that a disciple
has to make his relationship to God the dominating concentration of his
life, and to be carefully careless about everything else in
comparison to that. Jesus is saying--'Don't make the ruling factor of
your life what you shall eat and what you shall drink, but be
concentrated absolutely on God.' Some people are careless over what
they eat and drink, and they suffer for it... they are careless about
their earthly affairs, and God holds them responsible. Jesus is saying
that the great care of this life is to put the relationship to God
first, and everything else second. It is one of the severest
disciplines of the Christian life to allow the Holy Spirit to bring us
into harmony with the teaching of Jesus in these verses."
Heb 2:1-3 (NIV) We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what
we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken
by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its
just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great
salvation?
The Martha Syndrome
Luke 10:38-42 (Jer) In the course of their journey he came to a
village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. She had a
sister called Mary, who sat down at the Lord's feet and listened to him
speaking... Now Martha who was distracted with all the serving said:
"Lord, do you not care that my sister is leaving me to do the serving
all by myself? Please tell her to help me." But the Lord answered:
"Martha, Martha," he said, "you worry and fret about so many things, and
yet few are needed, indeed only one. It is Mary who has chosen the
better part; it is not to be taken from her."
There is nothing morally wrong with doing household chores, or of eating or sleeping. The point is what comes first
when the Lord is speaking? Shall we live at the level of mere
instincts, or live in the Spirit and abide in the Lord's presence? For
dishes and food and beds can wait, and will all one day be destroyed.
Let us begin living our eternal life now by sitting at the
Lord's feet, listening to Him, in the day of visitation. In such
moments our priorities come into sharp focus. And what is truly
"needed", really? Let us choose the better part that can never be taken from us.
Mat 6:20-21 (NAS) "Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where
neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or
steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
1 Cor 6:13 (NKJ) Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them.
2 Pet 3:10-11 (NIV) ...The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The
heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by
fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since
everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you
to be?..
The Better Part
Ps 27:4 (NAS) One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to
behold the beauty of the Lord, and to meditate in His temple.
Ps 27:8 (NIV) My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" Your face, Lord, I will seek.
Isa 26:3 (NKJ) You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.
Ps 119:103 (NAS) How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Job 23:12 (NIV) I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I
have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.
The Cares of This World
Matt 6:24 (Jer) "No one can be the slave of two masters: he will
either hate the first and love the second or treat the first with
respect and the second with scorn."
Ps 39:6 (NIV) Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles
about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get
it.
Ps 127:2 (Mof) Vain is it to rise early for your work, and keep at work so late, gaining your bread with anxious toil!..
1 Tim 6:8-10 (NIV) But if we have food and clothing, we will be content
with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap
and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and
destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced
themselves with many griefs.
Phil 3:19-20 (NAS) ...whose end is destruction, whose god is their
appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Matt 16:23 (NIV) Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Out of my sight,
Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the
things of God, but the things of men."
When Consumed With Cares
Phil 4:6-7 (Phi) Don't worry over anything whatever; whenever you pray
tell God every detail of your needs in thankful prayer, and the peace of
God, which surpasses human understanding, will keep constant guard over
your hearts and minds as they rest in Christ Jesus.
1 Pet 5:7 (Phi) You can throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon him, for you are his personal concern.
Heb 13:5 (NIV) Keep your lives free from the love of money and be
content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave
you; never will I forsake you."
Col 3:1-4 (Wey) If, however, you have risen with Christ, seek the
things that are above, where Christ is, enthroned at God's right hand.
Give your minds to the things that are above, not to the things that are
on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ
in God. When Christ appears--He is our true Life--then you also will
appear with Him in glory.
Ps 42:5 (NIV) Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within
me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my
God.
What God Cares About ...
2 Tim 2:4,7 (NIV) No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian
affairs--he wants to please his commanding officer... Reflect on what I
am saying... the Lord will give you insight.
1 Tim 6:11 (NIV) But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue
righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.
Luke 10:33-35 (NEB) "But a Samaritan who was making the journey came
upon him, and when he saw him was moved to pity. He went up and
bandaged his wounds, bathing them with oil and wine. Then he lifted him
on to his own beast, brought him to an inn, and looked after him there.
The next day he... said, "Look after him; and... I will repay you on
my way back."
2 Cor 11:28 (NIV) Besides everything else, I [Paul] face daily the
pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not
feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?
1 Cor 7:32-35 (RSV) I want you to be free from anxieties. The
unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please
the Lord; but the married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how to
please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman
or girl is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to be holy in
body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about worldly affairs,
how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to lay
any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your
undivided devotion to the Lord.
1 Pet 5:7 (LB) Let him have all your worries and cares, for he is
always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you.
Since God Is Watching Out For Us ...
Luke 12:37 (Jer) Happy are those servants whom the master finds awake
when he comes. I tell you solemnly, he will put on an apron, sit them
down at a table and wait on them. It may be in the second watch he
comes, or in the third, but happy those servants if he finds them ready.
Matt 24:42 (Jer) So stay awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming.
A.W. Tozer: "The man who has God for his treasure has all things
in One. Many ordinary treasures may be denied him, or if he is allowed
to have them, the enjoyment of them will be so tempered that they will
never be necessary to his happiness. Or if he must see them go, one
after one, he will scarcely feel a sense of loss, for having the Source
of all things he has in One all satisfaction, all pleasure, all delight.
Whatever he may lose he has actually lost nothing, for he now has it
all in One; and he has it purely, legitimately."
Luke 21:34-36 (TEB) "Watch yourselves! Don't let yourselves become
occupied with too much feasting and strong drink, and the worries of
this life, or that Day may come on you suddenly. For it will come like a
trap upon all men over the whole earth. Be on watch and pray always
that you will have the strength to go safely through all these things
that will happen, and to stand before the Son of Man."
Matt 6:30-34 (Jer) "...you men of little faith?.. Do not worry; do not
say, 'What are we to eat? What are we to drink? How are we to be
clothed?' It is the pagans who set their hearts on all these things.
Your heavenly Father knows you need them all. Set you hearts on his
kingdom first, and on his righteousness, and all these other things will
be given you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow: Tomorrow will
take care of itself."
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