Winning Over Worry

Here's a few thoughts I didn't get to share yesterday.  They are miscellaneous bits of information – which all can be summarized by David's statement in  Psalm 37:8   …    Do not fret--it only causes harm.

   

In the New Testament one Greek word translated as "worry" is merimnao, which means "to be anxious, to be distracted" or "to have a divided mind" (merizo, "to divide"—nous, "the mind").

—To worry is to divide your mind between that which is useful and worthwhile and that which is damaging and destructive.

—To worry is to block the flow of creative energy in your life.

               

The concept of worrying is conveyed throughout Scripture by numerous words and phrases.

•             —to be fretful

•             —to be anxious

•             —to be concerned

•             —to be weighed with cares

•             —to be heavy-hearted

•             —to be without peace

•             —to be distracted

•             —to be troubled

•             —to be distressed

•             —to be despairing

Disbelief

Worry reveals that you really don't believe God when He says He will provide all that you need.

"The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail." Isaiah 58:11

Worry reveals that you are taking on personal responsibility and concern for that which God has already promised to provide.

Worry shifts the focus of attention from the all sufficient power of Christ to your human insufficiency and insecurity. Ultimately, worry can undermine your Christian witness by presenting God as impotent and unworthy of praise.

"In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:16

 What Is the Focus of Worry?

A specific characteristic of worry is a negative focus on the future. If you are a worrier, you are spending time speculating on what may or may not happen and then fearing the worst.

Destructive Worry	Constructive Concern
• paralyzes	• motivates
• decreases creativity	• increases creativity
• prevents initiative	• promotes initiative
• results in anxious fretting	• results in calm focusing
• attempts to control the future	• attempts to improve the future
• fears the worst	• hopes for the best
• appears negative to others	• appears positive to others
• distracts the mind from what is important	• directs the mind to what is important

What you worry about is not nearly as important as why you worry. You may know and love God, but when you trust in anything other than God's promises and provision for your life, then worry will turn your heart away from the Lord and turn your trust into distrust.

May the trials of our lives continue to cause our minds to run – to run to Jesus, rather than run from Him.

    Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28

Finding Life

Matthew 10:34-40

What is life?   How do we define life?  How do we view a meaningful life?.  From our perspective, it hinges on what we view a meaningful life to be.  God views a meaningful life as one who chooses to follow Jesus. The disparity between the two viewpoints will determine much.  

I often find myself guilty of the same temptation expressed by Amy Carmichael and quoted by Elisabeth Elliot in A Chance to Die- praying that a particular trial in a person's life will just go away.  Amy found that the better advice was to encourage someone to see in their circumstances an opportunity to die.  

We have learned to consider death to be something that is painful and harmful.  Painful - yes, almost every time.  But, harmful - not necessarily.  The death of a virus is a good thing, many would view the death of venomous insects or reptiles as a good thing.  Google "How to kill mold" and you will discover the term and question welcome by just about everyone.  I found no websites proposing ways to help mold survive.

So, why do we try so hard to preserve and feed our flesh?  I would propose that it is because we have the wrong viewpoint of the flesh.  We see our flesh as being for us, as being profitable to us, as being a means to meaning, or maybe just satisfaction, or fulfillment.  Maybe, if we were honest, we would have to admit that we really do understand that our flesh is nothing but a means to temporal pleasure.

In some ways our flesh is good. But never when it dominates.  When we try to preserve our flesh rather than die to it, we are so often aiding and abetting our very own enemy.

John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. 

    

1 Timothy 4:8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. 

In John 6:63, Jesus was talking about the things of the kingdom.  In the spiritual realm, the flesh profits nothing.  In the realm of this earthly life, 1 Timothy tells us that it does profit a little.

Matthew 10:39 He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

I like the order of this verse.  When we find our life in Jesus, it is so much easier to die to that which pulls us away from Him.

Before we can offer Amy Carmichael's encouragement to others, we need to consistently apply it to our own lives.  Then and only then is my advice something I can say is tried and true.  That's the wonderful thing about choosing to follow Jesus rather than the dictates of our flesh.  He never fails.