Sin In The Present Tense Series

The three chief causes of death in the United States are, in statistical order, diseases of the heart

cancer

and disorders of the nervous system.

Two of the three are obviously diseases brought on by the strains imposed on the human body by worry,

anxiety

nervousness

and the tensions of life in our modern world.

Our lives are so geared these days that any contemplation is difficult. I have tried it at the top of St. Michaels Episcopal Church and found it impossible even there.

I well remember leaning out of one the windows-about 550 feet above Charleston-wondering how the city must have looked in the time of George Washington

or Henry Laurens…

when Meeting Street was a cobblestone road, clogged with carriages.

As I stood there, lost in reverie, trying to recapture Washington’s past, I was interrupted by a voice from below asking for me to come back down.

Try standing for five minutes anywhere on the main shopping street of any city,

or in line at a restaurant during the rush of the evening hours.

Observe the surging, seething mass of humanity flowing past you.

Notice the furrowed brows,

the faces lined with anxiety and worry,

the haggard, hurried look.

Above all, notice the tenseness of the people,

the feeling of tension in the very atmosphere.

Its symptoms are obvious-irritation, short temper, frowns, nervousness, impatience…

fighting to be waited on…

struggling against time…

Everywhere is the tension that is just on the verge of hysterics

bitter tears,

screams of impotence and rage

and actual conflict.

Now, at this moment, when you are quiet, you know in your heart that God did not mean us to live like that. We were not made for that sort of struggle for existence. It is against every law of health, every law of God.

The essence and core of Christianity is trust in God.

As Christ traveled up and down the dusty roads of Palestine, He was constantly amazed that human beings did not really trust His heavenly Father.

“Why are you afraid?” He would say.

“How little you trust God!

“Why are you so fearful?

“How is it that you have no faith?

“O men, how little you trust Him!”

By every gentle word,

By every act of compassion and pity,

Christ was trying to show men that God is not only all-powerful, but also all-loving…

nearer to each of us than we know…

always ready and willing to make His power available to meet our needs.

Christ was constantly admonishing men to trust this loving Father, to pin all their faith on Him.

“Have no fear, only believe,” He said to one seeking healing.

“Have faith in God,” He said to a distraught father.

“All things are possible to him that believeth” (Mark 9:23)

Now why was it that Christ considered faith-trusting God-so all important?

And exactly what did He mean by “trusting God”?

This is fundamental to Christian faith.

It has to do with our understanding of life.

It has to do with that basic selfishness, which is so often mistaken for grief.

If you are in financial strain and have turned to God for help,

as you are expected to do…

as God wants you to do…

but you still continue to worry and don’t see how you can make both ends meet,

then you are really not trusting God to help you.

Why do we worry about these material things?

Our Heavenly Father knows perfectly well that we need them and is more willing to send them to us than we are to ask for them.

“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall you Father which is in Heaven give good thing to them that ask him.” (Matthew 7:11)

God has pledged His word to supply all our needs.

Paul could testify that God keeps His promises.

I myself know that this promise is true.

God may not supply all your wants, because sometimes we want things that are not good for us.

Parents don’t supply all their children may want.

But you have every need supplied.

What more can we ask?

Why is it that Christ considered anxiety and worry a sin?

Because worry and anxiety are really lack of trust in God.

And this lack of trust shows that we do not really believe the promises of God.

We believe in God-but may not believe God.

If you doubt God’s ability to help you in a given difficulty, you are doubting either His Power

His ability to help you…

or you are doubting His willingness to help you.

To doubt either God’s power

Or God’s love

is to say by our actions:

“Lord, I do not believe your promises.

I do not think they really apply to me.