Worry

I tell you not to worry about everyday life. Matthew6:25

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. John14:27

I worry. I wasn’t always like this, but as time passes I find more in this world to worry about. To be more accurate, it’s the effect this world has on my family, and as a Grandparent I have family at various stages of life from my oldest child, to my youngest grandchild. I have heard it preached that worry means a distrust in God’s ability to handle your problem. I know God can handle anything and everything in His own time and in His own way and by His own choice. Basically, that’s my worry. God’s timing, and what if He decides not to step in? Or God does step in, but the offer of help to change is rejected through free will?

I am very Blessed in that most of my family are Bible believing, Jesus accepting Christians. I said most, and although that’s good, it’s also my biggest worry. I tend to do the ‘what if’ routine in my mind and that’s not a good thing on any level. Oh, I am not on my own in worrying, because today’s world is a very different place from what it was in my youth. I believe teenagers today have much more to deal with, and there are so many pitfalls and temptations that were not so apparent just a few decades ago. It’s a matter of scale.

There are more readily available drugs of choice from the ‘party/soft’ to the hard stuff. And talking about the hard stuff, alcohol in copious amounts is a right of passage for the student. It is so easy to get lost in the devil’s maze of fun, and the lie is swallowed so well and so easily by any unsuspecting young person who just wants to have some fun and enjoy themselves. At the centre of this maze is a broken life of shattered hopes and dreams. It is so much harder to find your way out of that maze, than it was to get in.

If you recognise any of this lifestyle in your loved ones, whether family or dear friends, perhaps you can understand why the only safe place is in the Saviour’s hands and arms.

Anxious?

When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your unfailing love, Lord, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy. Psalm 94:18,19

Thankfully, anxiety isn’t the end game for us. We have the assurance in God that our sorrow can turn to joy as it is recorded for us in John 16:20 when Jesus says “Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.” Isn’t that a wonderful promise, and from the lips of Jesus no less!

It’s a short step from anxiety to worry or even depression, but I think that other short step to joy is preferable. Joy is that deep, inner, settled peace and not a happy clappy cheery fixed smile condition when our life is in turmoil. Yes, we all get anxious about so many things, but with the Lord as our helper, it doesn’t need to slip backwards into worry. No, we can have joy instead when we place our faith and trust where we know it needs to be, with our Saviour who faced the cross to give us abundant life, as He told us in John chapter 10 and verse 10 where He assures us: I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Casting and Caring

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7 NIV

The apostle Peter knew a thing or two about failing, and yet being forgiven. He denied Jesus, not once, but three times, and in front of a servant girl. How humiliating and embarrassing for the one who was the loud mouthed firebrand of the twelve. Then came the time for proof of his allegiance. Jesus asked Peter, not once, but three times “do you love Me?” Was that once for each denial? We don’t know for sure, but Peter’s confirmation of his love for the Master said it all when he uttered the words, “You KNOW that I love you”. Peter was forgiven, and given work to do when Jesus said, “Feed my sheep”.

I can only imagine that Peter threw himself on the mercy of his Master, because he had seen that same forgiveness shown time and time again to the sinners who also knew that Jesus was their only hope. We tend to emphasise the first part of this verse because that’s our responsibility. We must cast ourselves on Him, or to put it another way, we fall at His feet in the full knowledge of our sin and wrongdoing. In that respect, Peter was no different from the biggest sinner who came to Jesus.

But why would anyone do that? After all, humanly speaking we could be sent packing with a flea in our ear! However, deep down, in the heart of each person who came to Jesus, there must have been a recognition that He would not turn them away. I go back to the question why? The latter part of the verse holds the key to our Saviour’s heart when Peter reminds us that “He cares for you”. Everything that Jesus did, and still does for man/woman, his chief creation, is because He cares. It’s that simple. That’s why we can come to Him with worries, cares, and our sin, in the full assurance that Jesus cares. No ifs, ands, or buts, He cares for us. So, when we come to Him in repentance, He will never turn His back on us. Who better to know this than the apostle Peter. His words ring as true now as they ever did.

We do the care casting, but it’s Jesus who does the caring. I like that.

A Worried Christian?

Don’t worry about things—food, drink, and clothes. For you already have life and a body—and they are far more important than what to eat and wear. Matthew 6:25 (AMP)

I have heard it said and preached that we shouldn’t worry or be anxious about anything, because it shows a doubting heart, and that you don’t trust God. I would agree with the verse which talks clearly about things like food, drink and clothing. But what about people? Are we not all, every one of us, worried about our friends and family? Worried to the point of being distressed as we watch them grow and enter a world they don’t know anything about.

Can I kindly suggest that it does not show a distrust in God when we are concerned, and yes anxious about our parents, children, grandchildren, sisters, brothers or friends. It does not show a disbelief in the power of our God. When we pray, do we not weep for them? Would we not rather any harm would come to us, than to them? Sometimes our grief is measured by the measure of our love. The more we love, the more we grieve, and yes worry.

Can I let you into a secret? There is no age limit to this kind of concern. A parent will always worry for and about their children and grandchildren, no matter how well things would appear to be going. Sometimes the worry is contained easily behind a smile and a laugh. But sometimes that anxiety fills the praying heart, and spills out of the eyes in unwelcome, unusual, hot salty tears when no one except God sees or would ever know or understand. That’s a parent’s love, and there is nothing like it from the baby’s birth to the grandparent’s grave. As tough as it is, I wouldn’t change the gift of that role or responsibility for anything.

Refuge

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1

When you get into trouble, where do you run? Where is your comfort zone when circumstances change around you, and you feel lost? Depression and physical harm are no stranger to the Christian, because although sinners saved by grace, we are still human.

There is a natural attraction to using retail therapy, or immersing yourself in your spouse, children, or grandchildren. You might even get over it by visiting someone less fortunate than yourself, and that is commendable. But what if the trouble you face is personal, and affects your health in a major way? Doing these things may take the edge off for a short time, but they don’t really do the job completely, if at all.

You need a person you can trust completely, and the closest person to you might be your husband, or wife, although in severe health issues they will almost certainly be out of their depth, no matter how much they love you. All’s not lost though because there is another person in the form of the Lord Jesus Christ, and He is well able to shoulder every trouble or burden you will ever have. There is a condition of course. You have to come in faith, and in repentance put your trust totally in Him by choice because He cares most of all. Just as the verse says:

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7

Don't Worry

"So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today”. Matthew 6:34

It might be easy for you to live life without worrying, but not me I can hear you say. You don’t know what I’ve been through, and you are right. But then how can anyone fully know what another person has to handle? After all, everyone of us wears a mask, and we seldom let it drop to show how we cope with life.

It is thought that Scottish theologian Ian Maclaren was the original source of the quotation “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle,” and how true even today. So, when you meet up with your friend next time, look carefully and listen, because you might be the friend they need to listen. Really listen, and hear their worries.

Of course, you and I will also need a friend to hear our worries, to let us unburden ourselves, but we probably don’t know who that will be. After all, we are also wearing that mask that shouts “I’m fine” so it will need to be a real friend and not just an acquaintance who will have the ability to help us drop our own mask and become vulnerable. Thanks to those we can call true friends!