NIV 365 / Giving Up Worry

The NIV 365-Day Devotional Reading Plan

Day 320 of 365 Giving Up Worry My friend DW operates a local homeless shelter. Until three years ago, he didn't draw a salary from the ministry. Even now, the ministry depends entirely on donations. Plus, DW has no health insurance or retirement plan. DW trusted God for every penny to run the rescue mission and to meet his needs, including his need for a wife. He knew that any woman willing to be his wife would have to be willing to trust God to meet their needs as a couple. Enter Kate. When she met DW, she was immediately attracted to him, particularly his passion for reaching out to people with the gospel. They dated long-distance for many months; then DW proposed. Because they lived in separate states, marrying DW meant that Kate would have to leave her job with a guaranteed salary, health insurance and a 401(k) plan. She wanted to say yes, but- In Luke 12:32-34, Jesus cut to the heart of what holds many of us hostage: money and possessions. He wasn't just talking about greed or wanting riches for prestige, but about the false sense of security money can give. We tend to feel secure when our job provides generous benefits, including insurance, retirement savings and a bonus plan; when our house keeps escalating in value; and when our investments are growing. While it's true that God provides for his children through those means, his bounty is not limited to physical wealth. In Luke 12:22-31, Jesus told his disciples not to worry like unbelievers do about what to wear, eat or drink. He said, "Do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes" (verses 22-23). He then told his followers to sell their possessions and give the money to the poor so they could seek a treasure in heaven that would never fail. "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (verse 34). Jesus was using hyperbole here to make a point: Everything belongs to the Father and we can trust him to provide for us-even when our earthly resources run out. . . . When Kate turned down DW's proposal, he was disappointed, but he understood. "Not everybody is cut out to do what I do," he said. "It's scary to think of trusting God this much. But God has never failed me, and I know he never will." As deep as Kate's fear was of letting go of her financial lifelines, God's grace reached deeper. After several months, she contacted DW and said that if he still wanted her, she was willing to live by faith as long as she could do it with him. We aren't all expected to make such choices, but we are expected to find our treasure in God, not in stuff that can only fail us. -Nancy Kennedy Taken from NIV Couples' Devotional Bible Luke 12:22-31 Luke 12:22-31 KJV 22 And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. 23 The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. 24 Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls? 25 And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit? 26 If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest? 27 Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith? 29 And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. 30 For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. 31 But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.