Lightening the Load

“So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” –1 Peter 5:6-7 (NLT)

“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” –1 Peter 5:6-7 (NAS)

These two verses are vitally important in the life of the Christ follower. If we are going to live our lives out as Christ’s ambassadors, then we need to learn to allow Him the opportunity to lighten our load…and especially the load of worry.

When I became a dad, my worry level increased exponentially (those of you who are parents know what I’m talking about). And when each of my other children were born, more and more worry was heaped into my lap. But the beauty of these verses is that all of that worry doesn’t need to be mine, because I can give it to Jesus.

The word that Peter uses here is a word in Greek that really means “to superimpose”. It means very basically to superimpose your worry over Jesus. When we superimpose an image, we can see both at the same time. This is what Peter is getting at…he wants us to look at our problems, our worries, in light of who Jesus is.

The dictionary definition of the word “Superimpose” is “To place an object over another object, usually in such a way that both will be visible.”

Now think of it this way. If I were to try and superimpose the object the size of the earth over an object the size of the sun, would both still be visible? In truth, if we did that and pulled the picture back so far as to see the full circumference of the sun, the earth wouldn’t be very visible at all, would it?

Now think of the size of your worry, and then superimpose that on the size of your God. As you pull out to see just how big your God truly is, do you even see your worry anymore? Nope! You don’t…and that’s the point. When we see our worry next to our God, we don’t see our worry anymore.

So think about that today, and we’ll see you on Sunday!

Down in My Heart

I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my heart!

   Where?

Down in my heart!

   Where?

Down in my heart!

This popular children’s worship song is most likely known to most (if not all) of us. We used to sing it when we were kids and most of the time we may not have even stopped to think about the words we were singing, but rather thinking about how loud we could shout, “WHERE?!”

But when we think about these words, and the meaning behind them, we should take pause and think about what we are singing. We are singing about the Joy of the Lord! We sing that we have the joy of the Lord in our hearts…deep down inside. But here’s the problem: most of us live as if the joy, joy, joy, joy was down in the gutter, not in our hearts. We sulk, we worry, we pine, we fret, and we are anxious, nervous and just plain grumpy at times. God’s word commands us in Philippians 4:6 to not be anxious about ANYTHING. And yes, friends, it is a command.

So what are you doing today to make joy a part of your life? Are you listening to the voices of the world that are telling you to fear, fret and freeze? Or are you listening to the voice of Jesus saying, “I’m here, I will always be here, and I will never leave you.”

Please understand that I know we live in a world of perilous times. We are surrounded by sin on every side and there is little to nothing we feel we can do about it. But to listen to those voices that tell us to take worry as our own and hold it tight is to miss the really joy and blessing that God has for our lives.

So choose today to be joyful. And you will see amazing things happen.

And we’ll see you on Sunday!

Pray About Everything

"Be anxious for nothing; but in everything, by prayer and petition, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

--Philippians 4:6-7

There is something in these verses I want you to grab hold of because if we fail to do so, it will cripple our prayer life. The idea that I want you to hold onto is the very first phrase of these verses... "Be anxious for nothing." Another translation puts it this way, "Don't worry about anything!" Does this mean it is a sin to worry? No, but if we allow our worry to steal our peace, then it is a sin. 

Worry is something that we can't always control. As parents we worry that our kids won't learn from us all they need to be productive members of society. As children, we sometimes worry that our adult parents will need care beyond what we can give them. As employees, we worry that we might not have a job to go to in the morning. These are legitimate worries that people have. But when those worries begin to invade the peace that that God wants us to have, then it becomes a problem.

Paul says that the cure for worry is prayer. When we find ourselves beginning to worry about this or that or the other thing, it is time to go to prayer. Actually, the time to go to prayer is way before worry and anxiety begin to show their ugly faces. We are to give all that we have and all that we are to God, not so we can be blessed or rewarded, but so that He might be glorified in our lives.

So all this to say, keep worry at bay and find that inner peace that says, "God is here with me, and I will not be afraid of my circumstances, or my fears!"

Thanks for reading our blog today, and we'll see you on Sunday!