I think can say "Never."
The Bible never tells us to simply quit doing something. It always gives us a worthwhile activity to take the place of the negative practice it tells us to stop. In the case of worry, which the Bible says to not do, there are actually a couple of activities the Lord tells us to put in its place.
The most straight-forward substitution is found in Philippians 4:6, "Don't worry, pray." (paraphrase summary) It has been said that there are likely many things that can be done about a problem after prayer, but nothing of consequence can be done until we have prayed. ". . . in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." (Philippians 4:6)
In Jesus teaching about the avoidance of anxiety He counseled trust, based on the knowledge of and our experience of the way things are and Who He is (Matthew 6:25-30). What is really important in life? The answer to that question tends to be what we don't worry about. And, don't you think your Heavenly Father knows and cares? The answer to that is affirmative, in which case, why am I wasting my time worrying? The summary of all of that is, Jesus is instructing us to trust God, which is the foundation of prayer. Why would you pray to a God you don't trust? And, if you do believe that He is benevolent and powerful, why would you not pray to Him?
I think it is Warren Wiersbe who once described trusting God as "living without conniving." How often I find myself, when faced with worry-inducing situations, concocting plans, creating scenarios, evaluating possible-though often improbable-outcomes in my mind rather than following Hezikiah's example. He "spread it out before the LORD." (Isaiah 37:14)
Often, when our natural habit is to slip into worry, there are other actions we can take after we have prayed, but let's make sure we begin there.
It's STTA.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Worry #3, Misplaced Focus:
My umbrella is broken:
The counter in Kathy's kitchen was just covered with tiny parts from a broken umbrella. It was really a nice rain-shield--one of those little jobs that folds up into a nice, small bundle and deploys one-handed with just the push of a button. At least it did. Right before I disassembled it all pushing the button did was cause the nice little bundle to shoot out to the end of the spring-loaded shaft. Actually opening the umbrella required three hands, and to keep it open you had to grasp the shaft up next to the cloth--so much for convenience.
It insulted me:
I figure that when the Lord said that people are supposed to take dominion over creation that the mandate included recalcitrant bumbleshoots, so I tore into the thing. My hat is off--leaving my head wet--to the engineers that designed that thing.
I gave up:
Maybe--and that is a big "maybe"--if I had hung in there I could have gotten the broken string re-strung and all the springs and pins back in place, but after a few minutes I decided that continuing to work on the portable foul-weather-shelter would be a wrong use of my time and energy.
I decided not to worry about it.
Worry always involves a misplaced focus.
In Matthew 6:25-34 Jesus tells us that when we worry about earthly stuff that we are focused on the wrong thing. Colossians 3:1-2 reinforces the thought.
When Jesus visited the home of Martha and Mary, He told Martha that her focus was wrong. She was worrying herself about all the tasks she saw as necessary. Homemakers everywhere rise up in her defense, but the Lord told the busy hostess that Mary her sister had made the better choice.
In Philippians 2:20 Paul spoke approvingly of Timothy's "genuine concern" for the believers at Philippi, yet he used the very same word in 4:6 when he told them, and us, to "not be anxious for anything." The key is focus.
In Matthew 10:19 Jesus carries this matter of focus to an extreme that makes me uncomfortable, yet there it is. Even in life and death situations my focus is to be on trusting God rather than figuring out how I can make it happen.
OK, I've raised more questions than I had umbrella parts on the counter.
Stay tuned. It continues to be . . .STTA.
The counter in Kathy's kitchen was just covered with tiny parts from a broken umbrella. It was really a nice rain-shield--one of those little jobs that folds up into a nice, small bundle and deploys one-handed with just the push of a button. At least it did. Right before I disassembled it all pushing the button did was cause the nice little bundle to shoot out to the end of the spring-loaded shaft. Actually opening the umbrella required three hands, and to keep it open you had to grasp the shaft up next to the cloth--so much for convenience.
It insulted me:
I figure that when the Lord said that people are supposed to take dominion over creation that the mandate included recalcitrant bumbleshoots, so I tore into the thing. My hat is off--leaving my head wet--to the engineers that designed that thing.
I gave up:
Maybe--and that is a big "maybe"--if I had hung in there I could have gotten the broken string re-strung and all the springs and pins back in place, but after a few minutes I decided that continuing to work on the portable foul-weather-shelter would be a wrong use of my time and energy.
I decided not to worry about it.
Worry always involves a misplaced focus.
