My Facebook connection was not working yesterday. Here is yesterdays devotional. Blessings! 1 Minute Devotional (Monday October 21, 2013) The devotional today is from Sunday Morning’s Message “The Quest: Freedom from Worry” (Matthew 6:25-34) Text: Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6:31-33 “Dont ever worry and say, ‘What are we going to eat? or ‘What are we going to drink? or ‘What are we going to wear? 32 Everyone is concerned about these things, and your heavenly Father certainly knows you need all of them. 33 But first, be concerned about his kingdom and what has his approval. Then all these things will be provided for you. Matthew 6:31-33 (GW) What is your general view of life? Do you look at it as “Hell on Earth” or as “full of problems? Or do you see life as an adventure that is full of challenges? We all know that life can be difficult. There will always be challenges. There will always be obstacles and problems. It was true of Jesus life on earth. He knew what poverty was. He was born in a borrowed stable, He preached from a borrowed boat, He rode into Jerusalem on a borrowed donkey and He was buried in a borrowed tomb. Jesus knew the pain of rejection. At times His own earthly family rejected him. The spiritual and political leaders of Israel rejected Him. The disciples were afraid and hid during His trial and execution. The nation of Israel as a whole rejected Him and the majority of the world has rejected Him. In spite of the rejection, He did not worry. Instead, he provided us by example and with words, the life of faith and trust we should emulate. He teaches us how to journey on this quest of freedom from worry and anxiety. We will examine Jesus words and His life on this subject of “worry” this week and how we can overcome worry and be filled with hope and relaxation. Larry Hudson Please feel free to share and/or to respond! Scriptures are from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. Daily reading: Matthew 6:25-34 Pray or do: List the things you worry about! Ask God to teach you “How to overcome worry”. If you do not want to receive the 1 Minute Devotional please let me know and you will be removed from the distribution list. Bonus Material THE STRESS OF UNCERTAINTY Daniel Gilbert (a psychologist at Harvard), citing a recent Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, said that Americans are smiling less and worrying more than they were a year ago, that happiness is down and sadness is up, that we are getting less sleep and smoking more cigarettes, that depression is on the rise. The real problem is not financial, he said. It’s not that people don’t have enough money. It’s that people don’t know what’s going to happen. Will I have a job next week? What’s ahead in the future for me? The future seems ominous, or at the very least uncertain, and that uncertainty puts people on edge. Professor Gilbert referred to a Dutch experiment where researchers told one group of people that they would receive 20 strong shocks. The researchers then told a second group that they would receive only three strong shocks along with 17 mild ones, but they wouldn’t know when the strong shocks would come. The results? Subjects in the second group sweated more and experienced faster heart rates. It was the uncertainty that caused their discomfort, not the intensity of the shocks. Another study showed that colostomy patients who knew that their colostomies would be permanent were happier six months after their procedures than those who were told there might be a chance of reversing their colostomies. Once again, uncertainty caused the unhappiness. Daniel Gilbert concluded, An uncertain future leaves us stranded in an unhappy present with nothing to do but wait...Our national gloom is real enough, but it isn’t a matter of insufficient funds. It’s a matter of insufficient certainty. (Daniel Gilbert, What You Don’t Know Makes You Nervous, The Week magazine, 6-5-09, p. 14. From a sermon by C. Philip Green, Dungeon and Dreams, 9/8/2011)
Posted on: Tue, 22 Oct 2013 14:49:25 +0000
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