2014 Bringing Anxiety?

Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7 (ESV)

A new year usually brings hope. However, with America’s gloomy economic climate many people aren’t encouraged by the hope of a new year but are anxious for what it may bring. A recent Gallop Poll shows Americans are worrying in increasing measure about such things as: not being able to pay the rent/mortgage, not being able to maintain their lifestyle, not being able to have enough money for retirement and not being able to pay medical costs.[1] All these things can add up to a mountain of anxiety. 

The question is how do you deal with your anxiety? People have different ways of dealing with anxiety. Some distract themselves and try not think about them. Some people drink to make them disappear, at least temporarily. Others convince themselves that they are strong enough to handle whatever is coming their way. And some people don’t deal with it at all, living in a constant state of apprehension.

The Bible has a prescription for anxiety.  The Bible’s remedy is to cast it on the Lord. The Greek word for “cast” is epirpto which simply means to throw up or place upon. However, there’s a neat picture from the one other time when this word is used in the Bible. In Luke 19 when Jesus is about to make His triumphal entry into Jerusalem on a colt, Jesus’ followers cast (epirpto) the garments they were wearing on the colt for Jesus. In the same way we are to cast the anxieties we wear on the Lord. These anxieties weigh us down and are too much for us to handle. We are to cast them upon the Lord. They aren’t too much for the Lord to handle; they are nothing to the Lord.

Most people do not doubt that the Lord is powerful enough to handle their anxieties. However, they may doubt that the Lord is mindful of their situation, or that He cares for them and will intervene in their lives. Maybe the most powerful truth of this verse is the revelation that “he cares for you”! You probably already believe that He is powerful enough to handle your situation, so believe the Word of God and trust that He cares for you!

What anxieties are  plaguing you?  Cast them on the Lord! Cast them by giving them to Him in prayer. Cast them and don’t reel them back in. He cares about you and is big enough to handle whatever you’re dealing with. Cast them on Him -- believe that He will handle them and your anxiety will disappear.

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[1] http://www.gallup.com/poll/162239/middle-aged-americans-worried-finances.aspx

The One Who Knows Us the Most Loves Us the Best

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:1-5 (ESV)

The Gospel of John opens with several statements about “the Word.”  Who is “the Word?”  If there is any doubt or suspense at this point in John chapter 1, a few verses later John declares “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (vs. 14). The “Word” is Jesus Christ the only Son of God.

These first few verses of John are packed with facts about Jesus.  Jesus is God (vs.1), He is eternal (vs.2).  He has life in Him (vs. 4), and He overcomes darkness (vs. 5). I want to focus on the fact that He is the creator of the universe (vs. 3).   

John says that everything that was made through Jesus and without Jesus nothing was made. This is an absolute statement. In short, if it was created it was made by Jesus.  Jesus made the mountains; He made the earth, the sun and everything we know. The next time astronomers discover a planet that we never knew existed before, Jesus made that too. And, yes, Jesus also made you and me.

One of the most mind blowing things is that our Creator subjected Himself to His creation. In Philippians, the Bible says Jesus “⁷ made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”

It is hard to imagine that the God who created humanity not only subjected Himself to humanity, but also to death, and death by capital punishment. Jesus subjected Himself to being mocked, beaten, bore the shame of our sin and an agonizing death on the cross. The Creator subjected Himself to His creation to save it. This is true love.

I have heard it said that the One who knows us the most loves us the best. The Lord created us and He knows us inside and out as Psalm 139 states “O Lord, you have searched me and known me!” (vs. 1)  For most of us to be fully known is a scary thing. Yet God who is rich in mercy still loves us fully and seeks a relationship with us. Let this New Year be the year that we determine to draw close to Jesus.

The Spirit of Christmas

At Christmastime we celebrate God sending His Son into the world to save the world. In doing so God met our greatest need, saving us from our sin, by giving His Son to die on the cross. This was the ultimate demonstration of God’s amazing love. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) Thus, the spirit of Christmas is God giving of Himself to meet the needs of humanity.

The Christmas season has so much sentiment because most of us enjoy the celebration and tradition that accompanies Christmas.  However, we also acknowledge that there is a struggle between celebrating the true meaning of Christmas and trying to avoid the commercialization of Christmas. How should we handle that tension?  Should we have nothing to do with Christmas Trees or Santa Claus in protest to secularization and commercialization of Christmas?

As Christians who have accepted God’s gracious gift, we should live out this spirit in our relationships with others because we have the hope of salvation. Around two thousand years ago the Church of Jerusalem was going through severe financial hardships. The Apostle Paul instructed another church, the Church of Corinth, to take up a collection for the struggling Church of Jerusalem.  In instructing Corinth to give, Paul used our Lord’s great act of love for us as his basis for the Corinthians to give. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.” (2 Cor. 8:9)  Jesus Christ, on that first Christmas morning, left the glory of heaven and humbly subjected Himself to humanity. He did all this just to save us. Knowing this to be true, we should be willing to give and to help others even if it means self-sacrifice.

However you feel about Santa, Rudolph and Frosty, if you believe that God sent His Son into the world to save the world, the most profound way you can celebrate Christmas is by acting on the spirit of Christmas. As Christians there is no better way to celebrate Christmas than by giving of ourselves to meet the needs of others. Personally, the more I live out the spirit of Christmas and give of myself to meet the needs of others, the more I feel the liberty to enjoy some of the traditional sentiment that comes with this time of year.