Easy to Read, Hard to Live

Do NOT worry about anything but in everything through prayer and supplication make your requests known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.-Philippians 4:6-7

There are passages in the Bible which require serious meditation and contemplation. There are also passages which are straight forward and as soon as you read the passage you know exactly what God is telling you to do. Usually, though, the passages which are easy to read and understand are the hardest to live out. Philippians 4:6-7 is one such passage which is easy to understand but hard to implement. 

Paul commands us not to worry about anything. We have a clear command in Scripture written by Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit commanding us not to worry; therefore, any time we worry we are sinning. Let me repeat: any time we worry we are sinning. In essence we are telling God, He can redeem us, break the shackles of Satan, take us from Hell to Heaven, put us into His Kingdom and give us eternal life, but we just don't think He can get us through the next couple of days. When we worry we doubt God's character and to doubt God's character is to live in sin. Thankfully, we have another command in Scripture. 1 John commands us to confess our sins to God and tells us if we do He is faithful and just to cleanse us from our sin and remove all unrighteousness. Before reading on please take a minute and confess your sin of worry. 

Let us examine the verse again. Do NOT worry about anything but in everything through prayer and supplication make your requests known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7 tells us to take all our worry, discontent, discouragement, despair, questioning, pain and suffering and toss it all onto God. We trade our worry in for trust in God; a trust in God who really cares about you. 

As Christians living in a fallen world we must fight against worry. Below are two principles to help fight against worry and fight for trust in God.

1) Be a Bird Watcher: Jesus says, "consider the birds of the air, do they worry where they will find food? Look how God provides for them. If God provides for them wont He provide for you? Are you not more important than a bird?" Every time we see a bird it should serve as a reminder of God's abundant provision. Every time we hear a bird sing in the morning it should stop cold any worry we may have. If God provides for the birds He will provide for us.

2) Go Back to the Future: In the Old Testament whenever God would rescue the Israelites He would have them build a small monument with rocks to remember the occasion. The Israelities were to teach their children about God's provision in the past and if their children doubted the stories they could return to the site of God's provision and see a small monument of rocks dedicated to God. There is a principle to be learned from these actions in the Old Testament and that is to go back to the future whenever fighting against worry. If we have any questions about the future we are to look to the past. Did God sustain us then? If so, we can trust He will sustain us in the future.

In conclusion, do not worry about anything but in everything through prayer and supplication make your requests known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Whenever we are tempted to worry we must remember to be bird watchers and to go back to the future.