Don’t Worry About It!
(Author Unknown)
The story is told of a woman who woke her husband from peaceful slumber to tell him she heard a noise downstairs. Trying to reassure his wife, he trudged downstairs only to find himself staring down the barrel of a robber’s pistol. The thief demanded he hold his hands up. “Nobody will get hurt,” he said, “if you hand over all your valuables and don’t cause any trouble.” The man assured the burglar there would be no outcry and that he was welcome to the silver. “However,” he said, “I wish you would do me one favor before you go. Would you go upstairs and meet my wife? She’s been looking for you and worrying about this every night for over twenty years.”
Can you identify with that story? A lot of folks are like that woman. They worry and stew and fret over things that will probably never occur. As a result, they bite their nails, develop ulcers, and lose sleep over what might happen, but almost never does. Dessain Terry, in his book, ‘How To Win Your Mate To Christ,’ says that Richard Nixon asked Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping his secret to staying young and vibrant. He responded with just four words: “Don’t worry about it!”
Jesus gave specific instructions to His disciples regarding anxiety. He simply said, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? … if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat?’ or `What shall we drink?’ or `What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matt. 6:25-34).
Will bad things happen to us? Yes! Can worry prevent them from occurring? No! So, why worry? Know that when bad things happen, God will give us the strength to deal with them. Live each day in hope, not despair. Don’t worry, be happy, put your trust in God. Here is the bottom line with worry: There are only two things to worry about: Either you are well or you are sick. If you are well, there’s nothing to worry about. But if you are sick, there are only two things to worry about: Either you get well or you die. If you get well, there’s nothing to worry about. But if you die, there are only two things to worry about: Either you will go to Heaven or you will go to Hell. If you go to Heaven, there’s nothing to worry about. But if you go to Hell, there is all eternity to worry about. Where will you spend eternity? This is the bottom line to worry!
No Place I’d Rather Be
By C. L. Blake
No need to ask me, Lord.
No need for a command for me
When the saints come to worship,
No place I’d rather be.
No work to put my hands to,
No celebration sways me,
No business task demanding my hand
No place I’d rather be.
No mourning the daily losses,
No recreational game to see,
No meetings with the world, Lord,
No place I’d rather be.
The loving sweet communion,
The songs of calm repose,
The words of Your kind guidance,
The fellowship so close;
For here Lord, when we meet
Is where you promised to abide;
What place could be more worthy
Of my presence and my time.
It is for you, Dear Lord, that I come
And the songs and prayers I sow
In hope that heaven will be my home,
No place I’d rather go.
Christ in Me
“And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness” (Rom. 8:10). A boy while flying a kite was so successful that the kite went out of sight. He stood in the field with a cord in his hand that bent upwards into the sky. Someone asked him how he knew the kite was there, and he let them put their hand on the string. They could feel the pull of the unseen kite. Similarly, although the world cannot visibly see Christ in us, they can recognize His invisible power in every phase of our lives. They are forced to admit that we as Christians have something which they do not possess. Let us truly have Christ, the hope of glory, within us.
On Mothers and God
Of the sixty nine kings of France, only three were loved by their subjects and that these three were the only ones raised by their mothers instead of by tutors or guardians. Whatever ability we have to be loved by others is largely due to the love our mothers put into and around our lives. When a mother calls her children to her knees to speak to them of God, she is to them the grandest object of their affections. It is by this power over them that God becomes venerable to them; by the purity in her eye that He becomes holy to them; by the silence of the hour that He becomes awesome to them; by the tenderness of her tones that He becomes dear to them. (James Martineau)
Thinking about the Bible
“The Bible, as a revelation from God, was not designed to give us all of the information we might desire, nor to solve all of the questions about which humans are perplexed, but to impart enough of Divine wisdom and will to be a safe guide to the haven of eternal rest.” (Albert Barnes)
“The Bible is like a telescope. If a man looks through a telescope, he sees worlds beyond; but, if he merely looks at his telescope, he does not see anything but his telescope. The Bible is that which is to be looked through to see that which is beyond this world.” (Philip Brooks)
“Coming to the Bible through commentaries is much like looking at the landscape through attic windows over which generations of spiders have spun their webs.” (Henry Ward Beecher)