A new year has begun. 2014 is already on a relentless pace towards 2015. There will be plenty of things to worry about: healthcare, the unsettled Middle East, mid-term elections, more earthquakes and severe storms, and no doubt, personal concerns, and more. The question is—how practical is your Bible in the face of increased opportunity for worry? Listen to Christ’s words as he addresses worries about our lives. Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or […]
Worry
52 posts
Tomorrow is a day of uncertainty. You don’t know what it will bring. You can’t even make a good prediction about tomorrow. You can plan for tomorrow, and that is a good thing. But tomorrow may not go according to your plan. Or you may find out that your plan was not really what was needed to make tomorrow go well. Sometimes you are certain that tomorrow will bring bad things and you have no idea how you will survive the day. One thing that you can be certain of is that your kids will see how tomorrow colors your outlook. I don’t have any special knowledge about tomorrow that can minimize the concerns that you face. But I […]
Clint Eastwood may not be your first choice for understanding truth. But there is one quote of his that does resonate with biblical truth. Eastwood says “a man has got to understand his limitations.” Proverbs 3:7 says “don’t be wise in your own eyes.” In other words if you think your own understanding is something you can rely on, you are headed for trouble. The structure of Hebrew wisdom literature, of which Proverbs is a part, uses a literary device called parallelism to highlight important truths. In this case, being wise in your own eyes is contrasted exercising the fear of the Lord and turning from evil. If you think you can trust yourself, you will not exhibit a […]
There are days when it seems as though you have no strength at all. You know what you should be doing; you know what the demands are. You work to accomplish your tasks. Yet, instead of finally achieving the satisfaction of accomplishment, you are overtaken by weariness. You feel weak beyond hope. You ask yourself in frustration, “What difference does it make?” The psalmist must have experienced thoughts like these as he traveled to Jerusalem to worship. Psalm 121 records how he looked up at the hills surrounding him on his journey, he knew that he was vulnerable. On the journey up toward Jerusalem, the hills were full of foreboding—perhaps robbers and wild animals lurked among the shadows. […]
Proverbs 3:7-8 indicate that our bodies don’t do well when we trust ourselves, that is, when we rely on our own understanding. Trusting God and purposely loving him in all that we do brings health to our soul and stability to our walk. Trusting our own understanding leads to a troubled spirit and to a lack of stability. This is not a magic formula. Loving God in every area of your life means an intentional awareness of loving him. Recall God’s instruction in Deuteronomy 6:5-6. A deep love for God is followed by God’s commands being woven into the heart. Merely reciting God’s word will not keep you from being wise in your own eyes. The book of Judges is […]
Instructing a Child’s Heart talks about the importance of viewing life as a classroom. When we hear someone speak of confidence in God’s care for the future, such as Tim Tebow did this week, it is important to realize this confidence did not come from the thoughts of a good man. These thoughts came from the direction of the Holy Spirit expressed in Scripture. Use this classroom opportunity to repent of your own tendency to worry and then to show your children the value of taking God at his word. This is how Tim came to trust God in the light of an uncertain future. 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or […]
A new year has begun. 2012 is already on a relentless pace towards 2013. This new year will see a presidential election and congressional elections, the Olympics, new technological advances, Iran making more headlines about their nuclear program, more earthquakes and severe storms, and thus, quite possibly, even more things to worry about than there were in 2011. The question is—how practical is your Bible in the face of increased opportunity for worries? Listen to Christ’s words as he addresses worries about financial issues. Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body […]
Money seems to be on everyone’s mind these days. There are fears and concerns about the economy that are constant topics of talk radio and cable news. Your children will undoubtedly hear some of these concerns as they listen to adults who listen to television, radio and the search the internet. In the midst of all the concerns about money and wealth it is a good idea to help your kids develop a biblical worldview about these subjects. One good place to start to do this is Chapter 12 of Luke’s gospel. Here is an excerpt:
A new decade has arrived. What will the next ten years bring for your life? These questions are prominent in our thoughts as the new year begins. If you are a parent, these considerations have, no doubt, crossed your mind in the last few days. What kind of a parent will you be in this decade? What are the new issues that your children will face in the next ten years? As the decade begins, it is not uncommon for your thoughts to vacillate between hope and worry. There are new opportunities, but also new dangers to face. At the end of the day, when you are left alone with your thoughts, what do you think about?
Today is September 11, 2009. “Are you safe?” seems like a good question to consider on the 8th anniversary of the Al Qaeda attack. I remember the morning of September 11, 2001. I left the house early to follow my son to the mechanic’s shop where he was to have some work done on his car. I was listening to the radio as we drove through the countryside. The local talk station was playing on my car radio. About half way to the mechanic’s, the morning talk show host interrupted his discussion of some local topic to report that apparently a small plane had just flown into one of the towers of the World Trade Center in New York. The […]