How I am worrying less

October 20, 2022

Maria Faith, Romans 10, Trusting God , Leave a comment

I’ve been struggling with the temptation and sin of worrying, of mulling over all my anxious thoughts. There’s a lot going on with my mother-in-law’s cross-country move. Plus, Mike and I are trying to sort out some of our financial matters with Social Security and that is daunting. But that’s no excuse for fretting!

When do any of us NOT have lots going on, producing anxiety in our hearts and minds.

Recently, the Holy Spirit brought a sobering image to mind that is helping me think twice before worrying, a practice that Jesus commands us NOT to do.

When you and I worry about anything, we are actually declaring that Jesus is NOT God, that we can’t trust him, that he is not ‘enough’ to help us in our neediness.  We also proclaim that we don’t believe the Bible and all of God’s covenant promises of supernatural wisdom, help, rescue, strength, guidance, peace. 

During the 9 days I spent with Mom in Seattle, my mind at night often scattered to various details about Mom’s move.  I would settle into bed, handing over everything to Jesus and fall asleep. But in the middle of the night, I would awake and fall into worry.

One night in my refusal to give back my worries to Jesus, I pictured him saying to me, “If you want your worries back, then pick up that mallet and the rusty stake next to it and pound it into me. If I am not worthy of your trust, then I deserve to die as an imposter.”

Ever since then, I have often gone back to this reality of what my continued preoccupation with problems means.  My desire to honor Jesus as God, as worthy of my complete confidence is growing.  He absolutely DOES merit my devotion and trust.

This morning Paul’s quote in Romans 10:11 (from Isaiah 28:16) reinforced my faith. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” (NASB)

I hear you, Lord.  Strengthen my faith in You!

Can we lose our salvation?

March 20, 2016

Maria 2 Corinthians 4, Assurance of Salvation, Doubt, Heaven, Hebrews, Hebrews 3, Matthew 13, Romans 10 , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Treasure

2 Cor 4:7

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

Many Christians (regarding whom, I have NO doubt that they are authentic believers) fight the fear that they are just fooling themselves when it comes to the status of their eternal salvation.

Like a radio with antennae continually seeking strong signals, so too do I search out scriptural truth to bolster the hope and assurance of struggling brothers and sisters I love.

So when I heard John Piper talk about desire being the key to authentic Christianity, I saw something true and comforting that I might be able to pass on.

When we are born again through the Spirit of God it’s like we are given a new set of eyes. We begin to see clearly just what IS treasure and what is trash.  New desires germinate and start to flourish.  Yes, growth can be slow and seem irregular in direction and pace.  But the overall trajectory has been changed.

But what do we do when doubts like these below plague us?  (who do you think ‘might’ be behind these doubts? – not God!)

  • What if the Bible and how one is saved isn’t true?
  • What if I really haven’t believed?
  • What if I’m not a TRUE believer?
  • What does it mean that I don’t seem to feel as enthusiastic or sure as other Christians?

What do we do?  We look at the treasure!

Think about the man who stumbled upon buried gold or silver in that field (Matthew 13:44). Quickly reburying it, he sold everything he had (fields, house, furnishings, livestock) to put together enough money to buy the entire pasture.  Once he possessed the plot of land, do you think he moved on to other pursuits, ignoring the treasure?  No!  I can picture him digging it up and handling it, savoring it, thinking about what it meant to his future.  His imagination easily filled in the blanks.  He might have used some of it for the present, but the rest he protected as his inheritance or retirement fund.

His joy would have remained and been stoked and even grown with every re-imagining and glorying in this treasure.  Had he started to doubt whether he actually possessed this wealth, he would have wasted no time pulling it out and savoring all that it represented.

That’s what we have to do with OUR most precious possession. As believers in Christ, we have:

  • forgiveness and peace with God
  • a new Spirit in us – no longer of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind
  • Christ’s continual presence THROUGH this indwelling holy Spirit
  • and a bright future to be lived in His presence where ‘fullness of joy’ is promised.

So what do we do either to ward off the doubts or deal with them?

We just need to ‘visit’ and ‘revisit’ our treasure every day, holding fast to it.

Whatever it takes to hold on to our faith, we must do.  Faith is our most valuable possession.  John Piper exhorts fellow believers to STRENGTHEN the gift by realizing that:

Little faith = Little joy

Stoked faith = MORE joy!

How do we fan the fires that heat up our faith?  By reading about this great gift in God’s Word and learning what it means for us to be partakers and heirs of God’s kingdom. Remember that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Rom 10:17).  I need to hear God’s truth every day, throughout the day.  And it’s MY voice rehearsing God’s promises out loud that help me most to HEAR.

LOVE the Treasure!

PONDER the Treasure!

PRAISE the Giver or the Treasure!

GET TO KNOW the Giver!

Look at this concrete advice to early Christians battling unbelief:

Hebrews 3:14

We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly to the end the assurance we had at first.