Calm My Anxious Heart, Part III

Greed. Purpose. Worry. Faith.

Greed.

It’s a thriving disease in our culture today. It is easy to become so focused on material things that we lose sight of our eternal perspective.

A lady in Poland who had very little was asked about how she felt about her seemingly difficult life compared to those who had all the modern conveniences. Her response:

Western women have so many things that they don’t need God.

I pray that it is never said of me that I have so many things that I don’t need God! Henry Kissinger said, “To Americans, usually a tragedy is wanting something very badly and not getting it.” Greed is a downward spiral that leads to envy. Envy leads to debt. All lead to discontentment.

To combat the trap of greed, these four scriptural principles can be applied:

• Everything belongs to God.

• Heart attitude is the issue.

• God comes first and possessions come second.

• Possessions are to be used, not loved.

Purpose.

We all want to have one. Too often we live shortsighted lives, never seeing the horizon in the distance. We live a dot-to-dot life, never seeing the big picture but only the next dot. We also often live on hold, waiting for the next thing. Something. Anything to give our lives meaning.

A way to combat a purposeless life is to create a life purpose statement. This is something I’m in the process of right now, but I haven’t completed it yet. Hopefully it will give me a greater focus as I make decisions and continue forward in my walk with the Lord.

“Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.” - Goethe

Worry.

It’s like a rocking chair. It will give you something to do but it won’t get you anywhere!

Worry is something that I’ve struggled with greatly over the years. It is so easy to focus on my circumstances and not focus on God. Thankfully He has grown me a LOT in this area over the last six years, and He has been faithful in teaching me how to rely on Him in my times of worry. A big part of letting go of worry is recognizing that worry is sin. When I worry, I’m saying “God can’t” in my situation.

George MacDonald said,

"It has been well said that no man ever sank under the burden of the day. It’s when tomorrow’s burden is added to the burden of today that the weight is more than a man can bear. Never load yourselves so, my friends. If you find yourselves so loaded, at least remember this: it is your own doing, not God’s. He begs you to leave the future to Him and to mind the present.”

Faith.

Faith cannot be based on our feelings. Rather, faith is based on God’s Word and rooted in God’s character.

So often we pray for faith, but what we really want is sight. We don’t just want the ability to trust God for the next step, we want to see the next step – and several steps further would be great too! Sight sees ahead and says, “I see that it’s good for me, so God must have sent it,” but faith says, “God sent it, so it must be good for me.”

Lord, keep me from greed that so permeates our culture. Give me purpose in my life that glorifies You. Help me not to worry but to have faith, basing my trust Your Word and Your character.