Lead me in the paths of righteousness for Your Name’s sake PS 23:3
Historians will probably call our era “the age of anxiety.” Though we have it easier than our forefathers, we have more uneasiness.
I have read that if sheep are left by themselves they will wander in the same tracts over and over again. The problem comes when because they do not seek fresh land the land becomes a desert and because it is not cleaned they pollute the ground with disease and parasites. If let to themselves they will keep trying to find food and what they find will be bad for them. Sheep are different than cows because when they eat the grass they also tear up the roots so the ground becomes barren. The good shepherd keeps his flock on the move to greener pastures. This means they need to be moved almost every week. We are in world that is polluted with diseases of the mind and body. We need the Good Shepherd to keep us on the move or we will find ourselves sick. We need to be moved each week just like sheep that is what church is about. The good shepherd knows where the sheep will be getting the best spiritual food and is in the church that preaches His word. The sheep who love the shepherd will come to that place with excitement because they know that they will have luscious green grass to feed upon. PR 14:12, 16:25 “There is a way which seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” We find that there is trouble because of a sinful nature that makes us want to follow in the old paths. We have habits that keep us away from God’s best. MK 8:34 “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself daily, and take up his cross, and follow me.” I want to give to you fresh attitudes that we need to help us be what Christ desires of us to be. I will be using the first person with the word I.
1. I must let go of self love with love for Christ. This takes an intentional act of my will. I must realize that he moment I will intentionally do some thing definite for God and others it will cost me some thing. I am expressing love. This act of selflessness and self sacrifice has to replace my selfishness. How does this work out in a world that says only take care of number one? Inwardly we are more worried than those of the past. Callused hands were the badge of the pioneers, but a furrowed brow is the sign of modern people. Their chief concern is physical and temporal. Vast numbers of people actually believe that if we all have food, shelter, clothing, education and recreational facilities we will have attained all that life offers. Many of our statesmen, much of our literature and most of our commercial ads support this utterly false view. Television ads lead us to believe that the greatest disaster that could come upon a man would be to have a five o’clock shadow or yellow teeth. This undue emphasis upon the importance of the body, and the neglect of more important issues, has made us more concerned with the wants of life’s journey than with its destination. Many surround themselves with luxuries and gadgets and hide from reality that they will have to face God one day. Jesus said, MT 6:25-34. "No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. "So I tell you, don’t worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food, drink, and clothes. Doesn’t life consist of more than food and clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t need to plant or harvest or put food in barns because your heavenly Father feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than they are. Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? Of course not. "And why worry about your clothes? Look at the lilies and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won’t he more surely care for you? You have so little faith! "So don’t worry about having enough food or drink or clothing. Why be like the pagans who are so deeply concerned about these things? Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern. "So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” Who is first in your life?
2. I must choose to be different than the crowd. A sheep as we have learned is a follower and not a leader. As the Bible likens us to sheep it is an easy thing to just be part of the crowd. To be different than the crowd makes us have to take time with God so we can become more like Christ. In the Gospels do we ever see a picture of Christ following the crowds? I see Him as one who was set apart and teaching the best way to live.
Many have tried to fill the vacuum of their empty souls with things that have proved inadequate to satisfy their deeper longings and hungers. External luxury is a cheap substitute for spiritual wholeness. Worry is the natural result when our hopes are centered on anything short of God and His will for us. When we make anything else our goal, misery and defeat are expected are to be expected. We need to turn our eyes on Christ and worship Him. He will never fail. He gives life the balance, security and peace that we need. PH 2:3-5 Don’t be selfish; don’t live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. Don’t think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing. Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had.” Many people try to create reasons to worry; millions have every reason to worry, because their lives are so tangled by selfishness and twisted by sin. They need Jesus Christ. The Bible also indicates that the Christian life is a life of conflict and warfare. Many people offer a false peace of mind and promise that faith in God removes all troubles and difficulties. This is not true. God has never promised to remove our difficulties. But God has promised, in the midst of trouble and conflict, a genuine peace, a sense of assurance and security that this world has never known. God has promised new resources and new strength through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit. We are different because of He who dwells within us.
