Brown's Daily Word 1-1-08

Happy New Year.
Jesus our Savior, the New Born King, makes all things new. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is the Light of the world. Jesus gives a prescription for living and facing every day with confidence and conviction. Often people face the future with anxiety and worry. Because of Christ our Lord we can face it sense of great anticipation. We can anticipate the best. Because Christ is born, He holds the future in His hands the best is yet to be. Our Lord , who is the Alpha and Omega, unfolds His prescription for living and abundant life in and through Him and best of all because of Him
In Matthew 6 we come to the middle portion of the Sermon on the Mount. It sounds like it was written for the beginning of a new year. Look at verse 25: "Do not worry." And verse 27: "Who of you by worrying?" And verse 28: "Why do you worry?" And verse 31: "So do not worry." And verse 34: "Therefore do not worry." Five times in ten verses Jesus mentions "worry." And the whole point is to tell us: "Don't worry. Don't get anxious."
What is worry? The word itself comes from the Old English wyrgan, which means to strangle or to seize by the throat. Let me give you a simple definition. Worry is excessive concern over the affairs of life. The key obviously is the word "excessive." Worry happens when you are so concerned about the problems of life that you can think of nothing else. It is an all-consuming feeling of uncertainty and fear.
And it is a sin. Worry is a sin for two reasons: First, because it displaces God in your life. When you commit the sin of worry, you are living as though God did not exist. And you are living as though you alone can solve your problems. Second, because it distracts you from the things that really matter in life. As long as you are worrying, you can't do anything else. You are strangled by worry.
Jesus said, Don't worry. Don't be anxious about the affairs of life. Don't let your legitimate concern turn into sinful worry. Don’t Worry About Where Your Next Meal Is Coming From Verse 25 says, "Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink." And verse 31, "So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink.'"
Now that sounds okay if you've got food in the pantry; it sounds crazy if you don't. But let Jesus explain himself. Verse 26 says, "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father takes care of them. Are you not much more valuable than they?"
Very few birds get into farming, but God feeds the birds. Aren't you worth more than the birds to God?
I suspect that the problem lies right there. Deep inside we wonder if we are worth anything to God. Psychologists tell us that behind nearly all emotional and mental problems lies a poor self-image. If you feel bad about yourself, if you see yourself as a loser and a flop, if you regard yourself as never quite measuring up, then you are going to have a hard time trusting God, because you will not see yourself as worthy of his love.
I'm a very imperfect father, but I love my daughters very dearly and very deeply. Do you think God loves me any less? No, he loves me far more. He loves me even when I fail him. Let me say it this way. There is nothing you can do to make God stop loving you... Nothing. You can hate him, you can turn away from him, you can curse him to his face, but you can't stop him from loving you. Nothing can make him cease caring for you, nothing can stem the tide of his mercy toward you, nothing can hold back his kindness, and he has promised to take care of you. You are worth more than a million birds to him. After all, the birds are God's creatures, but we are God's children.
Does that mean we will never miss a meal? No. Does that mean we will always have food on the table? No. Does that mean we will never go hungry? No. It means that God has promised to take care of what we eat and therefore we don't need to worry about it.
Don’t Worry About What You Are Going To Wear... Isn't it interesting that Jesus mentioned clothing? He knew all about 2008. It's so important to wear the right things today, like Abercrombie or Hollister. Listen to his words in verses 28-30: "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?"
The lilies don't even work for what they have. God gives it to them. Do you think the flowers worry? You never see a lily going to the psychiatrist because he can't get his head together. Only humans do that.
Here's the point. The flowers don't even last very long. You buy some today and by tomorrow, they've started to wilt. Little helpless flowers that pass away so quickly. Yet God takes care of them.
But we are not flowers. The real you is more than the sum total of your blood, muscles, bones, fat, nerves and skin. You are not just a piece of gross anatomy. You are a living soul living in a body made by God. You are going to live forever somewhere. That's makes you infinitely more valuable than the lilies of the field. If that's true—and it is—than you don't have to worry about what you are going to wear. God will pick out your wardrobe for you. He will make sure that you have what you need.
Why Food And Clothes? Suppose we stop right here and ask, "Why did Jesus specifically mention food and clothes as things not to worry about?" The answer is that they represent the basic elements of life. They stand for all the things we need to get along in the world, such as money, jobs, housing, transportation, and so on. By mentioning food and clothes, Jesus is really saying, "You are not to worry about any of these things." And the reason we are not to worry about them is because worry inflates these things all out of proportion. Verse 25 says, "Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?" Food is important—and you need to eat some from time to time—but it is not the most important thing. Clothing is valuable—and you ought to wear some—but it is not the most valuable thing. The whole point is, in God's economy food and clothing are of minor importance. They are so small that God is saying, "You think about the big stuff and I'll take care of the details."
There is one final thing we don't need to worry about in 2008: Don’t Worry About How Long You Are Going To Live. Notice what Jesus said in verse 27, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" In the Greek the phrase "a single hour" actually refers to a cubit. In ancient times a cubit was a measurement equal to the length from the elbow to the middle finger, a distance of about 18 inches. It is like saying, "Who by worrying can add an inch to his height or a single moment to his life?" The answer is, no one can. That's the funny thing about worry. It can give you an ulcer or a stroke or a migraine headache or a heart attack, but the one thing worry can't give you is a longer life. A man can worry himself to death, but he can't worry himself into a longer life.
Think for a moment about some of the people who died in 2007, among them Ruth Graham. And there were millions of other who died who were not so famous. How many of them knew in advance the time and place of their death? Hardly any of them.
The Bible says, "It is appointed unto man once to die." (Hebrews 9:27) That is one appointment we all must keep. It cannot be postponed or rescheduled. That's the way life is. The whole matter is in God's hands. Thus, to worry about terminal illness or a freak accident is pointless. Nothing you can do makes the slightest difference. You cannot by worrying add a single second to your life.
That lifts a tremendous load off your shoulders, doesn't it? You're going to die someday. It may be today, maybe tomorrow, or maybe later this year. But it may not be for fifty years. Maybe suddenly. Maybe slowly. Only God knows how it will happen.
This means we all are living on borrowed time. Only God knows when your time is up and your appointment has come. That means you don't have to worry about dying. That's out of your hands. Therefore, you are free to relax, enjoy life, live each day to the fullest and go for all the gusto you can get. And let God worry about how things turn out.
Worry Less And Trust More: Will God take care of us in 2008? Yes, he will. So we don't need to worry about food or clothes or how long we will live or anything else. God is going to take care of us. Maybe not exactly the way we expect. But he will take care of us.

In light of that, what should our attitude be? Let me give you exactly what Jesus said. Remember That God Already Knows What You Need Look at verse 32, "For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly father knows that you need them." What are "all these things?" Food, clothes, shelter, money, a job, and all the other necessities of life. God already knows about them. When you say, "Lord, "I'm out of a job," it isn't news to him. When you say, "Lord, I can't pay my bills," he checked your bank account before you did. He knows you are broke.
That's a wonderful incentive to pray. He already knows the details of every problem in your life. So go ahead, tell him the whole story. He won't be surprised. And pray with confidence . . . He's waiting to hear from you.
Put God First And Your Worries Second. This is just a way of paraphrasing verse 33: "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." This means, let God solve your problems. Keep on praying. Keep on trusting. Keep on believing. Keep on serving the Lord. Keep on helping others. Keep on sharing. And God promises to take care of you. Let Lord be Lord everyday of this NEW YEAR. He makes all things new. He is our Winsome Shepherd. To you all in every time zone, all over the globe, Happy New Year. May Jesus Christ be praised.
In His promises.
Brown