Why Worry is Absolutely Unreasonable

Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; or, Wherewithall shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Matthew 6:30-34

     I love how Jesus points out here, that from His standpoint, worry is absolutely unreasonable. He is saying that the greatest concern of our lives should be our relationship with God. Worrying about things we cannot change is useless. It amplifies problems out of proportion. We were not born as worriers, it's something that we get better at when we practice it. Thankfully, it can be unlearned. We have this mindset that if we aren't stressed, anxious or worried about the circumstances of our lives, then nothing will get taken care of or get any better. We doubt God's ability to fix things. Worry NEVER solves the problem. We cannot change the past or predict the future, so when we live lives filled with worry, we are only making ourselves miserable in the present moment. God PROMISES to take care of the details of our lives, we are only asked to trust Him. This passage says that God knows what we need before we even ask, He knows the circumstances of our lives and He wants to be intimately involved with every detail of our day. The final verse in this chapter says that we need to take each day at a time. Don't be anxious about tomorrow, because we aren't even promised another day. 

     There is a difference between concern and worry. There's a healthy degree of concern - parents don't allow their children to play in the street and we need to be concerned about our health if we know we are sick. Concern is doing what you need to do to avoid or help a situation, while worry is when you can't do anything about it but you refuse to leave it up to God. One can spiritualize it anyway they want, but worry is sin, simple as that. And most of us, myself included, are guilty. 

     Worry is a demonstration of faithlessness. I work in a preschool, and if the kids in my class worried whether or not I was going to feed them lunch that day, I would feel pretty bad about the way they see me as a teacher. They trust that I'm going to feed them lunch, and take care of them. They know that's my responsibility, and I will come through. If we are worrying whether or not God is going to take care of us, imagine how that makes Him feel. He created us, He knows what things we need, and He promises to provide for us. When we worry, we are telling God that we don't trust Him enough to pull through. 

As verse 35 of Matthew 6 says, our main priority should be seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Our worry about things in our day to day lives is taking the place of our focus on the things of God. If we are anxious about anything, it should be the affairs of Heaven. God is more than capable of taking care of everything on Earth.

    Don't let things you can't control, control you.

Stay excellent!

The Daily Battleground

I have realized lately that the Bible talks A LOT about the mind. A LOT. We have to live inside our minds each and every day, and we have full control over what we choose to think about. Satan will try to get in there any way he can, and you probably won't see him coming unless you are prepared. Our minds are the ultimate battleground - we choose either to think on things that are true and lovely, or think envious, bitter, resentful thoughts. The Bible says that Satan is subtle, he sneaks up behind us and uses our fleshly weaknesses to capture us. However, if we can learn and apply what the Bible says about controlling our minds, we will be better prepared to guard our minds against Satan.

1. Renew your mind.

And be ye not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:2
I just used this verse in a post a few weeks ago, but it's so important that we take it and apply it. I read Romans 12:2 a lot and each time I'm convicted to change a certain area of my life. We must re-establish our faith in our minds if we want to successfully follow the will of God. Conforming to the world begins in our minds - if you think worldly thoughts, soon you'll start doing worldly actions. Daily renew your mind by reading the word of God and praying, keeping that faith established.

2. Bring your thoughts into captivity.

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5

For something to be captive, it means it must be imprisoned or confined. We must take all of our thoughts (even the ones we think when we're tired, angry, upset, and stressed....) and confine them into obedience. Every single thing that we think should be captivated and enclosed, leaving no cracks or spaces for any stray thoughts to get us in to trouble.

3. Gird up the loins of your mind.

Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:13 

One writer wrote this about this verse, "'Therefore, having girded up the loins of your mind" - it's an image of a person wearing flowing garments tucking the garments into his belt so that he can run and move about freely and quickly without tripping over his clothes. The part of you that is to be freed by this girding is your mind - the loins of your mind."

So basically what this is saying is that we need to tuck all of our thoughts in, put them away, and focus on the grace of God. When people would gird up their loins, they would need all the excess garments out of the way so they could perform their duties properly. In the same way, we have to tuck in all of our extra thoughts so that we can be what God wants us to be.

4. Think on these things.

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Philippians 4:8

This verse is pretty universally well known, but it doesn't make it any less important. We must filter each of our thoughts through this verse. If what we are thinking isn't true, honest, just, pure, lovely, or of good report, than those are thoughts that God doesn't want us to be having. It's a good reminder of what a godly mind should look like, what we all should aspire our minds to be. 

Our minds are a battleground that Satan is going to actively pursue us. We have to be prepared by renewing our minds, bringing our thoughts into captivity, girding up the loins of our mind and putting each thought through a godly filter. If we aren't careful and we let the devil captivate our minds, there are many verses in Proverbs that say we are fools. It will absolutely destroy us. Don't be complacent and comfortable in assuming what's going on in our minds doesn't matter - think about what you're thinking about.

Stay excellent!

