Sunday, August 16, 2015

FIGHT EM OR FEED EM

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          The sermons found on this blog are selected sermons preached by Rev. Wyrick during a ministry of over 50 years.  This syndicated columnist/minister thanks you for visiting.
 
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John 14:27

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you.

Let not your heart be troubled,

neither let it be afraid.

 Can anxiety be banished, never to return again?  ’Fraid not.  Can it be managed so that it becomes a weight you can live with?  Sure can.

   We all will agree that anxiety does exactly what the Greek translation in the New Testament says it does – it strangles the living daylights out of us.

    Indeed, when too much fear-factor takes over, it runs around in circles wearing holes in our brains.  It creates ulcers in our stomachs and makes our emotions go to pieces.  When we are overly anxious we think crooked rather than straight, and promptly make more problems than we had in the first place.

Fear, of course, can be healthy.  It can lead you to drink milk rather than poison, stop at red lights and go see a doctor when you don’t feel well.  But anxiety, and therein lies the difference, is a spiritual polio that paralyzes mind, body and spirit.  Its essential ingredient is numbness.  It makes people afraid of high places, close quarters and unknown tomorrows.  It curdles.  It crumples.  It cripples. We only have so much time and energy, and it wastes both.

Jesus said, Take no thought for the morrow.  And you may be thinking, That’s easy to say, but I’ve got so many bills to pay I can’t help worrying, or, my health is really bad and I can’t stop being anxious about it.

 But just so you can read it right and therefore understand it better, Jesus’ word thought means anxiety.

Dig further to get the proper meaning to Christ’s statement and one king-sized insight sits waiting for you.  Don’t too greatly trust in your own planning, is what Jesus is really saying.

   So then, is there a cure for excessive worry?  Where and how can a pound of fortitude be found to control a pound of fear before it becomes a ton of anxiety?  And that’s the rub, because many a fear that was wise can become an anxiety that isn’t. 

   By way of example: One man reached a point where he wouldn’t even drink water because he felt it was all poison.  Another, when anthrax was popping up, really worried about breathing anywhere.

 Professional worrywarts camp on doctor’s doorsteps with imaginary ills, until finally their anxieties produce the real thing. After 9/11 many were too afraid to fly, a rather foolish decision since even with all the current threats driving is still more dangerous.  I know one person after listening to all the terrible news of the last few months, has declared not to go anywhere anymore.

Is the Christian permitted to worry?  Of course. 

Is the pessimist less a man of faith than the optimist?  No, I don’t think so.  Some people seem born to believe that it is dark even at high noon. And others create such a positive light, see so much brightness in life,  they squint at midnight.  It is a fact beyond repute that all of us are not psychologically put together the same.  The difference is sometimes refreshing, sometimes depressing but always true.

But if this is true, what can God do about it?  

Wait upon the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thy heart. (Psalm 27:14) It is good to be able to stand on your own two feet, but some additional propping up by God certainly isn’t out of order.

Thou wilt keep Him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee… (Isaiah 26:3)  Call it prayer partnership.  Call it linking with your Creator.  Call it spiritual common sense.

…though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. (Psalm 23)  Be not afraid to live and you will not be afraid to die.

       I like the way one little old lady, almost ninety, put it.  She lived all by herself far out in the country.  When asked if she was ever afraid she simply replied, “Why should I be?  Faith closes the door at night and Mercy opens it in the morning.”
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