Good Morning,
We are having our first winter blast of the new year. We have the good news that this winter blast is very temporary. It will be warming up by Friday. It will be in the 50's by next week. Like this winter blast all human suffering and afflictions are temporary . In 2 Cor. 4 Paul calls it" Momentary afflictions" .
The month of January gets its name from the Roman god Janus. He is depicted as a two-faced man. One face looks towards the past and the other towards the future. Our life on Earth can be seen as a “pilgrim” or a “tourist”? . We'll look at the contrast between the biblical “pilgrim” and “tourist” and see how different they are in the story of Abraham. God calls us to be “pilgrims” under His rules, rather than mere “tourists” doing “our own thing”, in the journey of life.
Abraham’s journeying was at a different level. His was a pilgrimage from the city of mankind to the city of God. We're told by the first martyr, Stephen, “The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia” (Acts 7:2), that’s ancient Babylon, now Iraq and Iran. Abraham’s contemporaries had a religious culture of worshipping the moon and kneeling before idols, but following this encounter with the one and only true God he was told to distance himself from this city of human arrogance and wickedness. The Bible’s account makes the point that it wasn't Abraham who found God; it was God who found Abraham. He received a call to which he had to respond, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you” (Gen 12:1). Abraham isn't called simply to adopt a new set of ideas but which would leave his outward life untouched. It was something far more radical; it was to be a crossroad in his life. It was a call to a decisive turning away from the past, a public rejection of his ancestors’ pagan religion.
The commentary in Hebrews tells us that “By faith Abraham obeyed.” He put the past behind him. His response is an example for all of us. But it was no easy matter. The sacrifice must have been enormous. It wasn't that he was a man without responsibilities. He had an elderly father, his wife and other family members to consider. He left a life of comfort and luxury for one where there were no financial certainties. He left the security of the town where he was a citizen for an unknown destination, for the life of a nomad. He put his entire future into God’s hands without any guarantees. There comes times in our lives when we have to make a break and move on. This will mean different things for each of us. But God challenges all who wish to follow Him about priorities. It’s a decision we have to make in our Christian pilgrimage. Jesus reminded Peter when he felt a bit discouraged, “No-one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life” (Luke 18:19).
The writer of Hebrews emphasizes that “He (Abraham) obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” He'd been told to travel light, leaving behind his country, people and household. This is quite unlike most tourists who fill their suitcases with “everything but the kitchen sink!” The baggage that God had in mind was anything that could hold him back from developing a quality relationship with Him. There are many things that hold us back on our spiritual pilgrimage. God wants His people to free themselves from the culture of this world and to be committed to the values of His kingdom. When we become Christians, God presents us, through the Scriptures, with His agenda. It’s a new set of values and new patterns of behavior.
I read the autobiography of George Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury. Soon after he became a Christian he was called up to do his National Service in the Royal Air Force. He writes that the first test of his Christian discipleship was to follow the advice of his vicar which he found quite daunting: “George,” he said, “you must disclose that you are a Christian right from the start. Don’t be ashamed of your faith. When the lights go out, kneel by your bed and say your prayers.” He goes on to write that: “This seemed easy enough to agree to when in church, but I confess that as I surveyed the crowded billet on my first evening, with the good-natured banter of high-spirited young men all around me, my resolved wavered. Nevertheless, taking a deep breath, I knelt and spent several minutes in prayer.”
