Follow Me...
THE BIBLE AND YOU
A Doorway of Remembrance The memory of a man who rejected worry, as God instructs us, helps us to do the same. by Robin Webber
W
e all have key moments in life that grabbed our attention and left a lasting impact on us. Some are shared by many. I remember the moments I heard about President Kennedy’s assassination, the space shuttle Challenger explosion and the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. Those events still seem like yesterday. Other bookmark memories are more personal, and I’d like to share one of these. I remember the where, the when, and most importantly the why in this case that led me to a fuller understanding of what to bring and what to leave behind on the spiritual journey initiated by Jesus’ invitation of “Follow Me.” I was invited to an ailing church member’s residence. I knew him fairly well, but I was about to gain deeper insight into how he walked through life. Entering his bedroom, I saw above his door a large sticker declaring, “Worry is a responsibility that God hasn’t give me.” Cute, you might be thinking—nice thought for the day. But allow me to share more details.
witness to others, but was sealed in his heart as a lifegiving instrument to move through life’s many chapters. My blind friend “saw” something that hasn’t yet come into view for many others—that worry is not heaven-sent but earthbound and homegrown. Seeing through fearless eyes of faith
So now I have a question for you: What are you worried about? What is living rent-free in your mind and sinking your heart? Worry is a thin stream of destructive fear trickling through the mind. If indulged, it cuts a channel by which all other thoughts are drained. How harmful is worry left unabated? As old expressions attest, not only can worry leave us “tied up in knots,” but we can “worry ourselves to death”—at least a “living death” by self-induced paralysis if not actually dying from stress. The bottom line is that cowering fear (worry on steroids!) cuts us off from God and will destroy us. The opposite of that—trusting faith—draws us near to God, bringing great blessing. Helen Keller, noted blind lecturer, was known to say, Meeting with a man of true vision “There are none so blind as those who will not see.” My sightless friend’s physical vision may have been hindered, This man was blind since early childhood. Every day he woke up walking through a different world than mine. but the eyes of his heart were wide open and “seeing” where God was leading Him. Every day he could face the challenge of bumping into The light of God penetrates all those who earnestly a wall, falling down a staircase, reaching for something unreachable only to come up empty, being knocked over seek after Him. And in truly accepting Jesus’ invitation of “Follow Me” a miraculous internal vision is formed by someone on a sidewalk, falling from a curb, or being beyond physical senses: “‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, hit in a pedestrian crosswalk by a distracted driver. If anyone had reason to worry every waking moment of life, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But God has he could’ve made that claim! But he didn’t. revealed them to us through His Spirit” (1 Corinthians I often saw him walking in town with his red and white cane ever tapping on the pavement before him and 2:9-10). swishing back and forth like a minesweeper to reveal any impediment. But as I looked above his doorway, suddenly Worshipping God or worry? In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ confronted in that moment 1+1=2 came together. the issue of worry and left an extraordinary map and travel I now knew why the man did not live in a box of his kit to help us navigate our lives and determine what to own making lined with worries and fears. I came to bring along and what to discard on our journey with Him. realize what made his spiritual heart tick. The sticker’s His original audience went about on foot, moving less message that worrying assumes responsibility God has than five miles per hour, so they could take in a lot—very not given was not merely stuck above his doorway as a 28 Beyond Today
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