Young Adult – Godinterest

How are you? Everyone says these three little words on a daily basis and the typical, easy answer to reply is, “I’m fine.” There is never a need to elaborate on that. Many of us are private and reluctant to tell others about the issues going on in our lives. We have become such a private culture that even our family and friends are unwilling to ask us too many questions or to answer them when we ask. So many of us feel reluctant to disclose too much about ourselves particularly if it involves troubling issues. It has been researched that even when we go to the doctor, we may minimise or fail to mention the problems we are having. But why? Are we afraid to be helped or admit that we have problems just like everyone else? Do we really believe that no one really cares about what we say?

Offering Our Anxieties Up To God

This post goes out to all those who are anxious and feel like they have to constantly hide behind the “I’m fine” answer. But you’re never alone. God is in control. The Bible itself is filled to the brim with helpful and calming verses in it. “Put your trust in God…” (Psalm 56:3), “Cast all your cares on the Lord…” (Psalm 55:22) and the one I spoke about last week; “Do not worry about tomorrow…” (Matthew 6:34). For some of my Christian friends in the past have been told that anxiety (or any mental illness) is a sin and that they had to have more faith, believe or pray more. Anxiety is NOT a sin and you are not a defective.

For many of us, our anxieties, our fears and our feelings aren’t things we can control on our own. At least, not straight away. It usually shows up unannounced, unwanted and takes up residence, like a stain you can’t get out of a pristine, white shirt. It’s a medical condition that needs care, intervention and management that goes beyond quoting a few Bible verses and saying a lovely prayer, thinking that they’ll be quick fixes. When it comes to anxiety and other overwhelming feelings like grief, fear and anger, our first port of call, particularly as Christians, is to shove them away as hard and as fast as we can push them. We use all manner of things for that to happen; prayers, scriptures, declarations. We play worship songs at full volume in our attempts to drown the thoughts out. But, as much as we try, we can’t change the thoughts we have.

Jesus Shifts Our Focus

In the Bible, in Matthew 6.25-26, Jesus starts the discussion about understanding the fears and anxieties buried deep in mankind, that we can all take hold of:

“Do not be worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they don’t sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they are?” (NIV)

Look up. There are five hundred million hungry birds flying around. They don’t sow, reap or gather into barns and yet your Father in heaven knows their need and feeds every single one of them. If God feeds animal, essentially His pets, will He not feed you? Jesus, in these verses, shifts our focus to the “more” in life – what our hearts crave. There is a different kind of life we experience in fellowship with our God that is supernatural. That’s where our lives become more than “food and clothing.”

These verses go on to say, in Matthew 6.27, “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” God is in control! The minutes, hours, days and weeks we spend being anxious amount to wasted, stolen time. Concerns from health, to money, to the future of the human race are all matters for God. He will be concerned about them because He cares for you and wants to guide you into living a fruitful life.

Using Anxiety To Your Advantage

Breathe. trust. Transfer your anxiety to God and place your concern where it belongs; on the things of God. I used to hate having anxiety. Now I don’t mind it as much because in those moments when I wake up at three in the morning in a cold sweat, my mind racing with concerns of money, the past and the future. I roll of my bed to sit on the floor and pray… especially hard to do when you’re at your parent’s house and you sleep on a bunk bed. I ask God to transition my anxieties from the things of this world into the things that God is concerned about.

Thanks

Don’t Fear, Only Believe

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Worth.

It’s such a powerful thing. The word is used to indicate how valuable something is, usually the value of an expensive car or your dream house. But also, commonly, it is used to describe a person’s life. We are constantly yearning and seeking to be worth something to someone else. In society, we are constantly told to live your life, your way – your worth being meaningful only to yourself. But you are worth more than anything to a guy called Jesus…

One inspirational woman who I have had the honour of seeing her legacy left behind, has been Lilias Falconer. The Falconer home has a special place in my heart and my family’s hearts, and I’m sure I’ve touched on this subject before in a previous blog. I got the amazing opportunity to visit this amazing orphanage a few years ago in Zambia. But this woman clearly showed why Jesus is worth it all! Lilias was born in 1915 in my home town, Manchester, and at the age of 15 she was telling her family that the call on her life was to go to Africa and to look after babies and children. For her to fulfil this mission, she applied for medical training to train as a nurse. All these applications were refused. In 1939, at the start of World War II, she was accepted into nursing training with the Salvation Army, and after a course in tropical medicine she travelled to Africa to a leper hospital in Zambia. There she saw the plight of little babies left to die when their mothers passed during childbirth. From this, she agreed to look after one baby but soon five babies were brought to her and one her own, she went further into the bus, establishing her Children’s home and Orphanage in the small village of Kabulamema. She died in 1998, and her grave is situated behind the house, in a beautiful lone building, signifying a constant connection to her work. This is a woman who gave up her whole life for Jesus.

The “Waste” of Expensive Perfume

The work of missionaries and people who give up their ordinary lives for extraordinary lives reminds me of a story from the Bible that shows us why Jesus is worth it all…

Clutching the jar tightly in her hands, the woman stood in the doorway and looked into the room. Her heart beat intensely. Her eyes darted back and forth. Her anxiety was at its peak. The room was packed with me, most of them who knew her for the job she did. A prostitute. She consider running away. At that moment, she saw Him. Everything else vanished, the world stopped. Nothing mattered anymore. Running into the room, she fell to the ground, tears forming in her eyes. Breaking her jar open, she poured the expensive perfume in it all over the man’s feet. She loved Him. She was a sinner. But this man, this Jesus, had shown her forgiveness. Everyone else stared at this random woman, shocked by her actions.

“Why have you wasted all that? You could have sold it it and given it to the poor,” the disciples shouted. Then Jesus spoke above the fuss, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done something beautiful for me. You won’t always have me, but you’ll always have the poor. This woman is preparing me for my burial. Listen to me, when the gospel is preached, the memory of her will also be told.” (Matthew 26.6-13).

The Reaction

Imagine if you were one of the disciples. Would you have been angry at the woman? She would have wasted perfume that had cost millions of pounds. But then again, much like the woman in the story, how do we respond to the story of Lilias Falconer? Too often we would respond as the disciples did. When we hear about people giving up their lives in rich, western countries to honour and serve God, we question their choices. Too often we see it as a waste of potential. We may never say it in words but in reality, we are asking the same question the disciples asked, “Why this waste?”

As Christians, we are taught to present our lives as living sacrifices, demonstrating God’s perfect will. Many people, and many Christians, would say if you presented your life in such a way, that you would be vulnerable to the devil and forces of evil. But Paul in Philippians 4.19, clearly states:

“And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus.” (NIV)

So, in answer to How Much Does Your Life Cost? I think it costs an infinite amount. We have worth because one man spent His worth for our all and so it is never a waste to give Jesus anything. And looking at it this way; it is our only reasonable response.

Thanks for reading.

Don’t Fear, Only Believe

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Tag: Young Adult

How Are You, Really?

How Much Does Your Life Cost?