Abraham had to maintain his faith in God’s promises in difficult circumstances when the future was far from clear. God told him to leave Ur and gave him very clear promises for the future: “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you.” He was told “to go to the land I will show you.” God often reveals things to us on a “need to know basis.” He tells us some things, but never everything. Abraham received God’s promises in installments. That’s where faith comes in. If all the details of our future pilgrimage were known to us, faith would be redundant, but it doesn't work like that. God does this so that He can develop ongoing faith and friendship with us. Obeying God’s word isn't always the easy option. It can lead to obstacles, hardships and problems, with the temptation to take the line of least resistance. Had Abraham wanted prosperity and comfort, he would have done better to stay in Ur, or even at the halfway stage at Haran. And maybe he wondered, as we do, if his problems were a sign that he had gone out of God’s will. Perhaps he was tempted at times to turn his camel round and go back home. But he kept his nerve, stayed the course and learned that even when you get to Canaan, the place of your inheritance, while still on Earth, you have to keep trusting in God to the very end of life. There’s always an unexplained element to make sure we remain dependent on God. Abraham obeyed as best he could and left everything else to God. Hebrews tells us, “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going” (11:8). That’s the broad picture but there were many difficulties on the way, some of his own making. The biblical record doesn't gloss over the defects of the heroes of the faith. The basic instruction was to “leave your father’s household” but not only did he take his father along, he also took his nephew, Lot, as well. Lot didn't have the committed faith of his uncle. He was a “tourist” rather than a “pilgrim”. Genesis recounts the conflict between the herdsmen of uncle and nephew because there wasn't sufficient pasture together for both their herds. Abraham, although the senior man, generously gave Lot the first choice, an offer he couldn't refuse. The older man, the “pilgrim”, was following God’s values and ways of doing things, of putting others first and living in peace. The younger, the “tourist”, was self-seeking at the cost of the other, and took advantage of the fertile plain by the River Jordan although dangerously close to the wickedly pagan cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. It wasn't long before he was entrapped by their culture, with terrible results for his family. We do well to remember the warning words of Jesus: “Remember Lot’s wife!” (Luke 17:32). Many of God’s promises are conditional on our obedience. This doesn't mean that God breaks His covenant of love with us because He’s unable to do that. Abraham was thus enabled to: PRESS ON TOWARDS THE GOAL
We can see from Abraham’s experience that some promises didn't come true in his lifetime: the land of Canaan was lived in but never really belonged to him; the nation he was promised was limited to two sons; the great name he was promised had to wait for centuries; and the blessing through him to all people on the Earth isn't yet complete. It’s been said that many of God’s cheques are post-dated! But you may be sure that they are or will be honoured! Abraham had to be patient and to expect their fulfillment through faith and we must learn to do the same. We need to remember that like Abraham, we are on a pilgrimage that will never end until we get to heaven. You'll have heard the story of two missionaries returning home at the end of their ministry. When they reached their home railway station there was a band playing and the city dignitaries waiting on the platform - but it wasn't for them. For a moment they were downcast as there was no-one to welcome them but then they said to each other, “It doesn't matter, we're not ‘home’ yet!” Like Abraham they “looked forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builder is God.”
In Him,
Brown
ORISSA PERSECUTION UPDATE
Orissa witnessed fresh incidents of violence in Kandhamal district of Orissa as late as January 2, 2008. The violence came in the wake of the Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil visit to the strife torn areas to take stock of the situation.
At least five shops were gutted and more than 10 houses set on fire at Gadapur near Brahmanigaon, the place where the communal tension first took place on December 24. The Christian-dominated village was among the worst-affected in the ongoing communal violence that began on the Christmas eve. According to local sources at least 400 houses and six churches were attacked and set on fire in this village on the 25th and 26th of December.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that ten people have died in the violence in various parts of Kandhamal district. The official toll stands at two persons.
Local sources have informed Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) that many Christian families continue to hide in forests and hills in fear of further attacks, without any access to food or water battling the cold. Their homes have been destroyed, property vandalised and family scattered. One hundred and forty two homeless families are at the relief camps set up at Baliguda.
EFI, along with other Christian agencies have met with the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, Vice-President, Mr. Mohammad Hamid Ansari, Union Home Minister Mr Shivraj Patil and Justice S. Rajendra Babu, Chairperson, Nation Human Rights Commission to apprise them of the situation. Christian groups have demanded an independent inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation, not the judicial inquiry proposed by the state government. Christian agencies have further demanded that adequate compensation be provided to families who have lost life and property due to the violence.
Director General of Police, Gopal Chandra Nanda in a press conference on Wednesday told reporters that 80 persons had been arrested for their role in the violence and cases had been registered against 40 of them.
