Ephesians 1-3 is doctrine (spiritual blessings in Christ, predestination, salvation by grace through faith, Jews and Gentiles united in one body, the mystery revealed). Ephesians 4-6 is practical (the 5 “walks” or conduct Christians should have, and stand up to the devil using the armor of God).

Colossians is very similar. Both letters were written while Paul was in “house arrest” in Rome for 2 years (Acts 27,28). But in the Colossian letter Paul is fighting specific heretical teachings about Jesus. The first two chapters are doctrinal, stating the preeminence of Jesus Christ. They deal with the person and work of Jesus Christ. Christ is sufficient for all our spiritual and doctrinal needs. He condemns the false teaching of asceticism, mysticism, Jewish laws being bound on Gentiles, and gnosticism (at least early gnostic thinking if not full blown gnosticism of the 2nd century). Please refer to my last blog to read that discussion and see a couple of very good short videos.

The last section of Colossians is practical. Since Christ is all-sufficient for our spiritual and doctrinal needs, we don’t need to be distracted by human philosophy, religious rules, visions, asceticism, etc. The last verse of chapter 2 gets us ready for chapters 3-4: “22 according to human precepts and teachings? ²³ These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.”

So, now Paul is ready to talk about the real issue facing Christians, and that is how to “stop the indulging of the flesh”. Someone can be a great debater of doctrine, or a very strict religious rule keeper, but if he/she then lives in lust, adultery, hate, jealousy, greed, etc. then all his religion is worthless.

3:1  If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. ³ For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

These 4 verses set the tone for chapters 3 and 4. 2:¹² having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. ¹³ And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses.” You were raised from spiritual death and made alive in Christ. So, what should I be seeking? What should be the main priority and purpose of my living? It should be seeking the kingdom of God. It should be things that are above, i.e. spiritual things. Set (phroneó: To think, to set one’s mind on, to have a mindset) on things above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God, on spiritual things. Can you picture Jesus sitting at God’s right hand somewhere in heaven. He is watching everything I do and say. HIs Spirit is working on me to help me fight the flesh and be a good example of a cleansed sinner. What is he thinking about how I am acting? Is he pleased or displeased? Am I in total submission to him? What does he want me to work on in my life? What plans does he have for me?

Romans 8:⁵ For those who live according to the flesh set (phroneó: To think, to set one’s mind on, to have a mindset) their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. ⁸ Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” I like that word for “set”, i.e. “one’s mindset”. (AI) “A person’s mindset is a set of beliefs that influences how they think, feel, and act in different situations. It also affects how they perceive the world and themselves.” Is my mind set on the things of the flesh or the things of God? Do I spend most of my time thinking about materialism, pleasure, fulfilling my lusts of the flesh, eye, and pride of life? What is my mindset? Is my mindset on spiritual beliefs and things? Is that spiritual mindset strong enough to guide me and stop my from “indulging in the flesh” (2:23)?

So, if you have the proper spiritual “mindset”, here is what you will do. You will “put to death” earthly, sensual thought, deeds, words, and lusts. 3:⁵ Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” You will “put away” these things: 3:⁸ But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. ⁹ Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” You have been re-created by the grace of God into a new spiritual person, constantly cleansed by the blood of Jesus. Now act like such a cleansed sinner should act. You don’t have to be perfectly sinless in putting off these old self practices, but you must make a sincere effort to do so.

Picture being given a new white beautiful dress or a sharp all white men’s suit. Your old clothes are covered in dirt, mud, grease, paint, and holes. You are so thankful for the new clothes that were given to you out of love and compassion. You put off the old clothes and put on the new. How hard would you try to keep that new white dress or suit clean? If you wore it all the time, you would probably spill food or drink on it, or get it dirty, but you would try your best to keep it clean. And if you get it dirty, you have this magic “stain remover” that you quickly apply so that your dress or suit remain white. To me, that is the example of putting off the old self and putting on the new.

Having sincerely tried to put off the old self and old sinful practices, you will try to put on the new self and new practices. 3:¹² Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, ¹³ bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. ¹⁴ And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony (teleiotés: Perfection, maturity, completeness).” In the New Testament, this word is used to describe the process of becoming spiritually mature and fully developed in faith and character. A Christian who is not a loving person is not a mature Christian. He will have little influence on others for Jesus no matter how religious he is or how doctrinally sound he is.

One could do a sermon on each of these new attitudes and practices that we need to “put on”, but their meaning is quite easy to understand. How hard am I trying to work on putting on these? For example, do I have compassion for those less fortunate and the lost? That’s not just to “feel sorry” for them, but to help them. On a scale of 1 to 10, how am I doing in each of these areas? And “above all these put on love”. Would people call me a “loving person”? Love makes one compassionate, kind, forgiving, and patient.

