Chill Out & Pay Attention

Chill Out………..

What does it mean to trust? Webster: Basic dependence on someone or something, a belief that something will happen or someone will act in a prescribed way.

If I were to ask any one of you, most of you would say that you trust God. But sometimes that’s not easy. Trusting God means we have to believe in something we can’t see and often don’t understand.

You see, we find it easier to trust in things that we can see & touch. We’re a little like Thomas, aren’t we? Remember, Thomas said, "Unless I see the nail marks in His hands & put my fingers where the nails were, & put my hand into His side, I will not believe it."

So Jesus shows him & he believes. Jesus then said, "Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen & yet have believed."

The Bible teaches us that the things we can see are only temporary. This building, the pews on which you are sitting, this pulpit, all is temporary. The churches Paul built are gone. Cars, houses, our bodies, no matter what we do to slow down the process, all get old and start falling apart.

A busy mother put her two children to bed. After tucking them in & listening to their prayers, she kissed them good night & walked out thinking, "At last, I can have some time to myself."

So she went into the bathroom, took a nice warm shower, & washed her hair. She put on her old robe, wrapped her head in a towel, applied a thick layer of white moisturizer to her face, put on hand lotion, cucumbers on her eyes, & sat down in the La-z-boy to relax.

Then she hears the sound of a pillow fight going on in the boy’s bedroom. She throws open their door, yells, "You kids get right back in bed & don’t make another sound!" Then she turns off the light & slams the door. The two kids turn to each other & say, "Who was that?"

We look in the mirror & see our aging bodies, & realize that, yes, they are temporary, too. All the things you can see & touch, are only here for a little while & then are gone. But the things you can’t see last forever.

This is a hard lesson for us to learn. Yet it is a lesson we must learn, because when we face trials & troubles in life, we need to remember that Jesus promised, "Lo, I am with you always. I will never leave you nor forsake you. Trust in My presence."

God wants us to trust Him. Moses trusted God to deliver the Israelites at the Red Sea. Joseph trusted God while in Pharaoh’s prison. David trusted God for a victory when he went up against Goliath. Jonah trusted God to answer his prayer in the belly of the big fish. Noah trusted God when he was told to build an ark in the middle of the desert.

But trusting God goes against our nature. Trusting God means that we have to admit that we are not in control of our lives. And, oh friends, we so want to be in control.

Mickey Rivers, a former baseball player, once explained his philosophy of life: “Ain’t no sense worrying about things you got control over, because if you got control over them, ain’t no sense worrying. And there ain’t no sense worrying about things you got no control over either, because if you got no control over them, ain’t no sense worrying.”

I’ve said many times that I don’t worry and I’ve heard some of you ask Wendy if it was true that I don’t worry about anything. It’s really simple. I worry about what I have control over, and since God is in control of everything, that leaves me with nothing to worry about.

Of course, let’s not be dumb about it. I trust God but if I walk in front of a semi or step off a cliff, I’ll probably be killed. God wants us to trust Him, but don’t be dumb about it. Trust Him. Don’t test Him. For example: Last weekend at retreat, came out of parking garage on Fri. nite, didn’t have clue where we were. North or South? I knew God would show us which way to go. I had complete trust He would. No worries.

Why worry when you can trust. It is like a rocking chair, it give you something to do but doesn’t get you anywhere.

In Vs. 2 Jesus goes on to say, "In My Father’s house are many dwelling places." We tend to visualize a new real estate development with an agent who shows up with a map and says, "Your mansion is two blocks down and four blocks to the left.” But that’s not how it is.