Here's an encouraging word...
May 23, 2007
A friend just sent me this and I had to share. Enjoy the read!
OUR CAREFUL UNBELIEF
"...do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on"
--Matthew 6:25
Jesus summed up commonsense carefulness in the life of a disciple as unbelief.
If we have received the Spirit of God, He will squeeze right through
our lives, as if to ask, “Now where do I come into this relationship,
this vacation you have planned, or these new books you want to read?”
And He always presses the point until we learn to make Him our first
consideration. Whenever we put other things first, there is confusion.
“...do not worry about your life....” Don’t take the pressure of your
provision upon yourself. It is not only wrong to worry, it is unbelief;
worrying means we do not believe that God can look after the practical
details of our lives, and it is never anything but those details that
worry us. Have you ever noticed what Jesus said would choke the Word He
puts in us? Is it the devil? No--”the cares of this world” (Matthew
13:22). It is always our little worries. We say, “I will not trust when
I cannot see”--and that is where unbelief begins. The only cure for
unbelief is obedience to the Spirit.
The greatest word of Jesus to His disciples is abandon.
Matthew 6:25-34 (The Message)
25"If
you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you
don't fuss about what's on the table at mealtimes or whether the
clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life
than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance
than the clothes you hang on your body. 26Look
at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description,
careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.
27"Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? 28All
this time and money wasted on fashion--do you think it makes that much
difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the
fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, 29but
have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten
best--dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.
30"If
God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers--most of
which are never even seen--don't you think he'll attend to you, take
pride in you, do his best for you? 31What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. 32People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. 33Steep
your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry
about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be
met.
34"Give
your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get
worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you
deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.
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