Sunflower Faith

Mark Twain once said,”I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.” How much does this remind me of,”

²⁵ “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? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
²⁸ “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; ²⁹ and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ Now 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?
³¹ “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6:25-34, New King James Version)”

If you haven’t read Charles Spurgeon, I highly recommend his “Morning and Evening”, because he is one of those people who so eloquently reminded us of the more important things in life….in the case of his quote for,”In Other Words Tuesday”, that no matter what in life…..God is there, so why worry.

“Because I can’t help it….” is a great excuse that is often used, but reality, where does worry really get us but destroying the joy we have in the life we are given and the lives of those who are around us.

What do we have to gain, when we are on our deathbeds, do we really relish thinking, “Why yes….I embrace the times I spent worrying, or will we go, “Why did I worry so much when things eventually did work out or the things I worry about, never came to pass”.

As a follower of Christ, our hope, our trust, our faith, is all on God, not on an imperfect world where people will fail us, jobs will disappoint us, expectations will fall short, but the truth and reality that no matter what, in all that is done and said, God is the one in control and if we are with and for God, who and what can really be against us.

Sure, we can spend the evenings, mulling over the bank accounts, the bad day at work, maybe the people who broke our hearts, but what does that gain us in the long run? Nothing…except the time and joy we could have spent with the people that do matter to us and who care about us.

From the MHC (Matthew Henry Commentary), the believer is told,

“There is scarcely any sin against which our Lord Jesus more warns his disciples, than disquieting, distracting, distrustful cares about the things of this life. This often insnares the poor as much as the love of wealth does the rich. But there is a carefulness about temporal things which is a duty, though we must not carry these lawful cares too far. Take no thought for your life.

Not about the length of it; but refer it to God to lengthen or shorten it as he pleases; our times arein his hand, and they are in a good hand. Not about the comforts of this life; but leave it to God to make it bitter or sweet as he pleases.

Food and raiment God has promised, therefore we may expect them. Take no thought for the morrow, for the time to come.

Be not anxious for the future, how you shall live next year, or when you are old, or what you shall leave behind you. As we must not boast of tomorrow, so we must not care for to-morrow, or the events of it. God has given us life, and has given us the body. “

Contentment.

Gratefulness.

Charles Spurgeon capture it all when he tells us,

“ When you have no helpers, see your helpers in God.
When you have many helpers, see God in all your helpers.
When you have nothing but God, see all in God.
When you have everything, see God in everything.
Under all conditions, stay thy heart only on the Lord. ””

God is in everything. If you truly believe that, is it so far fetched that in everything, be it if you have everything or you have nothing, you are not as bad off as you may think you are, God is in everything and yes, there are days we will have our doubts and those worries overwhelm us, but is it so easy to ask ourselves,” What are we gaining in all that”?

Are we really adding anything to our lives or just taking away from our lives?

Yes, business matters, money matters, having a job matters and friends and everything, but we can be our own worse enemies sometimes, that we do more of a job, running ourselves down, than anyone else.

As the MHC advises (emphasis in some places, mine)

“Thoughtfulness for our souls is the best cure of thoughtfulness for the world. Seek first the kingdom of God, and make religion your business: say not that this is the way to starve; no, it is the way to be well provided for, even in this world.

The conclusion of the whole matter is, that it is the will and command of the Lord Jesus, that by daily prayers we may get strength to bear us up under our daily troubles, and to arm us against the temptations that attend them, and then let none of these things move us.

Happy are those who take the Lord for their God, and make full proof of it by trusting themselves wholly to his wise disposal.

Let thy Spirit convince us of sin in the want of this disposition, and take away the worldliness of our hearts.”

I can’t help but notice that those who care and love the world and materials more, tend to be worry more and are unhappy more. Instead of seeing the blessings that they do have or what has been given, they are caught up in the, “If I have this then….”,”If I do that, then…” and try to justify why, with more excuses, “Well because if I don’t,”, “I just worry….”.

Notice a lot of “if’s” that often in the end, don’t come to pass?

Or the, “I trust God, but….”

We all dream of life on a tropical island, walking barefeet in the sand, but if we can’t find our tropical island, where we are right now, and embrace what God has given us and instead of facing it with worries and a scowl, change our attitudes, and show that hope and see Him in everything, because He is in everything, look at how much differently life can and will be.

Truth is, if we’re not happy and content with where we are now, even if we get what we want, what is to stop us, to fall back into that “worry mode” and long for something always bigger and better than what we have?

If we see Him in everything, no matter what the circumstances are, we will find that peace and contentment and find our lives maybe improving a little bit rather than less.

© 2011, Sunflower Faith. All rights reserved.

Sunflower Faith is a quiet, sometimes silly, sometimes sarcastic, sometimes serious, follower of Christ sharing words of devotion, encouragement and hope that is always about our Father in Heaven. So grab a cup of coffee and join Sunflower Faith in words of growth, hope and more all in the spirit of 2 Peter 1:5-8.

Sunflower Faith

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