Philippians 4:6

Be anxious for nothing,
It is fitting that Paul begins this exhortation to pray with a word about anxiety. Webster defines anxiety as “a state of being uneasy, apprehensive, or worried about what may happen; misgiving.”

According to Jesus, people become anxious over food, drink, clothing, and the future (Matthew 6:25-34). Jesus also said that anxiety is a fruitless activity: “And which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life’s span?” (Matthew 6:27).

Nevertheless, people worry about what they have and what they don’t have, where they are and where they would like to be, what they’ve done and what they wish they had not done.

Anxiety over such issues can cause people to do many things. It causes some people to seek escape from reality through alcohol, drugs, and in some cases suicide. Anxiety causes other people to look for ways to manipulate their circumstances in an effort to bring about some measure of relief.

Anxiety leads some people to complain, criticize, fault-find, and finger-point. And anxiety leads some people to pray, to look beyond themselves for assistance. Anxiety causes some people to turn to God in prayer.

but in everything
The little conjunction “but” plays a pivotal role in this verse. It takes us from the frustration of anxiety to the relief of prayer.

The phrase “but in everything” reminds us that we can pray about whatever causes us to worry and become uneasy. The words “nothing” and “everything” are comprehensive in scope.

We are to be anxious for “nothing,” without exception. Every “nothing” should become an “everything” of prayer. “Nothing” should be on our Anxiety List and “everything” should be on our Prayer List!

by prayer and supplication
Here is the avenue for dealing with life’s anxieties: “prayer and supplication.” The word “prayer” in this verse is a general term which emphasizes worship and adoration of God.

“Supplication” is a term emphasizing personal and earnest petitioning. The writer to the Hebrews captures the thought here (4:16), “Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.”

with thanksgiving
“Thanksgiving” is often the missing element of prayer. Someone has said, “Thanksgiving is more than just the expressing of appreciation to God for what He has provided. It is also the bringing of requests to Him with an attitude of appreciation for whatever answer He may give. While we may ask for a specific outcome, more than anything we desire His perfect will. Therefore, we are able to come to Him in prayer with thanksgiving, fully confident of His goodness on our behalf.”

let your requests be made known to God.
“Requests” are specific petitions arising from specific needs. Notice that our prayer should be intentional, that is, it should be directed to God. If we desire to see specific answers to our prayers, our prayers must be specific.

And the peace of God,
The “peace of God” comes after prayer and not before. It comes only after we have cast all our anxiety upon Him who cares for us (I Peter 5:7).

which surpasses all comprehension,
Who can understand the peace which comes from God? Who can comprehend and explain this peace to one who has never experienced it. It is best explained by our countenance and state of being rather than by our words.

Shall guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
If we follow the instruction of verse 6 then we shall experience the blessing of verse 7. The “peace of God” is here likened to a soldier who vigilantly guards our hearts (emotions) and minds (thoughts), the two arenas of worry. Paul concludes by reminding us that freedom from anxiety is found only “in Christ Jesus.”

It was a very hot summer afternoon. I was returning to the church after a pastoral visit when I saw him. It was broad daylight and he wasn’t wearing anything at all! I slowed my car to be sure it wasn’t some sort of mirage. It wasn’t! There he was in the middle of a nice middle-class suburban subdivision wearing nothing at all!

Now, I’ll admit that while it may have been extremely hot outside, this fellow had gone a little too far to beat the heat. Besides, he was exposing too much of himself to too many of the Sun’s harmful rays.

But, no matter! He seemed to be enjoying himself and oblivious to the world around him. And besides that, he had important matters to attend to. He was hunched over the handlebars of his tricycle and furiously riding in circles in the driveway of his home. I estimate that he was about three years old and figure that he somehow got outside without mommy’s permission!

I could not help but laugh at the sight of that little boy going about his own agenda without his clothes. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall to see his mommy’s expression when she found him. I’m sure she had a stern mommy to son talk with him about why we shouldn’t leave home without wearing any clothes. Perhaps daddy got a few words in when he arrived home. And I’m sure most parents have a similar story in their treasury of funny family memories. I know my parents do!