Forgive the Inexcusable

   
     So a few years ago I had a different blog on a different domain, and I was rereading some of my old posts when I came across one I completely forgot I ever wrote. I did a really deep study on Acts that year and wrote many blog posts about it, but this one convicted me all over again as I read it. Today instead of writing something brand new, I'm going to re post it. I hope it will be a blessing to you!



 There's a quote by C.S. Lewis that goes, "To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you." One of the best examples of this is found in Acts chapter 7, the last two verses, which read,

 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

     How often do we get so upset about the most insignificant things? It isn't Christlike nor is it representing God in the way He deserves. We should have mouths that are slow to speak and hearts slow to wrath. Here Stephen is at the end of his life, being stoned for professing Jesus, and he is forgiving them while they're in the midst of their sin. Even at the end of his life he was still living for Christ the way we should strive to live every day.

     Here Stephen is being stoned, and what does he do? He asks God not to count this sin against them. He is asking God to forgive them WHILE HE IS BEING STONED. Stephen died in the name of Christ, he died as a martyr. He did nothing to deserve this punishment, he did nothing to deserve the way he was treated, yet he forgave them. I think too often we get comfortable in our every day lives and we let trivial things get to us. We allow bitterness to sink in where bitterness has no place. We have this mindset that we are entitled to things in this life, and people need to treat us a certain way. If they wrong us, we feel we have the right to be mad, frustrated, or annoyed. When we're professing Jesus in our lives, we don't have room for the frivolous drama of our daily lives. We don't ever have an excuse not to forgive other people for the ways they may harm us. (Usually we do things just as wrong to others and we don't even notice!)

     If anyone had a right to be mad, it was Stephen. I think he shows us an excellent example of a life that glorified God, even when it came to an end. If you're someone who gets mad or annoyed about the superficial things of life, I encourage you to take a look at Stephen.Forgive the inexcusable in others, because God forgave the inexcusable in you.

Stay excellent!

The Romanticism of Sin

     I realized lately how much our society romantisizes sin and makes it seem really attractive. Hebrews 11:24-25 say, "By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;" It says right there that sin seems pleasurable, but only for a season. The world does a really great job of promoting sin, of making it seem fun, cool, modern. The more sin rules your life, the more relevant and cool you are, the more you're making the most of your time on earth.
     Let's be honest, the term YOLO is way overused and absolutely annoying. It's sequined on the legs of teenage girl's sweatpants, it's the key word of a bunch of songs, it's what people shout as they do something else spontaneous and probably stupid. As much as people like to throw the phrase around, many people live as if they only live once. But we do have a life after this, we are accountable for the things we do on earth. We get the freedom to choose how we will spend our time here on earth, whether we have 70 years left, or 70 seconds. Why would we follow the world's plea to "live it up" when we have the option to obey and honor God, and be blessed eternally for it?
     The Bible says that our lives are a vapor. We are here for a moment, but then we are gone. Sin seems fun, it seems pleasurable. But afterwards, we are left miserable, wondering why our hearts feel so empty and our lives seem so unfulfilled. A life not lived for Christ isn't a live that I want to live. If we know the world will make sin seem cool, we have to be prepared. Billboards, magazines, social media sites, commercials, even t.v. shows and movies, scream that living in sin is okay! Really people, just live the way you want! Life is short and then we all die! Just because sin is promoted as good, doesn't mean it is. Instead of desiring to participate in the world's definition of fun, remember the promises God has given to us if we resist satan and the pressures of this world.

     Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:2

     If there's no difference between you and an unsaved person of the world, then there's a problem. I write a lot of posts about our thought lives, but that's because it's really important that we have thoughts different from those of the world. We can't be patterned to the ways of the world, we can't promote what the world promotes, we can't think what the world thinks, and we can't desire what the world desires. The next time the world romanticizes sin, remember that we are in the world but not of it.

Stay excellent!

You Are What You Think

For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he... Proverbs 23:7a

     I don't know about you, but a lot of times, I think things that I wouldn't want anyone else to know. I would be mortified if a week's worth of thoughts were published and broadcasted for other people to see. When I read this verse the other day, I was hit with a wave of conviction. I realized that God right here says that I am what I think. If I think bad thoughts about other people, I am a bad person. If I think rude or cruel things, I am rude or cruel. If I think rebelliously, I am rebellious. The world will say that humans are so beautiful, we have unique and precious hearts. God made us after His image and He thinks we are made wonderfully. However our natural hearts are disgusting.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9

     We are only beautiful people when our hearts are beautiful. God can mold and change our hearts and desires as we yield to Him and get to know Him more. The less we care about the things God cares about, the uglier our hearts are. The less we conform to God's image, the more we conform to the world. The world has nothing lovely to offer, only through Christ can anything be made beautiful. The question here is, what do you choose to think? Who do you choose to yield to? I don't want to be an ugly person, so I can't think ugly thoughts. I don't want to be an unkind person, so I can't think unkind thoughts. To be generous, you must think generously. To be honest, you must think honestly. To be pure, you must think pure. You are what you think, so think carefully.

Stay excellent!