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Spare Change - January

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Typically, I am a person that looks forward.  I try not to look back too much; however, I think it’s a good practice once a year to reflect on the previous year.  Primarily to see what God has taught me in the last 12 months.

This past year for me has been a year of transition.  I traded administrative duties at church for children’s ministry.  That seems like an odd trade, but it has been amazing! I have cherished every minute of it.  I love partnering with parents in their child coming to know and love Jesus. I also relish getting to work with some amazing people in the children’s ministry.  I fully believe we have the best, most loving volunteers. It has been a very fulfilling year of  ministry. I hope to see God continue to do even more in our children’s ministry in 2020.

Amid the transition God has really worked on my heart.  If you don’t know me very well, I can be a little high strung, type A, control freak…you get the idea.  I like things to go a certain way, not just my things but everything! This past year God really worked on my heart in this area.  He taught me through the circumstances of ministry, and life, that I can’t control everything and shouldn’t even try. To make matters worse I usually worry about how things are going to go, playing out scenarios in my mind.  This robs my life of joy. I can’t get peace about anything when I am spending my time fretting. Worry began to consume my life to the point I became convicted about it.

I believe that excessive worry is a faithless act and borders on a sinful behavior.   Worry is, simply put, a lack of trust in the Lord. It all came together for me when I was reading Matthew 6:25-33.  One of the key verses is a rhetorical question that Jesus asks in verse 27. He said, “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” The answer, of course, is that you can’t add any time to your life by worrying. In fact, worry doesn’t add anything to your life, rather it is a thief. It wastes time, steals joy, and keeps us from trusting the Lord.  Jesus’ prescription to rid your life of worry is faith! We must learn to trust the Lord instead of worry.

Faithlessness is often a problem for believers.  We know that we should trust God; however, we find it difficult to live out.  I’m not sure if it is because we think we can control every aspect of our life or we just think God doesn’t care, but the reality is both are untrue.  The answer to worry, whatever the reason is the same -- trust the Lord. Paul and Peter give encouragement on this subject.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”   Philippians 4:6-7 “…casting all your anxieties on [Jesus], because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7

Instead of worrying we must look to Jesus for help.  First, we must realize that this type of anguish gets us nothing, rather it causes us harm.  It also is unnecessary when we have a loving Heavenly Father that has a plan. Worry says to God that we don’t trust His plan, instead we have a better one. I am certain that God’s plan is infinitely more superior to ours.  So instead of worrying we need to just trust the Lord. We should work hard, control what we can, live our lives for Him and leave the rest up to Him.

The Lord has given me so much peace this year with this type of thinking.  Of course, I still struggle. This is a battle that will most likely never be over; however, I do know where to go when I am tempted to worry.  I go straight to my loving Savior. I take all my fears and worry and trade them for His peace. I pray you can do the same in 2020!

 

Posted by Bryan Gotcher with

Student Ministry - January

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Dear Church Family,

Another year has already passed, and, if you’re like me, you probably feel like last year flew by while simultaneously creeping along. I don’t understand how time can work like that, but I do understand that every year we tend to look back and ask ourselves how we can make things better. We come up with “New Years Resolutions” of all kinds. Most often they are things like going to the gym more or being more disciplined in one area or another. We often think of things we can do that we hope will make our lives better. And there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that. Many times we do need to make changes. Maybe we do need to eat better. Maybe we do need to study more. Maybe we do need to read more books. But have you ever thought that maybe instead of doing more we actually just need to do less?

Consider the possibility that the most effective improvement to our lives would come with proper prioritization of our time. Seriously, how much time do you spend doing things that wouldn’t even make your top ten priority list? Do you feel like your time is spent in proper proportion to what your top priorities are? The truth is, the use of our time will tell us what our priorities are. What if you were to sit down and write out the ten things you spend most of your time doing throughout the week in the order of how much time you spend on each thing. Do you think that list would reflect what you would want your priorities to be? Likely you will find that some things in your life take up more time than you would want them to. A non-negotiable would be something like work. That will certainly take more time than you want it to. Within that, however, I would hope that providing essentials for you and your family would be a fairly high priority. But what about the time that is solely at your discretion? We often feel like there are many things we “have” to do. But do we really? How often do we sacrifice truly important things for the sake of lesser joys?

How much time do we waste on more-or-less trivial matters when the true priorities of life are left unattended? The Bible actually has much to say about this topic. In Luke 10, Martha was very busy attending to things she thought was most important, while her sister sat at the feet of Jesus. When she complained to Jesus about it, He responded, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” Similarly Psalm 127:2 tells us that “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.” It seems to me that God desires for us to spend our time wisely on the most important things while trusting Him with the lesser matters. There is much more that could be said on this, but for sake of space, let me just encourage you to take an inventory of your priorities this year. Is God and His will for your life at the top of the list? Are you spending your time on things that aren’t that important in the grand scheme of things? What are some things you can do less? How can you arrange your time so that you aren’t busy with “anxious toil,” but are instead choosing the “good portion” and enjoying life more fully? I pray the Lord would fill you with rest and enable you to focus on those things in life which truly matter. Do less better, not more anxiously.

Sincerely,
Brian Van Doren

 

Posted by Brian Van Doren with

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