On a more serious note, the Apostle Paul talks a lot about clothing. Spiritual clothing, that is. Paul tells us to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts” (Romans 13:14). That’s good advice for Christians who must live and work in this sinful world. If we fail to put on the Lord Jesus Christ we will expose too much of ourselves to too many of the world’s harmful influences.

Paul also tells us that we are involved in spiritual warfare and should never think of doing battle without wearing “the full armor of God” (Ephesians 6:10-17) lest we be hurt by the harmful weapons of the enemy. The Apostle Peter adds his own fashion advice in I Peter 5:5. He tells us to “clothe [ourselves] with humility toward one another.” Failure to do so will expose us to pride’s harmful rays.

But with all of this talk of spiritual clothing, many Christians somehow manage to get out of the house without so much as wearing a stitch of armor. Many Christians walk about wearing nothing at all, oblivious to the worldly influences around them, furiously peddling after their own agenda. That is both foolish and careless!

So the next time you get ready to walk out the door, make certain you are fully clothed. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ for those everyday activities. Put on the full armor of God for warfare. And put on humility when you are going to spend time around other people. Don’t leave home without your clothes!

“may be able to comprehend with all the saints
what is the breadth and length and height and depth”
Ephesians 3:18

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Consider the matter of the breadth of God’s love. How broad or wide is the love of God? We learn something about the breadth of God’s love from the occurrence of two beautiful sets of words in the New Testament.

The first set of words is “God sent…” We find these words recorded in Galatians 4:4-5 (NAS): But when the fulness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, in order that He might redeem those under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. We find these words again in I John 4:9 (NIV) which states: This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.

The second set of words is “God gave…” We find these words recorded in John 3:16, perhaps the most well-known verse in the Bible: For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.

The breadth of God’s love is seen in the fact that God sent His Son into the world and God gave His Son to die in our place that we might have the opportunity to be reconciled to God. The little baby in the manger, the precious Christ of Christmas who became the Christ of Calvary, was God’s message to all mankind saying, “I love you this much.”

The words “world” and “whoever” in John 3:16 are a reference to the breadth or width of the love of God. The word “world” refers to every man that has ever lived or will ever live on the face of the earth. It is a collective term that refers to all of us. The word “whoever” refers to each of us. It is an individualistic term. These words remind us that God’s love is wide enough to embrace the world and yet narrow enough to personally embrace each of us.

The words “world” and “whoever” should also remind us that every man has a space in God’s heart. Everyone of us can say, “God loves everybody, therefore He loves me.” And everyone of us can also say, “God loves me, therefore He loves everybody.” Surely the love that has stooped to embrace me can never pass by and ignore any other person in this world.

Unlike us, God is impartial in His love. He does not love me any more than He loves you and He does not love you any more than He loves the drunk lying in the gutter. We are all embraced by the same love of God.

Unlike us, God’s love is not diluted because it is wide in its scope. When you and I begin to stretch our love beyond our family and close friends to take in the neighbors, business associates, and the starving children in Ethiopia, it becomes more generalized and diluted. We do not love the starving children in Ethiopia in the same manner that we love our own children.

God’s love however is the same for everybody in the world. His love does not diminish in its intensity because He loves on such a wide scale. And, so we see that God’s love is as broad as mankind and yet as narrow as each one of us.

“And let us not lose heart in doing good,
for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary.
So then, while we have opportunity,
let us do good to all men, and especially to
those who are of the household of faith.”
Galatians 6:9-10

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We are instructed in the Word of God to do good. Consider Paul’s words in Galatians 6:10, “let us do good to all men.” While Paul tells us that we should especially do good “to those who are of the household of faith,” we should not neglect doing good to all men, regardless of whether or not they are of the household of faith. We should not discriminate when it comes to doing good.

The only way a lost world will understand the love of God is if Christians do good to them. It is certainly not much to our credit to do good only to those who are of the household of faith or to those who do good to us. Jesus said, “If you love only those who love you, what good is that? Even scoundrels do that much. If you are friendly only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even the heathen do that” (Matthew 5:46-47, Living Bible). Doing good to all men makes us distinctive.

Paul also tells us that we must take advantage of opportunities to do good. “So then, while [as] we have opportunity…” How often we miss daily opportunities to do good because we are too busy or too blind to see those opportunities.

