What are you focused on? Matthew 6: 28-34 28) “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, neither toil or spin; 29) “And yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30) “Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31) “Therefore do not worry, saying ‘What shall we eat? Or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘what shall we wear?’ 32) “For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33) “Buy seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34) “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” A great message we see here, especially since as humans we know how important it is that our basic needs be met. As a husband and a father I also know that my family depends on me for these needs. It takes great faith to put all this in God’s hands. As followers of Christ that is what we must do. But the real question you should ask your self is, do you? Do we tend to get so wrapped up in the quest to fill these needs that we forget who our master is? I cannot answer for you but yes I do and have over the last month. I also know that God will not just give these things to me if I sit at home and pray. That is of course where I must start, where we all must start. He will provide us the opportunity if we actively seek it out. If we don’t pray we might also find it but is it what God had planned for us. I have had trouble with this but I know in my heart that I need to ask ad seek his forgiveness and his will. I know that for everything that we go through God has a purpose for. It maybe to teach us a lesson or just to put us back on the right path. I am not going to get into my particular worries or problems. Some of you have much worse and we all have our own to deal with. God tells to leave it at the cross. Then after we give to him forget it. He wants everything of yours, your successes and your failures, your hurt and pain, your happy times and your sad times. He also tells us not to worry about tomorrow; today has its’ own problems. When I think of this one of my favorite Gospel songs comes to mind, “One Day at a Time”. I need to pray, we need to pray that God will give each the strength we need to make it. The things that happened yesterday are done, we cannot change them. With God’s strength we can learn from them, we can build on them, and we must ask forgiveness from them. But we cannot change what is done. Tomorrow is not here yet, we can attempt to influence what may happen but that is all. God has control of that. Take care of what God gives you today and when tomorrow gets here then deal with tomorrows set of problems. These things are easier said than done, as is a lot of the things God ask us to do as Christians. That is where our faith comes in. How strong is your faith in God? Is it strong enough to give everything to him and walk away? Can you do the things He asks of you no matter whether it makes any sense at all? These are tough questions that only you can answer. These answers are between you and God. He already knows the answer, do you? When I look at the title I gave this paper before I wrote it would seem it does not match. But after I looked at it and thought about it, I decided that it does. Are you focused on the problem or the solution? The solution may not be God, but God is where you must focus. God is where we need to start looking for the answers we need. Once we have our focus on Him, He will lead us to the answer. It may not be when we want but faith takes patience, and patience I should be part of our faith. God Bless Frank |