Do Not Worry

Matthew 6:25-34

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important that food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, "What shall we eat?" or "what shall we drink?" or "What shall we wear?" For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
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Now this is an intense verse. Basically it's saying... "Do not worry about anything in life." Now how easy does that sound? I think we all can say, "pftt... yah right. Easier said than done." Am I correct? Well, I'm definitely going through the same thing right now. For me, it's something I like to call the "Pre-graduation Blues." To put it simply, I am graduating but I have no idea where God is taking me. I haven't had any job interviews yet and things in life are really catching up with me.

I'm looking at myself right now and I see that I worry so much about the future and I don't focus on the present. Sometimes it even gets to the point where it's affecting the current ministries I'm in. I'm so worried about what I'm going to be doing with regards to my career and ministry. On top of all that, life has thrown some curveballs at me too. All of these things I worry about greatly. Everyday, I find myself applying for jobs and constantly checking my email to see if I have gotten any job interviews. Each day I keep on worrying about if I will get a job interview. It wasn't until recently when I read, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" What good is my worrying going to be? Will it make the employers want to choose me anymore more? Probably not.

I am very fortunate to be still living at home. I don't have to worry about a great deal of things such as rent, food, etc. I know a most of you have so much more to worry about. Some of you may be in huge amounts of debt, or are wondering, "How am I going to pay for next months rent?" or "What am I going to do for food this week?" I can't even begin to understand what you are going through, but I'll tell you this... God does. God knows exactly what your going through and He WILL provide for your needs. Just have a little faith.

So that being said, your still probably thinking, "MUCH easier said than done Justin!!" Well, I agree. But lets look back at scripture, "O you of little faith?" I don't know about you, but when I read this, that speaks right to my heart. How much faith do we actually have in God? Do we really believe that He can provide for your needs? The one who created us? Is it possible for Him?

Let me bring a different perspective in this. Do you put limits on God's power? Now, the right answer would be, "of course not!!" However in reality chances are, we do all the time. I'll use this story to illustrate. Lets say there is someone your "interested" in and it appears that they're interested in you. However, there's a catch... this other person lives far away from you. You two have been talking on the phone and both of you are scared to say anything about your feelings for each other. You continue thinking that... it won't work out because of the distance, so what's the point? Now based off of this last question, are you putting a limit on God's power? Did Jesus not feed 5000 people with only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish? I'm not saying go head first into it but be smart about it and be patient. If God really wants it to happen, then it WILL happen. We really don't need to know the "how", "when", and "where" or sometimes the "why" portions of it. Even if we did, would we really understand what God's intentions are?

I'm going to end off with my favourite verses.

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

EVERY single time I start asking the question, "What am I going to do once I graduate?" These verses always comes back to smack me across the face. I'll share with you a recent experience I had. It was one of those situations where God opened the door for me but said, "I'm going to open this door for you but, I don't want you walk through it." Well, it was a job overseas in Haiti, and I would be helping design an orphanage. I turned it down. Over the next couple of days, I was beginning to wonder what was going to happen after I graduate. It was then where I started going onto job boards and looking for jobs. As I was searching for jobs, I had a stabbing feeling in my heart. It was almost as if God was saying to me, "You don't trust me?" Immediately, I shut down the windows and that stabbing feeling was gone.

For those who are reading this, I want to challenge you to memorize Matthew 6:33,34. I'll tell you now, it has saved me a lot of worry this year and over previous years too. It's worth it.

Also, if your up for it, try reading Matthew 6:19-34 everyday for a week. I did it with my Sunday School class on the portion of Simplicity and was it ever incredible. I still meditate on these verses because it gives me so much peace in my heart. Knowing that God is looking after me.

God Bless!

Authority...

Hebrews 13:17

Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.

What does it mean to "submit to their authority?" Lately, I have had so much trouble grasping this concept. I've read these verses before but I thought nothing of it. A couple of weeks back, a friend of mine challenged me, he said,

"Whatever ministry or church God brings you to, put your life into it. Also, be sure to respect and follow the authority figures."

"... respect and follow the authority figures..." why did that bother me so much? Later that day I sat down and meditated on what my friend said. Soon enough, it hit me. I started looking back at all the authority figures in my life: parents, coaches, teachers, elders, pastors. I realized... all these people, these authority figures, I've treated or am treating them very poorly right now. All my life, I have never really respected authority.

I start thinking about why... why am I like this? I look back as far as I can remember and it brings me to my Grade 6 year. Here I am, sitting in my classroom, kids all around me, laughing and making fun of me, screaming out "Chicken head! Chicken head!" My head was twitching a lot and I could not understand why I was like this. I came to the conclusion that there was something wrong with me. This continued throughout my elementary school years. It wasn't until my first year of highschool when my found out from my parents that I had Tourette's. There wasn't anything wrong with me and it wasn't something I could really control. That was the beginning of where I lost my trust in authority figures... Why did my parents and teachers knowing that I had Tourette's just sit back and watch me suffer emotionally? Couldn't they have done something? As the years went by, I only learned to rely on myself and my friends, those who are equal to me. I didn't trust or believe that older (wiser) people could know my best interests and I continued living my life like that... even to this day.

The more I think about it... the more God convicts me of this. I start flipping through my bible looking for any scripture relating to submitting to your authority. 1 Timothy 5:1*, 1 Peter 5:5**, Romans 13:1,2***, Deuteronomy 5:16****... all of these are passages relating to submitting to authority.

It wasn't until I hit 2 Peter 2:10 that really struck me,

"This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority." (For those who aren't familiar with the content before this verse, it's talking about the false teachers and their destruction)

I start to think about myself and where I'm at... am I following the path of destruction by not respecting authority? Are my desires corrupt?

Throughout these last couple of years, I have been leading IVCF. The last 8 years, I have been coaching Judo and co-leading my club. I am use to being a leader. However, the responsibilities in these positions and the titles of it is enough to make me proud. I've convinced myself in my mind that I am a "good leader". With this mindset, I seek out other leadership positions. I even went to asking my one of my Pastors if I could serve in a specific ministry. Well, I won't say his response but it wasn't an answer I wanted to hear. I was angry and I start thinking, "He knows nothing!"

Looking back at that now, I realize (even more now) that I am a proud person. I have a very hard heart. You could probably compare me to the Pharaisees. Who am I to say that I am ready to serve? Even the fact that I'm thinking I'm good enough shows that I am to proud and that I should not be leading these ministries. It was a good thing my Pastor did not accept my offer.

So what am I going to do about this? I have no idea. I've been trying to respect and listen to authority figures. It's very difficult for me. All I know is that I need a huge attitude adjustment. Slowly but surely, God is constantly healing the wounds in my heart from the past and is slowly taking away the hardness in my heart. It's a very long and painful process but I know it will be worth it in the end.

I guess another question can be... Are my experiences in control of my life or is God in control of my life?

For those who are still reading this part of my testimony, I hope you will remember to "submit to authority" and that "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." I can't tell you what it will be like in the longrun but I can tell you that this is what God commands us to do.

God Bless.

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*1 Timothy 5:1

Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father.

**1 Peter 5:5

Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility towards one another because,

"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

***Romans 13:1,2

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.

****Deuteronomy 5:16

Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

God's Timing

I wish I could say I wrote this poem but I can't. It's a real inspiration to me and it's a good reminder to all of us that we are on God's Timing. I hope you all enjoy this.

"Do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Matthew 6:34

God Bless!

My glory or God's glory?

Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of God.

Galatians 1:10

Need I say more?

God Bless His Word.