3:¹⁵ And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” The peace of Christ will rule (brabeuó: To rule, to arbitrate, to decide, to govern: From the root word βραβεύς (brabeus), meaning “an umpire” or “a judge.”) in our hearts. It will be an umpire or judge to tell you, “No, your feelings for that person or the way you are treating that person is not right: change your attitude and action.” It will be an umpire that will call fouls on you when you violate the rules of Christian conduct. You were once alienated from Christ, an enemy of God due to your sin, but the grace of God has brought you into a state of being reconciled to God and peace with God. That peace is a spiritual peace with God and it brings an inner peace in your hear with your inner self and your dealings with all people. A person who has a troubled, sinful inner self will not be concerned about being kind to others. A person at peace with God and self will say, “God has been so good to me, saving me, and I want to share that peace with others and help them to find that peace.” 3:15 “and be thankful” for what God has done for you.

Let the word dwell (enoikeó: To dwell in, to inhabit) in you richly. Not just “dwell in you” but “dwell in you richly”. The way the word gets in you is by reading, studying, and meditating on the word of God. But, as the SEC radio slogan says, “it’s not that you schedule your child’s birth around college football games, it just means more than that”. It means that the word of God lives in you and influences and guides you in everything that you do. Of course, you have to know what the word says, thus the reading and studying. Once the word gets in your mind and heart, picture the Spirit of God constantly urging you to apply what the word says to your life. The Spirit through the word nudges you to not do something bad that you were about to do and urges you to do something good that you need to do. My mom wrote long letters telling how she felt about things. I read those letters at times and it is a constant reminder of what she would want me to do. Her spirit speaks to me through those written letters. It’s the same with the Spirit and the word of God. Hebrews 4:² For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. ¹³ And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” But the word is only “living and active” if you are intent on letting the Spirit energize that word to influence and guide you. I am a full preterist in doctrine and feel that I can really help people understand the Bible in context in such a way that it will increase their faith in Jesus and the word. That means a lot of the word in my mind. But I struggle to let the Spirit use the word to help me put away certain bad thoughts and deeds, and put on love, compassion, and kindness. That’s what I need to work on! How about you?

The word dwelling in you will also motivate you to teach (didaskó: To teach, instruct) and admonish (noutheteó: To admonish, to warn, to instruct) one another. A good way to do this is with singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with thankfulness in our hearts. Psalms were singing the 150 psalms of the Old Testament. Hymns were praise songs sung by a congregation. Spiritual songs would be any song that the Spirit led them to sing about our new life in Christ. This is not just a command for the assembly on Sunday morning. It is not a command that would forbid singing songs with instrumental music. The Greek word for psalms is psalmos and is derived from the verb ψάλλω (psallō), meaning “to pluck” or “to play a stringed instrument.” 5568 psalmós – a psalm (“Scripture set to music”). Originally, a psalm (5568 /psalmós) was sung and accompanied by a plucked musical instrument (typically a harp), especially the OT Psalms.” That doesn’t mean that we can only sing psalms with an instrument, but it certainly does not rule out using an instrument to sing psalms with. My church has made such a big issue of non-instrumental worship, even calling the use of instruments a sin, perhaps a sin that would condemn one’s soul. That is sad. It has caused division instead of eliminating it.

Finally, 3:¹⁷ And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” That covers it all, doesn’t it. Whatever you do in word or deed, do it by that authority and command of the head, Jesus, always giving thanks. Let a thankful heart be always in you. If someone saved my life, I would be always thinking about what they did for me and how I could show gratitude to them.

That leads Paul to state the commands for wives to submit to husbands, husbands to love their wives, children obey their parents, fathers don’t provoke your children, slaves server your masters as if you were serving Jesus himself, and slave masters to be fair and kind to their slaves.

A few personal instructions close the letter to the Colossian church. “3:² Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. ³ At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— ⁴ that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.⁵ Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. ⁶ Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” This speak of God’s providence opening doors for the preaching of the gospel. Organizations like Eastern European Missions are constantly looking for and finding open doors for printing and distributing Bibles and children’s Bible story books all over the world in many languages. Paul was in prison in Rome and yet God opened a door for him to preach to the imperial guard (they guarded the emperor) (Eph 1:13). The Colossians are told to pray for God to open a door for Paul to preach the gospel. I don’t know how intercessory prayer works, but it works.

Salt preserves and adds flavor. Our speech should be seasoned with salt. We should be encouragers when others are frustrated and pessimistic. We should be praising and thanking God when others are cursing. We should be peacemakers when people are arguing and fighting. We should be giving a special word to someone who needs it. We should be able to make a defense to anyone who asks us about the hope we have in Jesus (1 Peter 3:15). Especially to non-Christians, outsiders, who are watching us closely to see if we really are sincere Christians.

