Today is Thursday, July 19th, 2012; Karen's Korner #2364
I receive daily emails of 'good thoughts' written by Max Lucado. I save a bunch of them for future reference or to share with Karen's Korner readers. Normally I don't send out the one for the day, but choose to savor it a bit longer.
But today's was for me today; maybe for you. It is about WORRY, among other things, something I was born with or developed a learned behavior as I grew up. At any rate, I am described by my walking partner Margaret, as 'blue' on some testing scale.
As we face drought across our nation, if not our own backyards; upheaval in governments; unsure outcomes of elections; growing uncertainty of employment and a tug-of-war over money issues. Not to mention health dilemmas, either our own, our family's, or that of our neighbor....we can tend to WORRY. How will things turn out!
Lucado describes WORRY as a SIN. So we can confess it to God, but then what? WORRY some more!???
When I WORRY and would rather not, I tend to say to God: "I am WORRIED about ??? and I confess that I can't even handle that, so, God, I give you my WORRY." Then I go on to say, "If I was in control, I would"......and I tell God how I would handle the WORRY. Then I say (pray): "Thank You for Your answer." Sometimes the 'feeling' of WORRY goes away; sometimes it doesn't. If it doesn't, I start over and say it again......thank Him for His answers. Knowing that He knows best and is in control of every situation.
The Bible says (sort of me praying it back);
"Don't worry about anything.
Instead pray about everything.
Tell God your needs and don't forget to thank Him for His answers.
If you do this you will experience God's peace which is far greater than the human mind can understand."
~ Philippians 4:6,7.
Now from Max:
Lavish Grace
Romans 3:23 says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
Worry is falling short on faith. Impatience is falling short on kindness. The critical spirit falls short on love.
So, how often do you sin, hmm… in an hour? For the sake of discussion, let’s say ten times an hour. Ten sins an hour, times sixteen waking hours, times 365 days a year, times the average life span of 74 years. I’m rounding the total off to 4,300,000 sins per person! How do you plan to pay God for your 4.3 million sin increments? You’re swimming in an ocean of debt.
But God pardons the zillion sins of selfish humanity. He forgives sixty million sin-filled days. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where He always wanted us to be. And He did it by the grace of Jesus Christ.
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