The Government has announced that the families whose houses had been burnt down by the attackers would be provided with one dwelling unit each under the Indira Awas Yojana, a government scheme to provide housing. Those whose houses had been damaged partially would get Rs. 10,000 each as compensation. The next of kin of those killed in the violence would be given Rs. 1 lakh each as ex-gratia from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.
EFI requests you to continue remembering the Christian brothers and sisters who have been affected by the violence in Orissa.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Brown's Daily Word 1-2-08
Happy New Year again.
I love to read some of the Old English Classics. Daniel Defoe’s seventeenth-century novel Robinson Crusoe is filled with God’s presence. Crusoe is a man who rebels against his parents to become a sailor. He joins up with a ship to set out for the Seven Seas in search of adventure. He becomes the sole survivor of a shipwreck, condemned to live out his days on a desert island. – Crusoe, begins to contemplate time and eternity. The book Robinson Crusoe is full of his thoughtful, probing encounters with God – his weaknesses, fears, temptations. It explores how Crusoe learns to love God and the world. He is someone who runs from God and who cries out to God. The psalmist writes, ’Our days on earth are like grass; like wildflowers, we bloom and die. The wind blows, and we are gone – as though we had never been here. But the love of the Lord remains forever with those who fear Him. His salvation extends to the children’s children of those who are faithful to His covenant, of those who obey His commandments’ (Psalm 103:15–18). The writer of Ecclesiastes states beautifully that ’God has placed eternity in our hearts.’ And because God has placed ’eternity in our hearts’, we know that nothing of ’time’ will permanently satisfy us. Life derives its true meaning not from self-fulfillment or success, but from a personal relationship with our Creator. As C. S. Lewis once said, ’If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.’ There is a story in the life of Jesus, recorded in John 5:2–9. ’Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people – blind, lame or paralyzed – lay on the porches. One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew how long he had been ill, He asked him, "Would you like to get well?" ’’I can’t, sir," the sick man said, "for I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred up. While I am trying to get there, someone else always gets in ahead of me." ’Jesus told him, "Stand up, pick up your sleeping mat, and walk!" ’Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up the mat and began walking.’ The man had been lying there for thirty-eight years, his eyes staring at the water; his gaze fixed on his only hope of something better. The very cause of his need prevented him from having that need met. Suddenly, his world is interrupted by a voice asking him if he wants to be made well. What a strange question! Surely, the answer is obvious? But his answer is revealing: it’s not ’Yes, that’s what I’ve been longing for,’ but a statement of the problem as he sees it – he has no one to help him into the pool. Originally, all he wanted was to be healed, to walk and run as others could. Now, all he wants is someone to help him in to the water. The pool has become the object of his longing, and he cannot see any other solution to his problem. Sometimes, the search, however wearying and unfulfilled, becomes everything for us. In fact, all he needed was a word from Jesus and, in an instant the pool, which had been his hope and his despair for thirty-eight years, seemed unimportant. No matter how hard we try, we cannot pull ourselves out of the quicksand of time. That is why we need someone to change the way we see things, to lift our eyes, so that we can peer beyond time and be led towards eternity. That someone is Jesus. Our search for eternity brings us to Him. Jesus said, ’I am the way, the truth and the life.’ Life with Christ is an endless hope; without Him, it is a hopeless end.
