It’s funny how you can read or hear the same scripture a thousand times and then you catch something that you have never noticed in it before. Philippians 4:6 has got to be one of the most popular verses in the Bible, but yesterday when I read it I caught something different than usual. It starts with “Be careful for nothing” (KJV).
Not too recently I was wondering about this very topic. Very often when we go to Walmart we don’t make it home with all of our bags. I usually just overlook the loss and just trust God to make it up to me in the future because the missing items are usually so minor compared to the stress and the gas money to drive back and deal with it. However, the last time it was a bag full of some pretty expensive merchandise so I was really upset and began to talk to God about how they should have a better bagging system. Then, God dealt with me about why I reaped that loss and after I repented for the mistake He gave the items back. It occurred to me that if I truly believed that God was in control of everything then He knows when my bags will come up missing. He is choosing to use Walmart to work through in order for me to reap what I have sown in my past. I don’t need to go around being overly paranoid about my bags or threatening to sue the store over their bagging system because if I don’t reap it from Walmart I’ll just reap it back somewhere else. God is in control and He is not mocked, “What I sow I will surely reap.” (Galatians 6:7)
This new found view of Philippians 4:6 confirmed what God had taught me about my missing bags, but there is so much more packed into those four little words. We are not to be careful about anything! Nothing! Not one thing! That means our kids, our driving, our words, and all of the other hundreds of things we try to do in our own might every day. Now, this does not mean I’m saying we are to do the opposite; we don’t need to go around being reckless either. According to the Bible, we belong in the middle, not being careless and not being careful.
“Be careful” is just another way of saying that we are in control and not God. We are the reason we mess up and we are the reason we succeed. If we are in control then God is not and we are not in God’s will. That’s where the rest of Philippians 4:6 comes in, it is the other option to being careful. It is the answer to our problems and worries. We don’t have to go through life being careful and feeling guilty when we mess up. All we have to do is choose to ask God for help and trust Him with the results.
Not too recently I was wondering about this very topic. Very often when we go to Walmart we don’t make it home with all of our bags. I usually just overlook the loss and just trust God to make it up to me in the future because the missing items are usually so minor compared to the stress and the gas money to drive back and deal with it. However, the last time it was a bag full of some pretty expensive merchandise so I was really upset and began to talk to God about how they should have a better bagging system. Then, God dealt with me about why I reaped that loss and after I repented for the mistake He gave the items back. It occurred to me that if I truly believed that God was in control of everything then He knows when my bags will come up missing. He is choosing to use Walmart to work through in order for me to reap what I have sown in my past. I don’t need to go around being overly paranoid about my bags or threatening to sue the store over their bagging system because if I don’t reap it from Walmart I’ll just reap it back somewhere else. God is in control and He is not mocked, “What I sow I will surely reap.” (Galatians 6:7)
This new found view of Philippians 4:6 confirmed what God had taught me about my missing bags, but there is so much more packed into those four little words. We are not to be careful about anything! Nothing! Not one thing! That means our kids, our driving, our words, and all of the other hundreds of things we try to do in our own might every day. Now, this does not mean I’m saying we are to do the opposite; we don’t need to go around being reckless either. According to the Bible, we belong in the middle, not being careless and not being careful.
“Be careful” is just another way of saying that we are in control and not God. We are the reason we mess up and we are the reason we succeed. If we are in control then God is not and we are not in God’s will. That’s where the rest of Philippians 4:6 comes in, it is the other option to being careful. It is the answer to our problems and worries. We don’t have to go through life being careful and feeling guilty when we mess up. All we have to do is choose to ask God for help and trust Him with the results.
The above was originally written... May 14th, 2010 at 10:05pm... I've decided to go through some old blogs that I posted on other sites and combine them all into one place (here;).
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