Yes it’s true. It is December 26, 2011. I remember as a kid seeing the movie “The Poseidon Adventure.” In there was a song: “There’s got to be a Morning After.” Well here we are on the morning after. What do you remember from yesterday? Did everyone get the gift they wanted? Did the house get cleaned up? Was it a good Day? With all the celebration about gifts and giving, how many stopped just for a moment to thank God for His greatest gift? On this Monday Morning is Christmas done and over for another year? Or is Christmas something to be lived all year? God is still God, Jesus is still the Savior, and He will come again.
But Pastor John, it’s CHRISTMAS! Christmas is all about family, gifts, and giving. It’s about getting up at the crack of dawn to see excitement on the faces of our families and friends. It’s about gathering for worship. It’s about gathering for celebration and food, and football. That is all very true and good. Think about this: God is all about families too. He is about giving gifts. He never sleeps and longs to see our face light up with excitement when he gives us unexpected blessing. How many of us invited God into our celebrations? On a side note: Does God even have a favorite football team?
Now it’s the week between Christmas and New years. Our focus seems to put Christmas behind us and we start looking at the New Year. How will I pay the bills for Christmas? I spent more than I should have. I had an argument with someone at dinner, but I was right and I don’t care what anyone thinks. I know I have not seen my friend in church for a long time, but I will do better next year. Are you worried about making promises for the New Year and then failing?
Are you worried my friends? Jesus asked, “Where is your faith?” I have heard people say they worry about their faith. Really? Faith is the opposite of worry. Worry destroys faith. Think about this: If you are worried about your faith then you are putting faith in your worries. If you focus on worrying about having enough faith then you are focusing on the wrong thing.
Peter says in his letter that we are to “cast” (give up, let go of, set free, release, send away) our burdens ,worries, and those things which hold us back, up to God because He loves us and will take care of us. Jesus said to Peter one stormy night, “Come.” Jesus says, “Trust me, not the world.” Why Worry?
So, if we are worried about faith and put faith in worry how can we have faith and keep from worrying?
Simply, WORRY LESS AND TRUST EVERYTHING TO JESUS!
Many of us do go to God and tell him all about our worries, don’t we? But that is all we do. We don’t leave them with Him. When we get through praying, we reach over and take them back, then spend the rest of the day worrying. When we go to prayer, we must learn to leave our worries with Him.
We look at the problems in our lives and think they are so big and insurmountable, but in reality, our entire lifetime doesn’t last long enough to even be a blip on the radar screen. The devil makes us concentrate so much on the here and now, we forget about the there and then.
Worry meets faith at the place where heaven touched earth: The Manger. Faith meets worry at the place where earth meets heaven: The Cross.
But to be able to even go before God with our worries, we must first have been saved from this world by accepting Jesus Christ as Savior; the Son of God; the only way for worry to meet faith.
Hello Again!!
7 years ago