In the movie "The Last Emperor," which my children loved to watch, the young child anointed as the last Emperor of China lives a life of luxury with a thousand servants at his command. ’What happens when you do wrong?’ his brother asks. ’When I do wrong, someone else is punished,’ the boy replies. To demonstrate, he breaks a jar, and one of his servants is beaten. In Christianity, Jesus reversed that ancient pattern: when the servants erred, the King was punished. Grace was free only because the giver Himself bore the cost. In St Paul’s Cathedral in London hangs Holman Hunt’s painting, The Light of the World. It is a picture of a cottage that is run down, and bushes and briars have grown around it. The path is covered by weeds and grass. Standing at the door, Jesus is holding a lantern in one hand that gives off light to every part of the picture, and He is knocking with the other hand. After Hunt completed the picture, one discerning critic said to him, ’Mr Hunt, you made a mistake. There is no handle on the door.’ The artist replied, ’No, I did not make a mistake, for there is a handle. The handle is on the inside.’ Once a little girl and her father were standing in the cathedral. They were mesmerized as they looked at the painting. Then the girl asked, ’Daddy, did they ever let Him in?’ God our Father is the maker of everything that exists. He is the Author of the world of nature, and the Creator of both space and time. Without God, there would be no past, present or future: no summer or winter, spring or autumn, seedtime or harvest. There would be no morning or evening, or months or years. Because God gives us the gift of time, we have the opportunity to think and to act; to plan and to pray; to give and to receive; to create and to relate; to work and to rest; to strive and to play; to love and to worship. Too often, we forget this, and we fail to appreciate God’s generosity. We take time for granted and fail to thank God for it. We view it as a commodity and ruthlessly exploit it. We cram it too full, waste it, learn too little from the past, or mortgage it off in advance. In doing so, we also refuse to give priority to those people and things which should have chief claim upon our time. We need God’s help to view time as He sees it, and to use it more as He intends. It is crucial to try to distinguish between what is central and what is peripheral; between what is really pressing, and what can wait; between what is our responsibility and what can be left to others; and between what is appropriate now and what will be more relevant later. We need God to help guard us against attempting too much, because of our false sense of our indispensability, our false sense of ambition, our false sense of rivalry, of guilt and inferiority. We also need God to help us not to mistake our responsibilities, underestimate ourselves, or overlook our weaknesses and to understand our proper limits. We need to realize that, important though this life is, it is not all that there is. So, we should view everything we do in the light of eternity, not just our limited horizons. It is a matter of true perspective. God is not so much timeless, as timeful. He does not live above time so much as hold all times together. In Jesus, we live, move and have our being.
In Him and because of Him.
Brown
TOP STORIES
PM sends Staines’ widow letter on Orissa
By By OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Tuesday January 1, 01:09 AM
New Delhi, Dec. 31: In a somewhat belated assurance, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said the government will take necessary measures to protect the religious freedom of all communities. The assurance has come in a letter he has written to Ms Gladys Staines, the widow of Graham Staines, the Australian missionary who was burnt to death along with his two sons in Orissa in 1999.
Ms Staines, who returned to Australia a few years ago, had written to the Prime Minister expressing anguish at the recent attacks on Christians and Church buildings and institutions in Orissa. In his letter, the Prime Minister has said: "We are taking all steps to ensure the restoration of normalcy and to bring about harmony and peace in the affected areas."
Also stating that he has spoken to the Orissa chief minister regarding the violence, Dr Singh said: "I assure you that the government of India will take all necessary steps to safeguard the fundamental rights and liberties of all sections of our society and protect their religious freedoms as enshrined in the Constitution. Please be assured that we will not tolerate any efforts aimed at disturbing the communal harmony or secular fabric of our country."
The Prime Minister’s letter to Ms Staines was released to the media by the government on Monday, also the day when a statement came from Mr John Dayal, a member of the National Integration Council and secretary-general of the All-India Christian Council. Mr Dayal, currently in Orissa, said a fact-finding team which included him had gone to the Phulbani area of Kandhamal district on Saturday but "was forcibly expelled by the inspector-general of police, Pradeep Kapoor, who ordered the Phulbani town police inspector to ensure that I left the district that night".
According to Mr Dayal, the town police inspector made the group follow an armed police escort for nearly an hour-and-a-half at night, finally leaving them on the border of Ganjam district. The experience, he said, left the team deeply distressed and frustrated.
Mr Dayal said the team had driven to Phulbani on December 29 and en route was able to assess the damage caused to the Carmelite Convent and the Carmel English School. Nuns the group interviewed told them of attempts that were made to set the convent on fire while they locked themselves inside a room.
