Last night we looked at three passages that describe common fears we all have about life, and how the bible addresses those. Here are the notes, sparse as they are.
The Life Everyone Wants: And What the Bible Says about It
1. A life that won’t dry up. (Psalm 1) (see parallel: Jeremiah 17:5-8)
- Knowing who and what not to listen too (v.1)
- Delighting and meditating on God’s word. (v.2)
- You’ll be like a tree by rivers of waters. (v.3)
Make the things God says your biggest interest, and you’ll find an inner source of life that will never dry up.
2. A life that won’t crash and burn. (Matt 7:24-27)
1. Hearing what Jesus says, and actually doing those things. (v.24)
2. You will face storms, but you’ll have rock under your life. (v.25)
3. Your life will be like a house that won’t fall. (v.25)
Put into action what Jesus taught, and you’ll have a rock under your life that can be built on.
3. A life that doesn’t miss out. (Matt 6:31-33)
1. Obeying Jesus by ceasing to worry. (v.31)
2. Thinking and acting like people who really have a heavenly father (v.32)
3. Making God’s aims your aims—seeking His kingdom (not your own…) (v.33)
4. You’ll find the things people worry about added to you. (v.33)
Key: We can’t dictate the terms to God. We can’t tell him what kind of life will fulfill us and what won’t. Instead—Let your thinking and living be shaped by God’s thinking, and you’re life won’t be missing anything.
Sum Up: Instead of letting worry, or finances, or social pressure, or media dictate our thoughts and our lives, we are called to care about and find out what God has said about everything: and then let His thoughts dictate our actual living in the real world. Then we’ll know a life that doesn’t end up dry and dead, end in disaster, or end up in regret.