 - Last login: 2 hours agoWiseasgandalf
- John is a 44 year old married guy from Tennessee, USA.
- Likes 534 pages, 5 videos, 39 photos • 202 fans • Received 48 reviews
- Member since Apr 15, 2007
Physician, writer, information addict, former Mac salesman & programmer. My passion is to help people, especially in the area of spiritual growth & development.
Favorites » His Blog
-
-
My youngest son is playing Little League baseball this spring for the first time. One of the skills all the players must master is base-running. What's so hard about running around bases? Well, it's really not hard, IF you have these two rules locked into your thinking:
DO look at your coach--- when he says run, run. Don't hesitate, don't think twice, don't second-guess, just run. That's all you need to do.
DON'T look at anything else--- the ball, other players, people in the stands. You don't have to worry about where the ball is or where the other players are, you don't have any control over them, you just have to stick with what you DO have control over--- running as fast as you can toward that base. You can count on your coach to be keeping track of all that other stuff. In fact, if you try to keep track of it, you won't be able to run.
Come to think of it, it all boils down to trusting your coach and knowing the difference between the job that is in his hands vs. what he puts in your hands.
I wonder.... are our lives off the baseball field any different? In Matthew 6 Jesus is teaching about the difference between what is in God's hands vs. what is in our hands:
Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Notice Jesus lumps all our concerns into 2 categories: what we are to be concerned about, and what God is to be concerned about. All of the things that we typically get concerned about, all the stuff in our lives, is actually in God's hands, not ours. He knows we need them. He is going to make sure we get them. When we spend our energy worrying about them, we're no different than the base runner looking at the ball or the other players--- we can't control them, and it just slows us down.
Now what does Jesus say we ought to be concerned about, what is our "base-running" in this life that we are to focus on with all our strength? That's right, seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness. That's why Paul said in Philippians 3:13-14 that there was only one thing he was focused on:
But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Are you focused on that one thing? Are you fully grasping with all your might what God has placed in your hands, while trusting that God will take care of what is in His hands? May God open your eyes and your heart to see what you are holding onto that you need to let go, so you may fully press toward the goal of God's Kingdom.
|
his Favorites
Add him as a friend >
