Out of Order
Sometimes I feel restless. I can’t sit still, my mind doesn’t want to work properly, I tend to not take care of myself real well; and then I stress, worry, and wonder why. It’s amazing how self-destructive I can be: I don’t take care of myself, so I get restless, so I don’t take care of myself more, and stress and worry even more about it; I spiral downward pretty easily, if left to my own devices. Why do I do it so much? Simple: I try and take control of my life back by giving my time, treasures and talents to anything and anyone but God. I’m restless because I’m running from the One who gives rest. I’m anxious, because I’m trying to depend on me for peace, or trying to find peace in everything but the One who gives peace. Simply put: my life is out of order.
And God is not a God of Chaos but of Order. If I find I am restless, anxious, nervous, or any other such thing, it’s because my life is not aligned with Christ. I am not ding as I ought, I am not seeking first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness. I cannot have Peace if I am not aligned with the God of Peace. I cannot be content if I do not do all things through Him who gives me strength. My life is only in order when I am fixing my eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of my faith.
Where is your life today? Are you anxious? Restless? Perhaps you, like me, are out of alignment, and need to refocus your gaze on Who it truly belongs.
Matthew 6:25-34
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Hebrews 12:1-17
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.
It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
