If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)
I trust that the first two blogs of this week have provided some necessary insight into fighting the battle against worry. I have saved the best for last, because in all of sacred Scripture, I simply cannot find a better verse to help in this fight than the one we have before us today.
The apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans tells us we are “more than conquerors” (Romans 8:37) because God is for us . . . and if God is for us, it really doesn’t matter who or what comes up against us. The key that unlocks the door to living a week without worry is keeping our focus on Christ and not on our circumstances.
Holocaust survivor Corrie Ten Boom knew this truth well; she explained it this way, “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.” Worry wrecks our resolve and weakens our response to whatever it is we are facing.
Think about it this way: If the most important and life altering events are no longer a source of worry for you—if you no longer had to give one second of thought to worrying about . . .
- Being forgiven (1 John 1:9)
- Being forsaken (Hebrews 13:5)
- Being forgotten (Isaiah 49:15)
– And if death itself has been overturned by Jesus rising from the grave and becoming the death of death, the there is absolutely nothing in your life that rises to the level of the need for worry! If God is for you, who can be against you? God has got you and God has got this, whatever “this” might be for you.
However, there is a death that is still required, and that is death to the self. The more you die to yourself, the more you can live for your Savior. The apostle Paul wrote that “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). Paul trusted completely in Christ, and that trust turned any occasion for worry into an opportunity to witness to the faithfulness of his Lord.
Let me bring you one final point from the pen of the apostle Paul as we close out our week without worry: Make sure you are advancing in life from your knees and not your feet. “Do not be anxious about anything,” Paul wrote, “but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).
If God is for you . . . and you have His Word on it that He is . . . doesn’t it make sense that He would want to hear from you? Like any good father would want to hear from his children, your Heavenly Father wants to hear from you! And when you go to Him in prayer with whatever it is that is beginning to worry you, you have exchanged worry for worship, which is the true mark of the child of God.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 