In Matthew 6:25-34 Jesus tells us that when we worry about earthly stuff that we are focused on the wrong thing. Colossians 3:1-2 reinforces the thought.
When Jesus visited the home of Martha and Mary, He told Martha that her focus was wrong. She was worrying herself about all the tasks she saw as necessary. Homemakers everywhere rise up in her defense, but the Lord told the busy hostess that Mary her sister had made the better choice.
In Philippians 2:20 Paul spoke approvingly of Timothy's "genuine concern" for the believers at Philippi, yet he used the very same word in 4:6 when he told them, and us, to "not be anxious for anything." The key is focus.
In Matthew 10:19 Jesus carries this matter of focus to an extreme that makes me uncomfortable, yet there it is. Even in life and death situations my focus is to be on trusting God rather than figuring out how I can make it happen.
OK, I've raised more questions than I had umbrella parts on the counter.
Stay tuned. It continues to be . . .STTA.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Worry, #2
"Don't Worry?
I don't think He was talking to me."
We moderns, or postmoderns, or post-postmoderns often really over-inflate the importance of our time. It is only natural; after all, it is our time. One of the ways we do this is to look at the troubles we face in our time as greater than any group of people has ever faced. "Surely," we reason, "if Paul, or Peter, or the Lord Jesus, were speaking of the day in which we live, they never would have told us not to worry. They would have to have known that living sans-anxiety is unreasonable in our disturbed world."
Really?
The Lord Jesus Christ who told us to not worry about food or clothing (Matthew 6:25-30) clearly warned that His followers would find trouble in this world (John 16:33).
The same group of Christians Paul instructed, "Don't worry about anything." (Philippians 4:6) Paul also described as being "in a great ordeal of affliction . . . and . . . deep poverty." (2 Corinthians 8:2)
Peter, who instructed his scattered congregation to be, "casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you," (1 Peter 5:7) had already described these persecuted, refuge believers as "aliens," "scattered," "distressed by various trials," and slandered (1 Peter 1:1-6, & 2:12)
Clearly the instructions to live without worry were not given in a vacuum, and certainly not in a time and place in which there was nothing to worry about. If anything these First-Century believers faced more difficulty in a week than some of us do in a year. We can't just dismiss these admonitions to trust rather than worry.
Stay tuned. There is more to come.
It's STTA.
I don't think He was talking to me."
We moderns, or postmoderns, or post-postmoderns often really over-inflate the importance of our time. It is only natural; after all, it is our time. One of the ways we do this is to look at the troubles we face in our time as greater than any group of people has ever faced. "Surely," we reason, "if Paul, or Peter, or the Lord Jesus, were speaking of the day in which we live, they never would have told us not to worry. They would have to have known that living sans-anxiety is unreasonable in our disturbed world."
Really?
The Lord Jesus Christ who told us to not worry about food or clothing (Matthew 6:25-30) clearly warned that His followers would find trouble in this world (John 16:33).
The same group of Christians Paul instructed, "Don't worry about anything." (Philippians 4:6) Paul also described as being "in a great ordeal of affliction . . . and . . . deep poverty." (2 Corinthians 8:2)
Peter, who instructed his scattered congregation to be, "casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you," (1 Peter 5:7) had already described these persecuted, refuge believers as "aliens," "scattered," "distressed by various trials," and slandered (1 Peter 1:1-6, & 2:12)
Clearly the instructions to live without worry were not given in a vacuum, and certainly not in a time and place in which there was nothing to worry about. If anything these First-Century believers faced more difficulty in a week than some of us do in a year. We can't just dismiss these admonitions to trust rather than worry.
Stay tuned. There is more to come.
It's STTA.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Worry?
In Philippians 4:6, the Apostle Paul commands the believers at Philippi to be worried for nothing. It is a command that applies to all of us who follow the Lord. In the middle of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus says that those who follow Him should not be worried about life, food or clothing. These instructions to live worry free seem so out of sync with our very worrisome world. Just in my circle I know a child who is picked on by schoolmates, parents with kids who have taken very worry-inducing tracks in life, people with health issues that affect them and their family, and folk who have lost jobs, been seriously down-graded, or live with a constant threat of loss of employment. Does it make sense to tell people in such a world to seek to live worry free? Wouldn't a measure of worry keep them sharp and alert, help a child avoid a beating from an abusive parent, or an employee a reprimand from an unreasonable boss? We will explore this matter in days to come, but let me simply say, "Yes, it the goal of living a worry free life is one we ought to pursue. Even in this inflated, recessed, pornographied, out of control world in which we live the counsel to "cast . . . all your anxiety on Him," makes sense, "because He cares for [us]." (1 Pe 5:7)
Don't worry; there will be more in a day or two. For now, though, its STTA.