It is easy to get so wrapped up in ourselves and our personal agendas that we neglect to see people around us who need for someone to invest some good in their lives. While opportunity sometimes knocks more than once, we cannot put off doing good thinking that it will continue knocking.

Paul also informs us that it is possible to “lose heart in doing good.” This is especially true when we labor without recognition, rest, or reward. Sometimes it seems that the only time people recognize our labor is when it is bad.

An old English rhyme states, “When I did well, I heard it never; when I did ill, I heard it ever.” Sometimes we labor without rest to the point that we grow weary and consequently lose sight of the bigger picture and of the contribution we are making to the work of God’s Kingdom. Sometimes it is easy to question why we should continue to labor, especially when we see no reward or result.

That is why Paul reminds us that our labor will not be in vain if we will keep on doing good. We do not always see instant results when we do good. Like a farmer who sows seed, it takes a long growing season before fruit is reaped. We must not grow discouraged thinking that nothing will come to fruition from our sowing of good. In due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.

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“And let us not [do not allow yourself to] lose heart [grow discouraged; lack endurance to carry on; faint or give up] in doing good [what God expects; “the work of the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58)] for [because] in due time [at the proper time; God knows when the proper time is] we shall [speaks of certainty] reap [experience and enjoy the blessings (results) of doing good (what God expects)] if [note the condition] we do not grow weary [grow discouraged to the point of giving up].”

The small round object looked like a plastic doll’s head to the group of Irish boys on their way to school. And doing what comes natural to little boys, they playfully kicked it all the way to school — much the same as little boys often kick a can or any nondescript piece of litter.

When they got to school, one of the boys picked up the little soccer ball and stuck it in the school-yard fence. Minutes later a teacher arrived and noticed the object wedged in the fence. Upon closer examination, the suspicious teacher immediately called the authorities. Within minutes a bomb squad was on the scene.

The little doll’s head that the boys had kicked all the way to school was actually a plastic explosive — the kind that terrorists use to blow up cars and buildings and stuff. Wow! It’s frightening to think that those innocent school boys were one swift kick away from death. This event, reported on National Public Radio, gives a whole new meaning to the expression “playing with dynamite!”

The dangerous game of Irish Roulette always begins in an innocent sort of way. A conversation with a serpent, for example! (Genesis 3) What harm could there possibly be in discussing horticulture with a serpent? What’s wrong with kicking around a little friendly dialogue with an articulate member of the slithery species? Surely there was no danger in such a discourse. Except for biting into a piece of fruit that would have explosive consequences.

What about an innocent stroll on the palace balcony on a sleepless night! (2 Samuel 11) What possible danger in that? Besides, the king always enjoyed gazing at the stars. Such gazing had once inspired him to write a Psalm about the stars and the heavens and God’s magnificent handiwork (Psalm 8). Surely there was no danger in a little stroll on a sleepless night. Except for spying on a woman taking her evening bath and kicking around a few lustful thoughts.

Yes, the dangerous game of Irish Roulette always begins in an innocent sort of way. And our adversary the devil does his best to conceal the explosive potential in the things we innocently and ignorantly kick around.

So think twice before you kick around dialogue, thoughts, looks, or ideas that you think you can handle. You could be just one swift kick away from destruction! Remember, the devil is a thief and a terrorist who “comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy” (John 10:10). So watch your step!

“The good man brings good things
out of the good stored up in his heart,
and the evil man brings evil things
out of the evil stored up in his heart.
For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”
Luke 6:45 (NIV)

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Jesus here likened the heart to a storehouse. The heart is a place where things can actually be stored. Every day we either make worthy or unworthy deposits into the storehouse that is our heart.

If we liken our heart to a financial institution, then we can imagine that it contains different accounts. Every account has a balance from which we can make withdrawals. Some accounts may be solvent while others may be the verge of insolvency. The health of an account is largely up to the depositor.

According to our text, a man can only bring out of his heart what he has put into his heart. A man can draw no more out of an account than what is deposited there. It is not possible to bring out what was never put in.

