Are you a \u201cwhat if\u201d type?<\/p>\n
What if the money runs out? What if I lose my job? What if someone leaves me?<\/p>\n
Fear of the future is the last of the seven things we've looked at in this series. And in a way the most exhausting of them all.<\/p>\n
Because it's about something that hasn't happened yet, and maybe never will. We spend today's strength worrying about a day that hasn't come.<\/p>\n
The seventh and final Tuesday in From Stressed to Blessed. We end where David ends. And where Jesus takes over.<\/p>\n
David closes Psalm 23 by looking ahead in a completely different way than fear does:<\/p>\n
\"Your goodness and faithful mercy follow me all my life. And I get to live in your house as long as I live.\" (Psalm 23:6)<\/p>\n
You can meet your future in two ways.<\/p>\n
You can say: what if everything goes wrong?<\/p>\n
Or you can say: God's goodness and mercy follow me all the way, and even if everything else fell apart, I will in the end live with him.<\/p>\n
Those are your two options. See the future through the eyes of fear, or see it through God's.<\/p>\n
It's not just positive thinking. It's a choice about what you expect from God.<\/p>\n
And expectation has another word: faith. When you expect God to finish his work in you, you live in faith instead of in fear.<\/p>\n
And here the whole series points toward one invitation. Jesus says:<\/p>\n
\"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take the yoke I lay on you, and learn from me, for I am humble and self-giving. Then you will find rest for your souls. My yoke will help you, and my burden will feel light.\" (Matthew 11:28-30)<\/p>\n
Notice the first thing he says. Come to me.<\/p>\n
Not come to church. Not come to a course. Come to me.<\/p>\n
And then that word so many stumble over: yoke. A yoke is the piece of wood that harnesses two oxen together, so they can pull a load as one.<\/p>\n
When I was younger, I misunderstood the verse. I thought Jesus was offering me yet another burden to carry. Take my yoke upon you \u2014 I've got plenty of my own, thanks.<\/p>\n
But that's not what he's saying. Jesus has no problems he needs help with.<\/p>\n
When he says take my yoke upon you, he means: let me harness myself alongside you. I'll share the load. I'll pull with you.<\/p>\n
And that changes everything. Because when you're harnessed together with Christ, you go in the same direction and at the same pace.<\/p>\n
And those are exactly the two places it goes wrong for us. We go in the wrong direction, and we go at the wrong pace.<\/p>\n
At his side you drive neither into the ditch nor off the edge. He keeps you on the road, and he keeps the speed down, so you don't burn out.<\/p>\n
After seven Tuesdays, in the end it isn't about seven techniques. It's about one person.<\/p>\n
You don't have to carry it alone anymore.<\/p>\n
What's the burden you're still dragging along on your own \u2014 that you could bring to him today?<\/p>\n
What has spoken to you most in this series? Feel free to write it in the comments.<\/p>\n
Come to him. Not to more work. To rest.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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