Shownotes
Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy
Welcome to Day 638 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
Don’t Worry About Tomorrow
Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 638 of our trek, and it is time for our Philosophy Friday series. Each Friday we pondered some of the basic truths and mysteries of life and how they can impact us in creating our living legacy.
For the next several weeks, we will focus on how to live with less fear. We will explore the trails on our trek of life that will help us to be fearless. This does not imply that we will reach the point where were are completely without any fear, for that is not only impossible, but also not wise. There is a time and a place for an appropriate level of fear, but most fear that we experience on a daily basis has no grounding and can be eliminated as we grow in wisdom, insight, and understanding. So our objective for these next several Fridays is to experience a FearLess Friday on our trek of life.
We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. Surprisingly to us, the two hawks which were born this year returned to our property to search for additional food. They have been quite vocal and visible. Although I don’t believe they are staying in the nest they were hatched in, they must be staying fairly close. We have also had a two-year-old buck and a year old buck and doe that are frequent visitors near our home. It is enjoyable to watch the various wildlife that frequent our property. It is a peaceful setting for all of us.
Peace is the opposite of worry. As we break camp and head out on our trail today, we will be focusing on this topic of worry, and our lesson title for today is…
Don’t Worry About Tomorrow
One of the most powerful forces that cause us to worry needlessly is that of money…or should I say, the perceived lack of money. As it has been since the beginning of time, we will never feel that we have enough money. Many of the money problems we see, especially in the western world, are self-inflicted. Most people spend more than they earn because of the easy availability of credit and their unwillingness to be patient and delay obtaining stuff that they can live without. How about you? Are your spending habits the cause of much of your money worries?
If your focus is on making money and providing for your own future, then your eyes are focused on the wrong goal, and you are in spiritual darkness. Your love of money and your devotion to it will steal your heart; it will replace your love for God and devotion to Him. Jesus said the love of money and love of God cannot coexist in the human heart. Having said this, Jesus explained it so well in Matthew [6:19]-34,
“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.”
“Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!”
“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money. ‘That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?'”
“And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?”
“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”
“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
Jesus says about the worrier, “Why do you have such little faith?” We don’t usually think of worry as a lack of faith, but that’s how God sees it.
· Your Heavenly Father Knows What You Need
When you have a child born to you, you didn’t wait for it to tell you it needed milk or clothes or that it needed a diaper change. Of course not! You knew what your baby needed, and it was your joy to provide it. With far greater understanding, our heavenly Father knows what we need, and He is certainly a better parent to His children than we could ever be to ours.
Our Father’s desire is that we simply seek to please Him. That we put Him first. That we obey and serve Him. That we allow Him to develop our character. Material provision will be given to us. That’s the easiest thing in the world for the Owner of the universe to do. God does expect us to be good stewards of what He has given us. Our harvest will always be plenteous if we are diligent with planting that which He has provided.
· Don’t Worry About Tomorrow’s Troubles Today
As Jesus said in Matthew 6:34, “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
When Jesus spoke these profound words, He didn’t mean we would not experience heartache, pain, uncertainty, and suffering of all kinds. He simply meant we should not worry about it and fret with anticipation ahead of time.
In other words, “Never borrow from the future. If you live in dread of what may happen and it doesn’t happen, you have worried in vain. Even if it does happen, you have to worry twice. Worry is the interest paid to those who borrow trouble.”
You wouldn’t try to reach the top of a flight of stairs by taking one giant leap from the bottom to the top, would you? No, you would climb one step at a time until you reached the top. In the same sense, God wants you to do what you can do today and leave the troubles of tomorrow for tomorrow’s strength.
For one thing, 95 percent of the things we worry about never happen. Furthermore, as Corrie ten Boom wisely said, “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.”
Lamentations [3:22]-24 tells us that God’s faithful love never ends and mercies are new every day,
“The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in him!'”
Do you worry about your inheritance? God wants us to put our hope in Him.
Next Friday we will continue this topic of overcoming worry as we look at how we can fear less and have more victory on a daily basis. I know you will find these insights interesting and profitable in living a rich and satisfying life. Our next trek is Mindshift Monday where we will help you live differently by thinking differently. So encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along on Monday for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.
That will finish our trek for today. If you would like to listen to any of our past treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. You can also subscribe at iTunes or Google Play so that each day’s trek will be downloaded automatically.
Thank you so much for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.
As we take this trek of life together, let us always:
- Live Abundantly (Fully)
- Love Unconditionally
- Listen Intentionally
- Learn Continuously
- Lend to others Generously
- Lead with Integrity
- Leave a Living Legacy Each Day
This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you on Monday!