As for the group’s meeting with Mr Kapoor, Mr Dayal said, "He would not allow me to proceed, or even to remain in Phulbani. He said it would not be safe for me, or for the persons with whom I would stay. He said the Rapid Action Force had been deployed in Phulbani town and I had to draw my inference from this fact about the situation and tension in the place."
I love to read some of the Old English Classics. Daniel Defoe’s seventeenth-century novel Robinson Crusoe is filled with God’s presence. Crusoe is a man who rebels against his parents to become a sailor. He joins up with a ship to set out for the Seven Seas in search of adventure. He becomes the sole survivor of a shipwreck, condemned to live out his days on a desert island. – Crusoe, begins to contemplate time and eternity. The book Robinson Crusoe is full of his thoughtful, probing encounters with God – his weaknesses, fears, temptations. It explores how Crusoe learns to love God and the world. He is someone who runs from God and who cries out to God. The psalmist writes, ’Our days on earth are like grass; like wildflowers, we bloom and die. The wind blows, and we are gone – as though we had never been here. But the love of the Lord remains forever with those who fear Him. His salvation extends to the children’s children of those who are faithful to His covenant, of those who obey His commandments’ (Psalm 103:15–18). The writer of Ecclesiastes states beautifully that ’God has placed eternity in our hearts.’ And because God has placed ’eternity in our hearts’, we know that nothing of ’time’ will permanently satisfy us. Life derives its true meaning not from self-fulfillment or success, but from a personal relationship with our Creator. As C. S. Lewis once said, ’If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.’ There is a story in the life of Jesus, recorded in John 5:2–9. ’Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people – blind, lame or paralyzed – lay on the porches. One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew how long he had been ill, He asked him, "Would you like to get well?" ’’I can’t, sir," the sick man said, "for I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred up. While I am trying to get there, someone else always gets in ahead of me." ’Jesus told him, "Stand up, pick up your sleeping mat, and walk!" ’Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up the mat and began walking.’ The man had been lying there for thirty-eight years, his eyes staring at the water; his gaze fixed on his only hope of something better. The very cause of his need prevented him from having that need met. Suddenly, his world is interrupted by a voice asking him if he wants to be made well. What a strange question! Surely, the answer is obvious? But his answer is revealing: it’s not ’Yes, that’s what I’ve been longing for,’ but a statement of the problem as he sees it – he has no one to help him into the pool. Originally, all he wanted was to be healed, to walk and run as others could. Now, all he wants is someone to help him in to the water. The pool has become the object of his longing, and he cannot see any other solution to his problem. Sometimes, the search, however wearying and unfulfilled, becomes everything for us. In fact, all he needed was a word from Jesus and, in an instant the pool, which had been his hope and his despair for thirty-eight years, seemed unimportant. No matter how hard we try, we cannot pull ourselves out of the quicksand of time. That is why we need someone to change the way we see things, to lift our eyes, so that we can peer beyond time and be led towards eternity. That someone is Jesus. Our search for eternity brings us to Him. Jesus said, ’I am the way, the truth and the life.’ Life with Christ is an endless hope; without Him, it is a hopeless end.
