Today, there is a high probability that we are feeling very concerned about our situations – after all:
- There are fewer jobs
- We experience a high cost of living
- We’re concerned as to how we will pay our debt, and…
- We witness a failing economy and infrastructure
The more we look at ourselves to solve solutions, the more we will fear. This, because most of the time, we cannot find the answers and yet we never seem to give up looking. Sometimes we actually worsen our situations by taking a wrong turn.
Paul says in 2Cor, that we should daily be carrying the death of Jesus around within us (2Cor.4:10). Now, that sounds like a very strange thing to say. However, when we look at Romans chapter 6, we see that our old sinful natures died on the cross with Jesus and were buried with Him – never to rise again. We are no longer slaves to our old selves Rom.6:1-6). Paul says we should carry the death of Jesus in us so that the new resurrected life of Jesus may be seen in us (2Cor.4:10).
In effect, Paul is saying that we should remember every single minute of every single day, that Jesus took away our old natures when He died on the cross.
It’s our old natures which cause us to feel fear on a daily basis. All through our day we have to make decisions to do something, or not to do something – to make a plan, or not make a plan – just so that trouble doesn’t visit us. This causes us to live very stressful lives as we become more consumed by each challenge.
When it comes time for us to make a decision tomorrow, we will have to make a choice. We can decide to let our old sinful nature be the base of our decision making process or, we can make a decision out of our new resurrected nature – the nature of Jesus.
The more we focus on ourselves to find answers, the more stress we will feel. The more we focus on the Lord, the more peace we will feel. How do we focus on the Lord? It’s very simple really – just keep our minds filled with the things of the Lord – reading His word, engaging with other believers or by praying.
Imagine now, if we had two plants of the same family. The one plant we feed organic food with plenty of water and the other we give no organic food and very little water. I think it’s quite easy to figure out one will grow much bigger than the other.
And so it is with the two natures that are in us. If we feed the new resurrected nature of the Lord within us, by reading His word, praying or speaking to other believers, it will grow strong and we will naturally make decisions out of that nature because it will be the dominant nature within us. If we feed our old sinful nature with unwholesome reading material, movies and spending time with people who don’t live moral lifestyles, then our old sinful nature will grow stronger and we will continue to make decisions out of that nature because it is the more dominant. We’ve been making decisions based in this nature all our lives… has it brought us real peace?
Paul says in the book of Galatians, “…it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me…” (Gal.2:20).
If we continue to make decisions with our old sinful nature, we will continue to feel fear and anxiety. If we start to make decisions out of our new resurrected nature (of Christ), we will feel peace.
So…. tomorrow morning when we wake, let’s ask ourselves this question…
“Am I feeling stress or am I feeling peace?”
If the answer is “stress”, then we are focussed too much on our own strength. If we feel “peace”, it’s because we are focussed on the Lord….
I pray this word will encourage and bless you this coming week. It certainly has blessed me to bring it to you.
Until the next article – God bless.