Relax!!

In life it’s not hard to focus on what you don’t have. It’s so easy for us to question and analyze our lives. Then, out of that, comes worry and anxiety. We begin to say to ourselves “Why am I not there yet?” We can even take it deeper than that and begin to question God. The devil is so sneaky in this area. Think about it. If we shift our focus to the future (since none of us know what it holds) then he can run wild in our minds helping us dream up and over analyze where we think we should be. There are times we can even focus our attention on other people’s lives and wonder to ourselves “Why am I not there yet?” It can go on and on and on like this.

In my personal life I have been over evaluating. I think that I should be so much farther along then what I really am. I think that I should be on the road to marriage, have a fancy car, and a lot of money in my bank account. But when I focus on those things I have learned that I tend to lose the blessings of I have today. My focus is stolen away from me. The Lord gave me a simple word from this whole mess (spoken through my Mom) and that one word was “Relax.” I think the Lord was speaking to me and telling me to relax and embrace the now. I did a little bit of digging on this in God’s word and this is what I found.

Jesus directly addressed the issue of worry and anxiety in His Sermon on the Mount:
"So I tell you, don't worry about everyday life -- whether you have enough food, drink, and clothes. Doesn't life consist of more than food and clothing? Look at the birds. They don't need to plant or harvest or put food in barns because your heavenly Father feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than they are. Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? Of course not. And why worry about your clothes? Look at the lilies and how they grow. They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won't he more surely care for you? You have so little faith! So don't worry about having enough food or drink or clothing. Why be like the pagans who are so deeply concerned about these things? Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern. So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today” (Matthew 6:25-34).

The issue here is faith. If we have faith in God, worry and anxiety about the details of our lives will be put into the right context. We’ll trust Him to take care of us now and later. If we are wondering about tomorrow, we lose the blessings available today.

Another principle in the biblical book of James reveals the ineffectiveness of worry and anxiety: “Look here, you people who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.’ How do you know what will happen tomorrow? For your life is like the morning fog -- it's here a little while, then it's gone. What you ought to say is, ‘If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that’” (James 4:13-15).

Being in the Lord’s will is the safest place for the believer to be. If God sacrificed His Son for our sin, will He not do the best for us? Therefore, our hope -- a confident assurance rather than "I hope so" -- should be in God's will. Then, we will not waste our time being unduly anxious about what tomorrow may or may not bring. Then we can FINALLY relax and let God's will take it's course. Sounds good to me!!