Wednesday, January 6, 2021

Worry about Longevity (Matt. 6:27)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/6/2021 12:31 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Worrying about Longevity”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 6:27

 

            Message of the verse:  27 “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?”

 

            Just a reminder that we are looking at sub-sections under the main section entitled “Worry Is Unnecessary Because Of Our Father.”  Today we will talk about people’s worry about how long they are going to live. I want to quote a verse from one of my very favorite Psalms, Psalm 139:16 “Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.”  David is talking all about God and it would be worth everyone’s while to read over this Psalm all the way to the end for at the end of this psalm we find the following words which I pray to the Lord most every day “23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; 24 And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.”  Now after reading verse sixteen along with reading verse twenty-seven of Matthew chapter six it seems that as believers we really have nothing to worry about for God is surely in control of how many days that He will give us while living on planet earth.  When both my father and my father-in-law died I made mention how many days that they lived and in the case of my father-in-law he lived 37,300 days as he was a bit over 102 years old when he died a little over a year ago.  I am so happy that God spared him from what is going on in nursing homes today.

 

            People do many things to extend their lives as medicine has greatly advanced since the 20th century.  However worry is not something that a person can do in order to live longer, for perhaps it will shorten one’s life as opposed to lengthen it.  I have to admit that I take a lot of vitamins and other supplements each day, but it is not for the reason that I want to live any longer than God wants me to live, but to have a better quality of life.  I have mentioned that last year I had type 2 diabetics and this caused a warning light to go off in my mind.  My doctor put me on meds to help this problem, but I decided to tackle it in a different way along with the meds.  I lost forty pounds in seven months, stopped for the most part in eating sugar and other carbs, and walked around 1550 miles since sometime in late February.  Is all this going to make me live longer?  Probably not but one thing that I have found out is that I truly enjoy walking five miles every day and the problem with my IBS has gotten a lot better since I stay away from carbs.  I am thankful to my Lord for giving me the desire to live a more healthy lifestyle so that I can better serve Him.

 

            John MacArthur writes the following in his short section on this subject:  “You can worry yourself to death, but not to life.  Dr. Charles Mayo, of the famous Mayo Clinic, wrote, ‘Worry affects the circulation, the heart, the glands and the whole nervous system.  I have never met a man or known a man to die of overwork, but I have known a lot who died of worry.’

            “The gift of life is a gift from God to be used for His purposes, for spiritual and heavenly reasons, not selfish and earthly ones.  Our concern should be to obey honor, please, and glorify Him leaving everything else to His wisdom and care.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful that the Lord is in control of all things that will happen on this earth, including in our country.  I am not always pleased with what is going on in our country, especially in our war against becoming a communist nation, but I do know that God is in control and will work things out for my good and for His glory.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I believe that the quest of having revival in my life, in my family’s life, in our churches life, and in our nation and world is something that I want to continue to pray about for the sole purpose of bringing glory to my Lord.

 

1/6/2021 12:59 PM

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