WHERE ARE YOU LOOKING?

For several years I have clipped short messages from various bulletins I receive and stored them in my desk. They are utilized for sermon ideas and illustrations as well as a source for personal meditation and amusement. Some are funny while others are sobering, but all are instructive. There is a great lesson in the following three lines of but nine words which reveal three very different approaches to life.

                        Sorrow looks back;
                        Worry looks ahead;
                        Faith looks up.

1. Sorrow is often the driving force in life. Many live lives of despair unnecessarily. Sorrow does have a place in our lives. It can be better than laughter and make the heart better. (See Ecclesiastes 7:3.) Let it be understood that the truly wise and spiritually sensitive person is genuinely sorry for his sins and seeks forgiveness in God’s appointed way. We are reminded that “godly sorrow works repentance to salvation…, but the sorrow of the world works death” (II Cor. 7:10; cf. Acts 2:38; 3:19). Someone said, “Repentance says, ‘I’m sorry’, but also shows I’m through.” Paul, the self-described “chief of sinners”, is a great example. Though he had committed atrocious acts against God and His children for which he was obviously sorry, once he had been forgiven, he realized he had to forget “those things which are behind, and reach forth to those things which are before” (Phil. 3:13-15; cf. 4:4, 11-13). So do we!

2. Worry is a thief of the present and, in reality, the future. It robs us of hope and happiness. It pilfers time, talents, and peace of mind. Worry looks ahead anticipating the bad, never expecting the good, and is blind to any possible solution to the common problems of life. A significant section of the Master’s “Sermon on the Mount” is devoted to the futileness of anxiety (Matt. 6:19-34). We would do well to read it, believe it, and practice it. The necessary and godly art of contentment seems to be in short supply among an impatient populace (Phil. 4:11; I Tim. 6:8; Heb. 13:5).

3. The just live by faith. The prophet Habakkuk’s words, “The just shall live by his faith” (2:4), are quoted in three New Testament passages (Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38). Faith is founded upon God’s holy and true Word (Rom. 10:17). Its vital role in becoming a child of God and remaining faithful to Him is unquestionably clear. Faith overcomes fear and is “the victory that overcomes the world” (I John 5:4). Faith says, “Trust in God and all will be well”!              

                                            Edward L Anderson