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Today is Fantastic Friday. We live in a very uncertain world. Tragedy and death can strike out of nowhere without warning. Here are a few examples:

  • On September 11, 2001, tragedy and death did not give us a warning of the tragic events that unfolded that day that 2,996 people would die. 
  • In all the school shootings, tragedy and death did not give those 203 people who died a heads-up they were going to die.
  •  In the floods of Western NC, tragedy and death did not give those 104 folks who died a heads-up that they were going to die.
  • April 15, 2023 we had the Boston Marathon Bombing. Six were killed and 281 injured because two Islamic brothers decided to make an Islamic statement. Well, they did.

On Jesus’ last night in the Upper Room He said these words in John 14:1 to His disciples. “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me” (NASB). For the disciples, their worst nightmares were just about to begin. Even though Jesus had warned them, they did not believe Him and never thought it was imminent. Think about the confusion and uncertainty that preceded Jesus’ admonition to His disciples. He had told them that He was leaving to go to a place they could not yet go. 

He told them that one of them would betray Him and that Peter would deny Him three times before the rooster would crow the next morning. It is in this setting that He says, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, so also believe in me.” Jesus’ words are just as valid, just as true, and just as important for us today: “Don’t worry. Put your trust in Me.” Some of us are world-class worriers. 

Some of us have actually allowed our personalities to be formed around worry—it quite literally defines us. But worrying doesn’t help. If it did, we’d have worry small group meetings at the church every day. Instead, we are called to put our faith in Jesus and trust Him with the future. We’re called to do that even when we are uncertain—because He is completely worthy of our faith and our trust.

Life is very uncertain. Life is frail and fragile. Life is brief. James says this in James 4:14, “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away” (NASB). Mist? Yes – gone in seconds. Pastor and author Chuck Swindoll writes this:

“I HAVE NEVER SEEN a gravestone that reads, “He died of worry.” But some of them ought to read that way. How many illnesses are directly connected with our worries, our anxieties, trying to take the responsibility that was designed for God to handle. If you can’t handle it, why are you trying to handle it? If you can’t change it, why are you worrying about it? But we do, don’t we?

In fact, I have a friend who worries when she doesn’t have something to worry about. She has to have that security. I think she keeps a mental list of those reserved areas, then when she runs out of the conscious ones she draws on the unconscious. And she just brings them on, just like ammunition in a machine gun, just to fire them into her life.” “CORRIE TEN BOOM, for the last two years of her life, spent it in our congregation in Fullerton, California. It was a wonderful experience to have this godly woman in our midst during that extended period of time as we literally watched her die. She said on one occasion, “Worry does not empty tomorrow of sorrows; it empties today of strength.”

A WOMAN WORRIED for forty years that she would die of cancer. She finally died of pneumonia at age seventy. She wasted thirty-three years worrying about the wrong thing” (Source: Charles R. Swindoll, The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart, Kindle, p. 781).

This is why if we believe these two truths we can take to heart Jesus’ words in John 14:1, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me” (NASB). 

Think about the confusion and uncertainty that preceded Jesus’ admonition to His disciples. He had told them that He was leaving to go to a place they could not yet go. He told them that one of them would betray Him and that Peter would deny Him three times before the rooster would crow the next morning. It is in this setting that He says, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, so also believe in Me.” 

Jesus’ words are just as valid, just as true, and just as important for us today: “Don’t worry. Put your trust in Me.” Some of us are world-class worriers. Some of us have actually allowed our personalities to be formed around worry—it quite literally defines us. But worrying doesn’t help. If it did, we’d have worry groups meeting at the church every day. Instead, we are called to put our faith in Jesus and trust Him with the future. We’re called to do that even when we are uncertain—because He is completely worthy of our faith and our trust.

Each day presents opportunities to decide what to focus on and give your heart to: panic, anxiety, worry, and fear—or faith, light, and peace. Our responses should be different from the secular world around us. We do not need to worry because Jesus is big enough to help us with whatever we encounter in life, especially the bad, the evil, and the wrong. So, do you believe this?

Questions To Consider

  1. All of us have seen how unpredictable life can be with tragedy. What specific circumstances was life this way with you and how did you respond?
  2. James says our life is a mist or a vapor. What imagery does that bring up in your mind and why? How can you maximize being a mist or a vapor for God?
  3. Do you tend to worry or do you trust the Lord? Explain.
  4. The woman mentioned above worried unnecessarily for 33 years that she might die of cancer. Instead, she died of pneumonia. Why do we worry about things that never happen? Jesus says to you, “Put your trust in Me.” Where in your life do you need to do that now?

Scripture To Meditate On: Philippians 4:6, “Don’t worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks for what you have” (NASB).

Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, please remind me that You are God. There is nothing outside of You nor nothing You can’t handle. Please forgive me when I act as if I need to worry or sweat over things. I am Your child and want to live life trusting You completely. Please help me to do that for Your glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

I love you Southside!--Pastor Kelly


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