Worry
Are you upset little friend? Have you been lying awake worrying? Well, don't worry...I'm here. The flood waters will recede, the famine will end, the sun will shine tomorrow, and I will always be here to take care of you. -Charlie Brown to Snoopy
Jesus said:
That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing?
It is not sinful to eat and dress. Sin is being so concerned about it and clinging to whatever so much that it becomes the desire of our heart.
Jesus continues:
- Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
- Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
- So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries.
- Today’s trouble is enough for today. –Matthew 6:25-34
When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened. –Winston Churchill
Think about your life. Wouldn’t it be so much more simple if you didn’t worry so much?
Judging Others
Consider this parable:
One night there was a woman at the airport who had to wait for several hours before catching her next flight. While she waited she bought a book and a pack of biscuits to spend the time. She looked for a place to sit and waited.
She was deep into her book, when suddenly she realized that there was a young man sitting next to her who was stretching his hand, with no concern whatsoever, and grabbing the pack of cookies lying between them. He started to eat them one by one.
Not wanting to make a fuss about it she decided to ignore him. The woman, slightly bothered, ate the cookies and watched the clock, while the young and shameless thief of biscuits was also finishing them. The woman started to get really angry at this point and thought ‘If I wasn’t such a good and educated person, I would have given this daring man a black eye by now.’
Every time she ate a biscuit, he had one too. The dialogue between their eyes continued and when only one biscuit was left, she wondered what was he going to do. Softly and with a nervous smile, the young man grabbed the last biscuit and broke it in two. He offered one half to the woman while he ate the other half.
Briskly she took the biscuit and thought, ‘What an insolent man! How uneducated! He didn’t even thank me!’ She had never met anybody so fresh and sighed relieved to hear her flight announced. She grabbed her bags and went towards the boarding gate refusing to look back to where that insolent thief was seated.
After boarding the plane and nicely seated, she looked for her book which was nearly finished by now. While looking into her bag she was totally surprised to find her pack of biscuits nearly intact. ‘If my biscuits are here’, she thought feeling terribly, ‘those others were his and he tried to share them with me.’ Too late to apologize to the young man, she realized with pain, that it was her who had been insolent, uneducated and a thief, and not him.
How many times in our lives, did we know with certainty that something happened in a certain way, only to discover later that it wasn’t true?
How many times has our lack of trust within us made us judge other people unfairly with our conceited ideas, often far away from reality.
Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, “Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,” when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye. –Matthew 7:1-5
Thoughts about judging others:
- It takes time to judge other people
- It takes energy to judge other people
- Judging others does not help the other person
- Judging others lets you feel superior to others not by pulling yourself up, but by bringing others down
- Usually when we judge others we are judging ourselves and transferring our shortcomings on to others
- The more you judge, the less you love
Fear
This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her fiancé, was a good man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly. As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” –Matthew 1:18-21
The best way to conquer something complex is by creating a series of simple tasks.
If you listen to your fears, you will die never knowing what a great person you might have been. –Robert Schuller
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear. –Mark Twain
Anger
You have heard that our ancestors were told, “You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.” But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell. –Matthew 5:21-22
Two victims in anger:
- Those around you
- You
I remember one summer day when my ten year old son and a friend were getting a pitcher of lemonade from the refrigerator. I’d spent hours that morning scrubbing, waxing, and polishing the floors so I warned the boys not to spill anything. They tried so hard to be careful, but innocently bumped a carton of eggs from the door onto to the floor. The eggs splattered all over my clean floor. The boys eyes widen with alarm as I exploded angrily, “Get out of here now.” I finishing cleaning the mess and calmed down. I felt bad and wanted to make things better so I took them some lemonade and a cookies. When I called their name I discovered they went somewhere else to play – somewhere where my angry voice couldn’t reach them. (Source Unknown)
Anger: an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured. –Seneca
You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger.
Jealousy
Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another. –Galatians 5:26
Jealousy is another thing that can clutter up your life.
It is not possible to be both jealous and grateful.
The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves.
Envy is the consuming desire to have everybody else as unsuccessful as you are. –Frederick Buecnher
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