Good Tuesday morning! Have you looked hard at a headline on a news site, felt the temptation to know more, but then decided that too much information would be just, well, too much information? I saw one today that made me go through that. Like many things that are dead weight in my life, I'm going to let that news item flow down the river of my past and do my best to forget it. Have you taken a dead weight inventory of your life recently? When I think about that, I usually think right away of the stuff on shelves in the basement that I haven't used for years. Probably should get on a cleanup and sale one of these days. Is that all that Paul wrote about though back in his day? If I'm not mistaken, Paul may have mentioned friends from the old crowd down at the tavern, old beliefs from our intellectual pursuits of days gone by, and perhaps a few habits from the superstitious days like that lucky rabbit's foot in your pocket. Then again, maybe they didn't have any faith in dead rabbit's feet back in Paul's day. While Paul may not have written exactly those things, we should realize that the dead weight holding us back in our race to Heaven may not be just material goods. In fact, if the stuff in the basement is just sitting there not occupying space in the mind, we may have greater needs in our 'spring' cleaning.
One example of things we tend to cling to is our old worries. If circumstances change in our lives, we may get rid of a worry or two, but we go back and grab up another one that had been gathering dust. We dust off that little worry, decide it looks a little anemic, and go to work bulking it up by feeding it a little fear and anxiety. As soon as we have that old worry shaped up again, we don't quite know what to do with it. Over time the worry becomes sloppy fat and takes over the place; barking commands from the its easy chair at us and flipping the remote through the horror channels until our walk with Jesus is slowed down by this dead weight on our mind. What are we to do about this?
I am reminded once more of Peter's words in his second epistle: "By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life." (1:3a) If we already have what we need to live a godly life, then we need serve the worry no longer. Kick over its little worry recliner, turn off the horror channel, sweep up the litter of anxiety and trembling, and boot that worry right out of your mind. Trust in Jesus and walk with Him. Trusting Jesus means that when he says not to worry and that the Father in Heaven will take care of us, then we take him at his word. "Give your burdens to the LORD, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall." (Psalm 55:22) Praise God for His providence!
Have a wonderful new day in Christ,
Bucky
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