In the movie "The Last Emperor," which my children loved to watch, the young child anointed as the last Emperor of China lives a life of luxury with a thousand servants at his command. ’What happens when you do wrong?’ his brother asks. ’When I do wrong, someone else is punished,’ the boy replies. To demonstrate, he breaks a jar, and one of his servants is beaten. In Christianity, Jesus reversed that ancient pattern: when the servants erred, the King was punished. Grace was free only because the giver Himself bore the cost. In St Paul’s Cathedral in London hangs Holman Hunt’s painting, The Light of the World. It is a picture of a cottage that is run down, and bushes and briars have grown around it. The path is covered by weeds and grass. Standing at the door, Jesus is holding a lantern in one hand that gives off light to every part of the picture, and He is knocking with the other hand. After Hunt completed the picture, one discerning critic said to him, ’Mr Hunt, you made a mistake. There is no handle on the door.’ The artist replied, ’No, I did not make a mistake, for there is a handle. The handle is on the inside.’ Once a little girl and her father were standing in the cathedral. They were mesmerized as they looked at the painting. Then the girl asked, ’Daddy, did they ever let Him in?’ God our Father is the maker of everything that exists. He is the Author of the world of nature, and the Creator of both space and time. Without God, there would be no past, present or future: no summer or winter, spring or autumn, seedtime or harvest. There would be no morning or evening, or months or years. Because God gives us the gift of time, we have the opportunity to think and to act; to plan and to pray; to give and to receive; to create and to relate; to work and to rest; to strive and to play; to love and to worship. Too often, we forget this, and we fail to appreciate God’s generosity. We take time for granted and fail to thank God for it. We view it as a commodity and ruthlessly exploit it. We cram it too full, waste it, learn too little from the past, or mortgage it off in advance. In doing so, we also refuse to give priority to those people and things which should have chief claim upon our time. We need God’s help to view time as He sees it, and to use it more as He intends. It is crucial to try to distinguish between what is central and what is peripheral; between what is really pressing, and what can wait; between what is our responsibility and what can be left to others; and between what is appropriate now and what will be more relevant later. We need God to help guard us against attempting too much, because of our false sense of our indispensability, our false sense of ambition, our false sense of rivalry, of guilt and inferiority. We also need God to help us not to mistake our responsibilities, underestimate ourselves, or overlook our weaknesses and to understand our proper limits. We need to realize that, important though this life is, it is not all that there is. So, we should view everything we do in the light of eternity, not just our limited horizons. It is a matter of true perspective. God is not so much timeless, as timeful. He does not live above time so much as hold all times together. In Jesus, we live, move and have our being.
In Him and because of Him.
Brown
TOP STORIES
PM sends Staines’ widow letter on Orissa
By By OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Tuesday January 1, 01:09 AM
New Delhi, Dec. 31: In a somewhat belated assurance, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said the government will take necessary measures to protect the religious freedom of all communities. The assurance has come in a letter he has written to Ms Gladys Staines, the widow of Graham Staines, the Australian missionary who was burnt to death along with his two sons in Orissa in 1999.
Ms Staines, who returned to Australia a few years ago, had written to the Prime Minister expressing anguish at the recent attacks on Christians and Church buildings and institutions in Orissa. In his letter, the Prime Minister has said: "We are taking all steps to ensure the restoration of normalcy and to bring about harmony and peace in the affected areas."
Also stating that he has spoken to the Orissa chief minister regarding the violence, Dr Singh said: "I assure you that the government of India will take all necessary steps to safeguard the fundamental rights and liberties of all sections of our society and protect their religious freedoms as enshrined in the Constitution. Please be assured that we will not tolerate any efforts aimed at disturbing the communal harmony or secular fabric of our country."
The Prime Minister’s letter to Ms Staines was released to the media by the government on Monday, also the day when a statement came from Mr John Dayal, a member of the National Integration Council and secretary-general of the All-India Christian Council. Mr Dayal, currently in Orissa, said a fact-finding team which included him had gone to the Phulbani area of Kandhamal district on Saturday but "was forcibly expelled by the inspector-general of police, Pradeep Kapoor, who ordered the Phulbani town police inspector to ensure that I left the district that night".
According to Mr Dayal, the town police inspector made the group follow an armed police escort for nearly an hour-and-a-half at night, finally leaving them on the border of Ganjam district. The experience, he said, left the team deeply distressed and frustrated.
Mr Dayal said the team had driven to Phulbani on December 29 and en route was able to assess the damage caused to the Carmelite Convent and the Carmel English School. Nuns the group interviewed told them of attempts that were made to set the convent on fire while they locked themselves inside a room.
As for the group’s meeting with Mr Kapoor, Mr Dayal said, "He would not allow me to proceed, or even to remain in Phulbani. He said it would not be safe for me, or for the persons with whom I would stay. He said the Rapid Action Force had been deployed in Phulbani town and I had to draw my inference from this fact about the situation and tension in the place."
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
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
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
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