Well, now I know why my wife is always worried of what I may say or write. This blog post only shows that her concern was warranted. But it dawned upon me today that one line from a Jimmy Buffett song has some merit scripturally. No, it's not the line about high school girls being fickle, although that is true, nor is it the statement about mortal sin being good for the soul, which isn't true. In the song Miss You So Badly he croons, "things were better off than I had feared." Now I am not suggesting that you immerse yourself into Buffett's music or become a parrothead, but I was a big fan in a former day. And just to show the power of music I can still remember almost every word to most of his songs, which is not necessarily a good thing. But I digress.
There is much drama in the organized church; it is a world of politics that has to rival D.C. Pastors are usually intimately involved or at least find themselves right in the middle of the storm. If they aren't in the middle then they can be sure that the collateral damage from the storm's periphery will impact them. During those times when the winds are howling pastors have to be careful to not try to calm the wind themselves. The vortex of the storm can easily suck someone in. The church where I serve is not different than most and has its stormy moments, and I don't want to really discuss the nature of our storms because I don't want to get sucked into the vortex and, as Buffett would say in his famous song Volcano, land in New York City, Mexico, Tennessee, 3 Mile Island, Comanche Sky Park, San Juan airport, San Diego, Buzzard's Bay, Yukon territory, or on the Ayatollah.
What's the point? The point is that we are commanded as God's people by the Lord Jesus "do not worry." The Apostle Paul commands us in Philippians 4:6 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." In other words, things are better off than we fear because God is in control. Furthermore, we are not even supposed to worry about it all anyway. The next verse offers us great comfort; it states that the "peace of God will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." If I could only practice taking it all to God first instead of worrying my pretty little head about it I would find peace in Christ! So things are better off than we fear, but we don't live as if they are or as if God is in control.
Now, I know that fear and worry and being anxious are not necessarily synonymous; there is a healthy, reverential fear that should be part of life. I fear coiled up snakes, for instance, because they can cause me harm. We should all fear God in the sense that we reverence Him and recognize His might and authority, but this post isn't about that kind of fear. This post is about the fear of which Jimmy Buffett speaks; it's that "what if" fear. It's the fear of what might happen or what might be; it is the fear of circumstances and the fear of how someone might respond or act or might be thinking. It is really a fear that is best described as "worry" or being "anxious." That type of fear has no place in any Christian's life. Yes, Jimmy, things are better off than I had feared, and I shouldn't have been full of fear anyway. I should have been giving it all over to God in the first place.
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