Body: | Bible help to Overcome Worry!
Even one of our Lord's most faithful followers, Martha, was a worrier. She
became filled with anxiety about her household task and her sister's
failure to help her with these chores. Martha felt Mary was shirking her
duty. This irritated her so much that she complained, "Lord, dost thou not
care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she
help me". (Luke 10: 40) How many of us today are Martha's in the words of
the Bible, anxious and troubled about many things. Gently Jesus rebuked
her, and pointed out that Mary had chosen the better part that can never be
taken away from her. She had left all to follow Him. (Luke 10: 41-42)
So deep are the problems of our times, that this has been called the age of
anxiety. Probably no sin is so widespread, yet our Lord commanded us, "Do
not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall
drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on" (Matthew 6: 25). Many
people who are careful in telling the truth, who would not think of
murdering anyone, or of using God's name in vain, are still guilty of worry
and fretfulness. Countless hours are lost through anxieties. LL/ damage
their health, shorten their lives through anxiety. In addition, they make
their lives miserable, by being chronic worriers. Worry is deceptive. It
always assigns to itself the highest and purest of motives. Long after any
good can come from our abnormal concern, It lingers, much like the smile of
the Cheshire Cat. One false or inadequate remedy Du P- for anxiety and
worry has been to tell ourselves that because all Of our worries are just
in the minds, efte need only to relax and the problems will go away. One
widely repeated phrase has been "every day and in every way, I'm getting
better and better". But this is a very inadequate remedy. While much of our
problem$ is in our thinking, and thought control is an effective Bible
principle, we must realize that we also have real problems as human beings,
and just dismissing them from our minds will not make them go away. Another
false remedy is to think that if God is with me everything will be all
right. This is naively. The Bible makes clear to us that there is no
immunity from pain, suffering, and death promised the Christian. This takes
a shallow view of faith. The Bible does not promise the believer all
sweetness and light, but it does enable to us have peace of mind amid the
varying circumstances that confront us. Then what can we do about anxiety?
What we need to do is, to turn to God for help, and to place our confidence
in Him. Against the background of Jesus' teaching on worry and anxiety, we
have His marvelous admonition, "but seek you first His kingdom and His
righteousness, and all these things will be yours as well, therefore do not
be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself, let the
days own trouble be sufficient for that day" (Matthew 6: 33-34). Jesus
advises us to take each day in its turn, face its problems honestly, and
not worry about tomorrow. So many of our worries are about little things.
Things that do not really matter. Other worries are about things we cannot
help, we must learn to accept. God helps us to develop the ability to
discern between the essential and the non-essential, and He will lead us to
trust His care and provision, #S He cares for the birds, the grass of the
field, and the short lived flowers, He will also care for us. (Luke
12:22-31)
When we come to see things from God's perspective, we can learn to say with
the Apostle Paul, for "whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether
we die we die unto the Lord. Whether we live therefore, or die, we are the
Lord's" (Romans 14: 8). If our faith depends on each days headlines, we are
bound to be anxious about tomorrow's world. But if our faith is placed in
our all-loving, all-knowing, all powerful God, who taught us to cast all
your care upon Him, for He careth for you. (I Peter 5: 7), we will know
peace of mind. Placing our lives at His disposal, we know that He works in
everything for our good. (Romans 3: 28).
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