Don't worry; there will be more in a day or two. For now, though, its STTA.
Monday, September 20, 2010
A Hot Swing:
Sports talk is full of images about fire and heat. A "hot streak" is good. "Cold" is bad. Normally telling a golfer, post match, that he set the course on fire would be a compliment, but recently it was a statement of fact. (http://outofbounds.nbcsports.com/2010/08/errant-golf-swing-sets-course-on-fire.html.php)
It sounds like something from a wacko comedy movie, but it really happened. Golfer hits ball into rough. On second swing to try to get it out his club hit a rock. Spark. Grass catches fire. One-hundred-fifty fire-fighters show up to put out the fire that spread to two hillsides.
I'm sixty years old. It is the first time I ever heard of a golfer starting a fire
with an errant swing. James and I, though--I speak of the Lord Jesus's half-brother, the human author of the book by that name in the Bible--have seen many fires caused by the human tongue.
If you enjoy golf, go ahead and play. It is likely that any fires will be completely metaphorical. Watch out, though, for the damage--intentional and colateral--that comes from the tongue. Like David, we would all be wise to guard our speech.
It's STTA.
It sounds like something from a wacko comedy movie, but it really happened. Golfer hits ball into rough. On second swing to try to get it out his club hit a rock. Spark. Grass catches fire. One-hundred-fifty fire-fighters show up to put out the fire that spread to two hillsides.
I'm sixty years old. It is the first time I ever heard of a golfer starting a fire
with an errant swing. James and I, though--I speak of the Lord Jesus's half-brother, the human author of the book by that name in the Bible--have seen many fires caused by the human tongue.
If you enjoy golf, go ahead and play. It is likely that any fires will be completely metaphorical. Watch out, though, for the damage--intentional and colateral--that comes from the tongue. Like David, we would all be wise to guard our speech.
It's STTA.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Paul Harvey would have loved it!It would appear that a local bank robber, dropped a bag he had used during the robbery, which contained the clothes he wore during the stick-up and an ID card. (http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/260586)If people are determined to rob, let's pray that they will all be this incompetent. I'm afraid, though, that I have much in common with this inept thief.When I do wrong, I hope to not be seen, not get caught, get away with it, when the reality is I am totally incompetent in my efforts at track-covering. Often I can't even keep my activities hidden from other people, and never are they unseen by the Lord. The answer is not to become better at hiding my sin; what I need to do is reduce the kind of activity that I desire to hide.It's STTA.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
The response to yesterday's STTA, and other statements that recommend respect and restraint when dealing the Muslim community reminds me that I probably need to make the case once more for the Doctrine of Minding Your Own Business.
I have never seen a Theology text where this teaching is explained, yet it is a concept that is found in many contexts in the Bible. It is a prime aspect of the Bible's teaching on the home, forgiveness, doing good deeds, and more. The doctrine counteracts the universal human tendency to focus more on what others should do than my repsonsibility.
I saw a gentleman--I presume Jewish--carrying a sign that read, "You can build a mosque at Ground Zero when I can build a synagogue in Mecca. Christians frequently make the same point. The lands where Muslims are demonstrating, objecting to the burning of the Quran, planned for this Saturday, are almost universally places where the distribution of the Bible is seriously, if not completely, prohibited. The ban is so complete that in some cases our armed forces serving in those countries have had to receive special permission just to have a Bible, and then they are expected to not allow it to be seen in the open.
I could go on. There is no doubt that the Worldwide Muslim community wants to play the game of "How Outraged Are You?" on a seriously sloped field.
They are wrong. Muslims in Sudan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and scores of other Muslim lands should stop persecuting, kidnapping, repressing, and murdering Christians and Jews. But I am a Pastor of a conservative Christian congregation. My thoughts yesterday were addressed to a fellow-pastor, and others who read the open letter. On my side of the piece of paper what does it say I should do?
The fact that many Muslims are not doing what they should, and many more maintain a deafening silence while their fellow followers of the Quran act like very poor neighbors does not change the responsibility that I have. Sure I should protect myself. Certainly I ought to lobby for laws that will enforce a true freedom of religion, but I ought not publicly desecrate what others hold sacred just to make a propaganda point.
It's STTA.
