Have you ever felt anxious or worried about the future? I know I tend to. In high school, I worried about where to go to college and for what. When I got engaged, I worried about being married and sharing toothpaste. When we got pregnant with our first kids, I worried about finishing college while providing for a family on one income. Finishing college, I worried about finding the right church to work in. Taking a job in Alabama as a youth pastor, I worried about connecting with a different culture. Today getting ready for a fourth kid, I worry about all of my kids getting enough attention and dad from me.
What I have learned about worry, is it consumes my thoughts and causes me to not act myself. I try to control things I can’t and frustrate people in my worry. I have learned worry is a killer of my emotions, my creativity, my engagement level, my leadership. I try to convince myself that worrying is critical thinking toward a solution. Then I pray. In prayer, the word, and Godly counsel, the Lord has shaped me. He has changed the way I have faith, how I think, how I love my wife, how I parent, how I make decision, even how I pray. Worry kills the good that comes from me.
Matthew 6:25 “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? 27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. 34 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
Can it really be that simple… Seek His Kingdom, obey His ways, and he will give you what you need? YES!!!!!! Some of you get hung up on the word need. We tend to see “need” in what we think we “need.” What if we need to fail to stop trusting in ourselves? What if God allowing us to fail prevented a bigger failure that could cost you even more? What if God knows you need humbled in front of others to put a lid on your pride? What if God is letting you miss a payment to find how the borrower is slave to the lender? What if your perspective of what you need is led by what you see and God’s perspective of what you need is wider than you see?
I believe God really likes me. I really believe I am an adopted son in a Kingdom not of this world. I believe God has a plan for my life and it is a better plan than I could write for myself. I believe my bent toward worry is based on a false sense that I am in control of the outcome. When I look at my problem I worry… When I look at Jesus my problem does not seem as big. I am not saying this is easy or Jesus removes fear. I believe He give us courage to do it while afraid. So where are you worrying today? Where are you trying to control the outcome? Get in prayer, obey God’s ways and trust He knows what you need.
Recklessly, Obsessively following Jesus
Brandon Sereg