Then some very personal comments. Several names. Tychicus would carry the letter to the Colossians. Onesimus was the runaway slave of Philemon who was converted in Rome by Paul. Philemon was a member of the Colossian church. Aristarchus was a fellow prisoner, actually with Paul on his 3rd journey and as a prisoner with Paul on the ship to Rome. Markm the cousin of Barnabas, was back in favor with Paul after Paul rejected him going on the 2nd journey b/c he left them on the 1st journey. Jesus called Justus comforted Paul in prison. Those 4 men were the only Jewish Christians that helped him in prison. Most of the Jews in Rome who came to hear Paul preach in prison rejected His gospel message. The physician Luke who traveled with Paul on his 3rd journey and was with Paul in Rome. Demas was still in grace at this time (and in Philemon 24) but later left Paul, loving the present world (2 Tim 4:10). Nympha was a member of the church in Laodicea and had a house church in her church. Archippus was told to fulfill his ministry, maybe as a pastor in the church at Laodicea. The Colossians were to pass their letter to the Laodicean church and then read the letter Paul wrote to the Laodiceans, which we don’t have. Paul wrote this letter with his own hand.

I have a blog article on Colossians that is more complete, but this is a shorter version. I encourage you to stop right now and watch this 5 minute video on the historical background of Colossians. You might hear the term “dualism” and wonder what that means. This video will help understand some of the heretical philosophy being taught and discussed in Colossae.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2UW66oBEsA&list=PLWdLxfKtLrX6IqjbPbuybN0NouIq5nzjp&index=8

The theme of Colossians is “Christology“: the study (ology) of Jesus Christ, his person (who he is) and his work (what he came to do). The first two chapters discuss the person and work of Jesus Christ. Stop and watch this 4 minute video on the first two chapters.

This slide from Marvin Willis sums up the false teaching that Paul was confronting in the letter:

Gnosticism is complicated, but basically: all flesh is evil and God cannot come into an evil fleshly body, so Jesus cannot be “God in the flesh”.

HIs answer to all this heresy is that all the fullness of God dwells in Jesus Christ. He is fully God while being fully man. That is hard to understand fully and we don’t have to understand it perfectly. In the first few centuries of Christianity there were several councils to debate the different philosophies about the nature of Jesus, such as docetism. (AI) “Docetism, (from Greek dokein, “to seem”), Christian heresy and one of the earliest Christian sectarian doctrines, affirming that Christ did not have a real or natural body during his life on earth but only an apparent or phantom one.” There were many more. The councils usually ended up deciding which view was correct, and then they declared as heretics anyone who disagreed with that view. It was a lot of unnecessary “splitting of hairs” that led to much division in the early church. We simply must believe that the fullness of God dwells in Jesus (i.e. He is fully God), that He did come in the flesh (i.e. the incarnation), that He is the only begotten Son of God (John 1:14), that He is the Christ (i.e. the Messiah: Christ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Messiah). 1 John 2:²² Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. ²³ No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.”

Here is another good summary by Marvin Willis of what Paul says in chapter 1 and 2:

Or this slide (a little blurred) by Ernie Varra that gives the verses:

1:¹⁵ He is the image (eikón: Image, likeness, representation) of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” The word is used by Jesus of the image of Caesar that was on a denarius coin. Matthew 22:²⁰ And He *said to them, “Whose image (eikon) and inscription is this?” So when you see the coin, you see the likeness of Caesar himself. Jesus said, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, ‘Show us the Father’?” (John 14:9). God is a spirit (John 4:24) and you can’t see a spirit (sorry, Casper is not real). But when you see all the qualities that Jesus had, you see what the Father is like.

1:¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.” Preiminent in the Greek is próteuó: To have the first place, to be preeminent. (AI) “The verb “próteuó” signifies holding the highest rank or position, being first in importance or influence. It is used in the New Testament to describe the supremacy and preeminence of Christ, particularly in relation to creation and the church.” The word is only used once in the New Testament and it fits so well in Colossians. The supremacy and preeminence of Jesus Christ. Why is He preeminent? 1:¹⁹ For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell” (i.e. b/c he was not just a man, a prophet, a spiritual guru: he was God in the flesh.

He was not a created being as the Jehovah’s Witness claim. John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being.” Everything is either created (from nothing, Genesis 1) or not created (eternal). The “Word” here is Jesus. 1:¹⁴ And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Thus Jesus created all things. Anything that was created was created by Jesus. If he was a created being, he would have to have created himself. He is the firstborn (prototokos: Firstborn) of all creation. (AI) “The term “prototokos” is used in the New Testament to denote the firstborn child in a family, emphasizing preeminence and priority in both birth order and status. In a theological context, it is often used to describe Jesus Christ, highlighting His supremacy and unique position in creation and redemption.” “Firstborn” here does not mean Jesus was the first thing created, which would contradict John 1:1-3. It means that he has the preeminence over all creation just as the firstborn son has preeminence.