I have never seen a Theology text where this teaching is explained, yet it is a concept that is found in many contexts in the Bible. It is a prime aspect of the Bible's teaching on the home, forgiveness, doing good deeds, and more. The doctrine counteracts the universal human tendency to focus more on what others should do than my repsonsibility.
I saw a gentleman--I presume Jewish--carrying a sign that read, "You can build a mosque at Ground Zero when I can build a synagogue in Mecca. Christians frequently make the same point. The lands where Muslims are demonstrating, objecting to the burning of the Quran, planned for this Saturday, are almost universally places where the distribution of the Bible is seriously, if not completely, prohibited. The ban is so complete that in some cases our armed forces serving in those countries have had to receive special permission just to have a Bible, and then they are expected to not allow it to be seen in the open.
I could go on. There is no doubt that the Worldwide Muslim community wants to play the game of "How Outraged Are You?" on a seriously sloped field.
They are wrong. Muslims in Sudan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and scores of other Muslim lands should stop persecuting, kidnapping, repressing, and murdering Christians and Jews. But I am a Pastor of a conservative Christian congregation. My thoughts yesterday were addressed to a fellow-pastor, and others who read the open letter. On my side of the piece of paper what does it say I should do?
The fact that many Muslims are not doing what they should, and many more maintain a deafening silence while their fellow followers of the Quran act like very poor neighbors does not change the responsibility that I have. Sure I should protect myself. Certainly I ought to lobby for laws that will enforce a true freedom of religion, but I ought not publicly desecrate what others hold sacred just to make a propaganda point.
It's STTA.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
From one Pastor to Another: Don't Burn the Quran!
An Open Letter to the Pastor and congregation of Dove World Outreach Church in Gainesville, Florida:
Pastor Jones, you and I have not met, and I'm not familiar with your church. I was glad to read a statement attributed to you, that your ministry stands for the "truth of the Bible." That is a passion that I share. It is on that basis, and that we both lead flocks entrusted to us by the Chief-Shepherd, that I ask you not to burn a copy of the Quran.
Several of the news articles I have seen and heard ask you to reconsider Saturday's ceremony, because it is offensive to Muslims, or because it endangers people--in particular members of our armed forces. I agree in part with your reply to these critics. While these ought to be, and I am sure are, matters of grave concern to you, they are not sufficient reasons to compromise the truth.
However, I would ask you to consider the following:
Islam is a religion that knows no separation from the state. In the mind of the Muslim there is no secular and sacred. A "good" Muslim government provides an environment in which its citizens can--in a sense must--be good Muslims. Of course the Mosque is in total support of such civil rule.
The church, on the other hand, always has been, and very much needs to continue to be, counter-cultural. While Christians are instructed to be good citizens, we do so in full awareness that we are citizens of another, a greater, an eternal realm. The civil authority put our Lord to death, and sentenced millions of our sisters and brothers to the same fate. The Bible does not encourage us to expect much more from the goverment. We are to be the conscience to our nation, not the Bureau of Publicity-stunts.
Yes, we are at war--ideological as well as military--but it is not the task of the church to wage that war. Let us not repeat the mistakes of the Crusades.
While we disagree with the truth claims contained in the Quran (and other purportedly holy books that contradict the Bible) we ought to treat these books with respect--at least in the presence of those who honor them.
When the Apostle Paul was building his case that all the world stands guilty before God, one group of people he addressed was his own nation, the Jewish people. Of course Paul's countrymen were adamant about avoiding any hint of idolatry (Romans 2:22). The apostle challenged them, however, with the possibility of having desecrated temples through robbery. Apparently this was a practice that was not unknown. When Paul and his companions were brought before the judgment seat in Ephesus it was said in their defense that they were "neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess [Artemis]." (Acts 19:37)
Acts of desecrating the objects of worship of others--even false objects of worship--are not in keeping with the pattern we find in the New Testament. (The fact that we do find such actions in the OT I can't consider at this point, beyond saying that we know things this side of the cross that were unknown in that era.)
When Paul found himself in one of the most pagan places in the world, Athens, he did not go about knocking down or defacing the idols and altars to false gods that were there in abundance. Rather he used the presence of these objects of worship, and the hunger in the hearts of the Athenians that these objects brought to light, to engage in one of the most brilliant pieces of evangelistic discourse ever recorded (Acts 17).
We are told, "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse." (Romans 12:14, NASB95) And to not "pay back evil for evil to anyone. . . . If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men."
