Emphasis Preaching Journal

Jesus is saying to his listeners, "Don't worry." He saw troubled hearts everywhere, worrying about food and clothing and disasters, and he wanted to help them. Times have not changed. Consider our human situation today. We hear the phrase, "He has the usual businessman's ulcer." It is reported that one person out of ten now living in the United States will have some form of nervous breakdown, in the vast majority of cases induced by worry and emotional conflicts. It is frightening to read that doctors have stated that one person in twenty now alive will spend part of his life in a mental institution. The famous Mayo brothers declared that more than half of the hospital beds are occupied by people whose main problem is anxiety. They state, further, that 15,000 patients treated for stomach disorder at the Mayo Clinic had no physical basis for their stomach illness. Of the causes, fear and worry headed the list. And we all know of cases on every hand where worry is taking away the joy of living for people. We worry about things that will never happen, and we want things we can never attain. Into the midst of our human condition Christ comes with his cure for worry: fill your life with spiritual values. "Believe in God, believe also in me." To rid your life of anxieties, put it in the hands of Jesus. Let your heart be filled with his presence and it will not be troubled. -- Lentz