I’ve become pretty good at playing the What if Game over the past few years. If you’re not careful, the what ifs in life can become an excuse for you not to move on following an unexpected disappointment, failure or setback. Rather than asking God for a Do-over, maybe everything has happened up to this point to persuade you to finally come to a place in your life where you’re ready to yield total control over to the Lord?
Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father keeps feeding them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27 And who of you by worrying and being anxious can add one unit of measure (cubit) to his stature or to the [w]span of his life? 28 And why should you be anxious about clothes? Consider the lilies of the field and [x]learn thoroughly how they grow; they neither toil nor spin. 29 Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his [y]magnificence (excellence, dignity, and grace) was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and green and tomorrow is tossed into the furnace, will He not much more surely clothe you, O you of little faith? – Matthew 6:26-30
On one of my most recent visits to Liberty University, I attended my daughter Lydia’s church Breakthrough. This church meets in a coffee shop called La Vida which is near the campus of Lynchburg University where my oldest son James is in the process of completing his doctorate in Physical Therapy. As for the church service, following a moving time of worship, the sermon was about reaching a place in your life where you’re willing to let the Lord lead you. Romans 10:9-11.
Therefore do not worry and be anxious, saying, What are we going to have to eat? or, What are we going to have to drink? or, What are we going to have to wear? 32 For the Gentiles (heathen) wish for and crave and diligently seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows well that you need them all. 33 But seek ([z]aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness ([aa]His way of doing and being right), and then all these things [ab]taken together will be given you besides. 34 So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble, Matthew 6:31-34.
In the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus explains what it means to let God lead your life. The first step concerns overcoming anxiety and worry. When faith takes the place of these two stressful conditions, attaining peace becomes possible. Hpwever, the key ingredient to coming to a place where the Lord will lead you involves seeking after God’s kingdom and righteousness. Just as the beatitudes set the tone for the beginning of this famous speech, when you let go and let God lead, everything else is provided by the Holy Spirit, 2 Peter 1:3-4.
by Jay Mankus
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