In light of this, it is imperative that we discipline ourselves to systematically and consistently deposit good things into our hearts. This will insure that we will have a balance from which to draw when called upon to invest in the lives of others. If we have nothing to give, it is only because we failed to make the necessary deposits into the account from which we seek to draw. You cannot fill needs in the lives of others by trying to make withdrawals from an empty heart.

Our hearts can become empty when we spend without saving. Sometimes we are so busy spending and investing in the lives of others that we forget to replenish the accounts in our hearts. If we continue to spend without saving we will soon find ourselves in a bankrupt condition, with an empty heart. In such a state we can either take the time to replenish the supply or to continue on by writing hot checks. The problem with writing hot checks however, is that we are sooner or later caught in a web of debt and deceit that costs us infinitely more than we could have imagined.

Our hearts can be filled when we systematically and consistently make deposits. When we discipline ourselves to store away a little every day, over a period of time we will find that our hearts have an abundance from which we can draw to share with others. This should motivate us to discipline ourselves to daily store away good things in our hearts. Only then will we reach the point where we can share out of our overflow or abundance.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Neither are your ways My ways’ declares the Lord.
‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:8-9

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The results of an important entomological study were reported over National Public Radio on April 25, 1991. The study concluded that roaches are smarter than earthworms but dumber than bees! This study was conducted by entomologists who I assume are smarter than all three.

How do you suppose one goes about measuring the I.Q. of lower life? Perhaps someone checked the guest registers of roach motels only to discover that an occasional worm had slithered in but nary a bee bumbled by.

I must confess that I have never thought of roaches in terms of their intelligence or even their relative intelligence. Like most sensible people, I have only thought of them as the most disgusting and revolting creatures worthy only of total annihilation. The thought that they do anything but reproduce in Biblical proportions is foreign to me. And yet now I must accept the fact that someone is actually paid to study and measure their intelligence.

It seems rather sad that even the constituents of the bug kingdom cannot escape intelligence testing. We must not be misled however, by thinking that such research is not important. Somebody has to do it. After all, such data can be very valuable to those who have committed themselves to rid the world of roaches.

I don’t think roaches know they are smarter than earthworms but dumber than bees, and I really don’t think they care. Perhaps it should stay that way. I’m certainly not going to volunteer to break the news to them! But while I am on the subject of relative intelligence, I find it interesting that so many people think they are smarter than God!

According to the Bible, God created us and has even been gracious enough to give us His Word, that special revelation that helps us to better understand who we are and who He is. The eighth Psalm tells us that David understood that God is smarter than man.

As David gazed into the heavens, he marveled at the thought that the God who created the macroscopic could be interested in the microscopic.

And, God reminded Job of His superior intelligence in a dramatic discourse recorded for us in the thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth chapters of the book of Job. “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?,” God asked Job.

The writer of Psalm 147 understood that God is smarter than man when he declared that God “counts the number of the stars [and] gives names to all of them.”

Isaiah 55:8-9 records, “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways’ declares the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.'”

Why then do we insist on second-guessing God? Why do we insist on trying to convince ourselves that what God instructs us to do is really not in our best interests? Why do we insist on trying to prove Him wrong by disobeying His instructions? Alas, such activity will serve only to convince us that we are smarter than earthworms but not smarter than God!

“Yet those who wait for the Lord
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.”
Isaiah 40:31

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It happens to all of us. And it usually happens slowly and almost imperceptibly over a long period of time. But it happens nevertheless. The daily grind begins to take its toll.

It begins to bring us down, keep us up, wear us out, and do us in. Life becomes hard. We find ourselves exerting more effort and accomplishing less work. And every step becomes painful. We labor to walk erect while wrapped in the heavy mantle of fatigue. We long to escape the exhaustion that relentlessly pursues us. Pressures and demands shout at us like selfish children insisting on their own way. We find ourselves unable to think straight, stay focused, and press on.

There is however, hope for the tired and strength for the weary. God offers us a direct link to His power. It is available to those who “wait” for Him, or hope in him. To “wait” for the Lord is the way to access His strength and provision during periods of exhaustion.

The word “wait” in Isaiah 40:31 comes from a root that means “rope.” The idea is that God is a life-line, or power-line, to those who are run down and feel they have run out of strength to carry on. Isaiah 40:31 tells us that without waiting there is no gaining of new strength. Without waiting there is no mounting up with wings like eagles. Without waiting there is no running or walking.