3. I must choose give up my own rights. This is hard because most of us want to feel we are important and should be able to express our opinions. We have the right to freedom of speech. It is hard for some of us to keep quiet and think we have to tell what we feel is right. It is said of Jesus that when He was being judged that He was silent. Here we see the Son of God, the creator of the world, the one the Bible says knows the thoughts and the very words that we speak and the One who will judge every one before the throne of God not saying a word in His defense. I believe we need to speak up when we have the opportunity but we need to have a good attitude when we speak. A good example of this with having to play second fiddle. It is always harder but it makes the first fiddler look good. We want Christ to look good. When we are no wanting our own rights our feelings do not get hurt easily. Many create their own troubles and then try to cure them without God. But mankind’s independence is not working. We need to awaken to the fact that our spiritual weakness can be only be cured by God through Christ Jesus. Christ says: “Come unto me, and I will give you rest” MT 11:28.
4. I must be willing to be the servant rather lord it over others. When we serve others we find the time and energy to please others and make their lives better. We do not have to wait until the other person does his job.
But our sin separates us from God. The anxieties and burdens of life rest so heavily upon men and women because their souls, made in the image of God, cry out for God; and their souls will never find rest, as St. Augustine said long ago, until they rest in God. And they can never find rest in God until they come to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for sin and shed His blood that sin might be forgiven, so that men and women might have peace of heart and soul.
5. I must quit asking “WHY” and accept what happens in my life with an attitude of thanksgiving. It seems it is easier to pin the blame on someone else for what happens to us that is bad rather than taking time to think of all the blessings we have in life. This means we are to accept everything that comes into our lives as part of God’s plan for our lives.
Worry exists when our basic needs have not been met. You can’t calm a baby’s crying by giving her a rattle when she is hungry. She will keep crying until her hunger is satisfied by food. Neither can our souls be satisfied apart from God. David described the hunger of all men and women when he said: “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God” PS 42:1. A starving person’s chief need is food. A thirsty person’s chief need is water. A wounded person’s chief need is a physician. And a lost person’s chief need, whether he or she realizes it or not, is God. You will never be the man or woman you ought to be, no matter how many remedies you try, until you hear and heed Jesus’ words: “Do not worry, but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”. A man or woman away from God can be expected to be overwhelmed by fright, fears and Difficulty. Because men and women have not had their basic need met, the need of being reconciled to God, they are unpredictable, untrustworthy, worried, anxious creatures. You may say, “But I know professing Christians who worry and are filled with anxieties.” You are right! We have anxiety when we try to carry life’s burdens alone. The Bible says: “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” 1 PT 5:7. Some Christians have not learned that life is a partnership between God and individuals. Christ said: “Take my yoke upon you” MT 11:29. When we are yoked with Christ, pulling as a team, life’s burdens are easily borne.
6. I must choose to cooperate with His will and design for my life. It is with my will power I can be all Christ wants me to be. The Bible says to take up my cross daily not just when I feel like it. Christ, being God as well as man, could by His redemptive work on the cross mend the broken partnership between God and mankind. For all who have been born again by accepting this finished work of Christ, God walks with them, talks with them and lifts the load of care from their weary shoulders.
7. I must be willing to choose to follow Christ’s way and do what He asks. I choose to be in obedience to Him. I want to go in the paths that He directs. I want to say what He wants me to say. PH 2:13 “For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him.”
To all who wish to be rid of anxiety, I would make three simple suggestions:
First, stop seeking the minor, fleeting things with which modern people overwhelm themselves, and seek the Kingdom of God as it is revealed in Christ. Let God’s life flow through your soul as you, by faith, put the whole load of your trouble on Jesus Christ, who died for you.
Second, get your eyes off yourself; focus them upon God first, and then others. Self-centeredness is a terrible injury of worry. Spend much time in prayer, and let a large portion of this time be spent in praying for others. Third, commit yourself fully to Christ. The truly happy Christian is the one who is fully and wholeheartedly committed to Christ. Be that kind of follower of Christ! You will find that your worry will dissolve like mist in the morning sun.
Lord, we know that You are always watching over us. Forgive us for allowing the worries of everyday life to consume us. May we display more trust in You each day, so that the people around us will see that You care for them, too. We pray in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