While burning a copy of the Quran might make some of us feel courageous and righteous, I would recommend that which takes far more courage, and not only feels righteous, but is righteous and spreads righteousness.
Some folk I know have offered to study the Quran with nominal Muslims. As the emptiness of the book--and even more so, the emptiness it leaves in the heart--is made clear, my friends have been able to share the truth of Jesus Christ with these folk.
Another friend of mine--a tall red-head (well, it is mostly gray now)--pastors a church and leads a school in a Muslim land. He has not led followers of Mohammed to to become followers of Christ by burning copies of the Quran. He has done it by loving those whom others--even their own Muslim neighbors--have rejected. That kind of love will shine brighter and farther than any fire you will start this Saturday.
Pastor Jones, I urge you not to burn the Quran, not because it is risky, but because it is wrong.
Sincerely in Christ,
Howard Merrell
It's STTA.
Pastor Jones, you and I have not met, and I'm not familiar with your church. I was glad to read a statement attributed to you, that your ministry stands for the "truth of the Bible." That is a passion that I share. It is on that basis, and that we both lead flocks entrusted to us by the Chief-Shepherd, that I ask you not to burn a copy of the Quran.
Several of the news articles I have seen and heard ask you to reconsider Saturday's ceremony, because it is offensive to Muslims, or because it endangers people--in particular members of our armed forces. I agree in part with your reply to these critics. While these ought to be, and I am sure are, matters of grave concern to you, they are not sufficient reasons to compromise the truth.
However, I would ask you to consider the following:
Islam is a religion that knows no separation from the state. In the mind of the Muslim there is no secular and sacred. A "good" Muslim government provides an environment in which its citizens can--in a sense must--be good Muslims. Of course the Mosque is in total support of such civil rule.
The church, on the other hand, always has been, and very much needs to continue to be, counter-cultural. While Christians are instructed to be good citizens, we do so in full awareness that we are citizens of another, a greater, an eternal realm. The civil authority put our Lord to death, and sentenced millions of our sisters and brothers to the same fate. The Bible does not encourage us to expect much more from the goverment. We are to be the conscience to our nation, not the Bureau of Publicity-stunts.
Yes, we are at war--ideological as well as military--but it is not the task of the church to wage that war. Let us not repeat the mistakes of the Crusades.
While we disagree with the truth claims contained in the Quran (and other purportedly holy books that contradict the Bible) we ought to treat these books with respect--at least in the presence of those who honor them.
When the Apostle Paul was building his case that all the world stands guilty before God, one group of people he addressed was his own nation, the Jewish people. Of course Paul's countrymen were adamant about avoiding any hint of idolatry (Romans 2:22). The apostle challenged them, however, with the possibility of having desecrated temples through robbery. Apparently this was a practice that was not unknown. When Paul and his companions were brought before the judgment seat in Ephesus it was said in their defense that they were "neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess [Artemis]." (Acts 19:37)
Acts of desecrating the objects of worship of others--even false objects of worship--are not in keeping with the pattern we find in the New Testament. (The fact that we do find such actions in the OT I can't consider at this point, beyond saying that we know things this side of the cross that were unknown in that era.)
When Paul found himself in one of the most pagan places in the world, Athens, he did not go about knocking down or defacing the idols and altars to false gods that were there in abundance. Rather he used the presence of these objects of worship, and the hunger in the hearts of the Athenians that these objects brought to light, to engage in one of the most brilliant pieces of evangelistic discourse ever recorded (Acts 17).
We are told, "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse." (Romans 12:14, NASB95) And to not "pay back evil for evil to anyone. . . . If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men."
While burning a copy of the Quran might make some of us feel courageous and righteous, I would recommend that which takes far more courage, and not only feels righteous, but is righteous and spreads righteousness.
Some folk I know have offered to study the Quran with nominal Muslims. As the emptiness of the book--and even more so, the emptiness it leaves in the heart--is made clear, my friends have been able to share the truth of Jesus Christ with these folk.
Another friend of mine--a tall red-head (well, it is mostly gray now)--pastors a church and leads a school in a Muslim land. He has not led followers of Mohammed to to become followers of Christ by burning copies of the Quran. He has done it by loving those whom others--even their own Muslim neighbors--have rejected. That kind of love will shine brighter and farther than any fire you will start this Saturday.
Pastor Jones, I urge you not to burn the Quran, not because it is risky, but because it is wrong.
Sincerely in Christ,
Howard Merrell
It's STTA.
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