God knew that we would grow weary on life’s journey. That is why He made provision for us to be revived. He offers us the kind of strength that can help us to rise above our circumstances as if on wings of eagles. He offers us the kind of power that can help us to run and walk confidently toward the prize set before us.

Apart from looking to Him for such strength we can never successfully arrive at our destination. Instead, we will die of exhaustion along the way. May our pressing on be a testimony to God’s good and kind provision of power for the journey.

“If the axe is dull and he does not sharpen its edge, then he must exert more strength. Wisdom has the advantage of giving success.”
Ecclesiastes 10:10

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Here we have a very practical lesson for life. A dull axe requires its user to exert more strength and rewards him with less production.

How often we feel the pressure to keep swinging to meet deadlines and face challenges without taking into consideration the need to rest and be refreshed. How often we overestimate our own strength and underestimate the challenge before us.

A dull axe looks just like a sharpened axe to the naked, undiscerning eye. The difference between the two is found in the edge. The effectiveness of the two is determined by the imperceptible differences in the width of the edge—a microscopic difference measured in millimeters that has a macroscopic impact.

It is often the very small things that seem so unimportant that make us less effective in our service. It is so easy to ignore the quiet disciplines that help us to maintain a sharp edge. The time spent alone on our knees before God, the hours spent in reading and meditating on the Word of God, the time with our loved ones that remind us that our lives are an important part of a social fabric. It is easy to become so absorbed in the labor that we lose sight of the purpose for that labor.

Keeping a sharp edge means that we must periodically stop to evaluate our labor. The process of evaluation can be better served by allowing others input. Proverbs 27:17 states, “Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another.” Others can usually help us to understand what is happening in our blind-spots. God has gifted others with spiritual gifts that are different from ours thus equipping them with different insight into the issues of life.

It is certainly worth momentarily ceasing from labor in order to evaluate the condition of the axe and to sharpen its edge. Such a respite will help us to become more productive for a longer period of time. You deserve a break today!

“When I gave my heart to know wisdom and to see the task which has been done on the earth (even though one should never sleep day or night), and I saw every work of God, I concluded that man cannot discover the work which has been done under the sun. Even though man should seek laboriously, he will not discover; and though the wise man should say, ‘I know,’ he cannot discover.”
Ecclesiastes 8:16-17

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Men throughout the centuries have given themselves to the task of discovering the meaning of life, the works and ways of God, and the events of the future. There is a restless yearning within man to know why and how and when and if. The great and wise King Solomon gave himself to the pursuit of discovering every “work of God” and “the work which has been done under the sun.” Solomon came to the following conclusions.

First, if a man could devote twenty-four hours a day to the task of discerning such knowledge he would be unable to comprehend everything that God has done. If a man could devote a thousand sleepless years to the task he would still be unable to comprehend it all. Our finite human minds do not have the capacity to process such volumes of information.

Second, if all the wise men in the world devoted themselves to thousands of sleepless years of research and employed millions of scribes to record their insights they would be unable to comprehend everything that God has done or that has been done under the sun. Even the combined intelligence of the greatest minds would fail at the task.

Third, don’t believe any man who says he’s got it all figured out. He is lying, not to mention presumptuous. It is not possible for any man to succeed at the task of discovering and comprehending every “work of God” and “the work which has been done under the sun.” Any man making such a claim would be unable to answer God’s questions about His works, should he be given the opportunity for such an interview. Job can certainly attest to that.

So, does this mean that men should not seek to explore and discover and learn? Absolutely not! Solomon simply reminds us that God is bigger than us. He reminds us that God’s ways, works, and thoughts are higher than ours. He reminds us that while we may acquire much knowledge in our earthly pilgrimage, we will never know more than God nor will we be able to reduce God and His workings to the pages of our journals.

Frederick Lehman, a hymn writer, said it best. He noted that if we were to explore the dimensions of God’s love alone, and could employ every man to dip his pen into an ocean of ink and write on a parchment stretched across the heavens … they would drain the ocean dry and run out of parchment and still leave the project uncompleted. The task of discovering and comprehending every “work of God” and “the work which has been done under the sun” is indeed an impossible assignment.