Crossing The Finish Line

Did you know that worry kills more people each year than most other illnesses and calamities combined. The Bible clearly tells us to be anxious for nothing, instead we are told to cast all – ALL means ALL – our cares upon Him because He cares for us. Do we do that though? I tend to believe that we think we can manage our lives and situations better than God can so we hold on to things and try to fix them ourselves. The result is that we end up in hot water and deep worry.

The Greek word (merimnao) translated worry literally means ''to be drawn in different directions. '' Because I am such a visual person, this brings to mind the straw man from the Wizard of Oz, having been torn apart, with a leg over here and an arm over there, his head thrown that way, his body over that way…makes me want to shout, “Just pull yourself together!” If only it were as simple as that. Have you ever felt as if you were being pulled in different directions? It’s a difficult place to be. What is the solution?

Prayer. Time with God. Worship. Wise counsel. Meditating on Scripture. These are all great tools to use when you find yourself being pulled in a thousand different directions, unable to stand on the solid ground of His Truth of who you are in Him. Faith and fear cannot live in the same place at the same time. In fact, worry is just another form of fear and FEAR is False Evidence Appearing Real. When we are prone to worry, we have to stop for a moment and realize that the enemy is distorting the truth and distracting us from the breakthrough that is just up ahead. We are so close to the finish line and he’s afraid of our success so he’s trying to get us off course. Don’t let him win!

Paul exhorts you to “press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3:14.) You can do this. Don’t worry; your finish line is straight ahead.