All the elements that make up the earth are made up of cells with a nucleus in each cell. The nucleus has positively charged protons in the nucleus itself and negatively charged electrons that spin around the nucleus in defined shells and orbitals. Positive attracts negative. What keeps the negatively charged electrons from being drawn into the nucleus by the positively charged protons, thus collapsing the cell and destroying matter? 1:17 says that is is Jesus who holds thing together. Where does the force of gravity come from? 1:17 says it is Jesus’ power that creates gravity. There is an equation for the force of attraction between two objects: F = G * (m1 * m2) / r^2. M1 and m2 are the masses of the two objects. F is the force of attraction. G: is the gravitational constant (approximately 6.674 × 10^-11 N⋅m²/kg²). G is one of the many “constants” in physics and math that cannot be explained by random by chance atheistic explanations of how the earth came to be. But why does that equation exist and work? 1:17 says it is by the power of Jesus. Jesus created all objects. His power is the attraction between the two objects (which creates gravity and another constant, the force of gravity which is 9.8 m/sec^2). Jesus is the one who came up with the force of attraction equation and put it into effect at creation. Jesus is the one who wrote all the equations and constants that govern how the universe operates. It is by his power that they all work so consistently and perfectly.

1:¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.” If he is preeminent over all creation, then certainly He is the head over his spiritual body, which is the church, i.e. those saved by his death, burial, and resurrection. The husband is the head of the wife, which means she is in submission. The church is in submission to follow and obey all the teachings of Jesus. Just as our physical systems of the body are controlled by our heads, so it is with Jesus and his body, the church. The pope is not the head of the church. Ephesians 4:11 lists 5 gifted leadership offices or positions: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors (elders), and teachers. Don’t you think that the position of “pope” would be in that list if Jesus wanted a pope to be the leader of the church? We must submit to Christ and Him only.

1:²⁰ and through him to reconcile (apokatallassó: To reconcile completely, to restore to favor) to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. ²¹ And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, ²² he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.” Reconciliation emphasizes the total restoration of a relationship that was once broken due to sin. It is the restoration of a state of peace between two parties that were enemies in a conflict. Romans 5:¹⁰ For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. ¹¹ And not only this, but we also celebrate in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” We were enemies of God due to our sin. It is not that we hated God. It is simply that our sins put us in a state of enmity with God. Reconciliation with God makes us at peace with God in our spiritual relationship. Romans 5:1: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Jesus’ is our means of achieving that peace. Ephesians 2:¹⁴ For He Himself is our peace.” 2 Corinthians 5:¹⁷ Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. ¹⁸ Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, ¹⁹ namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their wrongdoings against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. ²⁰ Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ²¹ He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Paul continues with what Jesus did, what he accomplished. 2: ¹¹ In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ¹² having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. ¹³ And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, ¹⁴ by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ He disarmed the rulers and authorities^[and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” He made us alive spiritually as we rose from immersion in baptism (the word baptism means immersion). Baptism is an act of faith, not a work to earn salvation. He was circumcised (peritomé: Derived from the Greek verb περιτέμνω (peritemnō), meaning “to cut around, the cutting around of the foreskin) cut off from the land of the living (hence the word circumcision). Isaiah 53:By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?”

Since Christ is all we need and he is the head of the church, we should not let anyone bind rules or laws on us that Jesus did not command. Apparently there were many false teachers who were doing that. They were teaching asceticism: the denial of the body’s normal desires in order to be more righteous: don’t taste, don’t touch. They were teaching the Gentile Christians that they had to keep the rituals of the old covenant, such as the unclean food laws, the observance of Jewish feasts and the new moon. Some were saying they had visions about angels and promoted the worship of angels. They were telling the Christians that they were not fully saved unless they did these things. None of these things were commanded by Jesus. We are sufficient in Christ. Don’t let anyone judge you or mislead you or bind human traditions or philosophy on you.

There is much to apply to today concerning the Christology that Paul presented. There are a lot of Christian denominations and cults that deny that Jesus was God, such as Christian Science, Jehovah’s Witness, and many others. There are many denominations that make their members observe the unclean food laws, such as the Seventh Day Adventists. Some groups have leaders that deceive the members with visions they claim to have seen. Some groups emphasize the teachings of their latter day prophets to the exclusion of making Jesus Christ the core of their teaching.

In other words, we have a lot of the same false teaching as the Colossians did.

Change of pace. Shift gears. My wife and I go to McDonalds every Sunday morning for Egg McMuffins and senior coffee. Around $10. About $2 of actual ingredients or less, but that’s eating out. Then my granddaughter told me about the McDonalds app, which everyone in the world already uses that except me. We get a 2nd breakfast sandwich for $1 now and save $3. That makes it taste better to me. Don’t tell me that I am cheap. I already know that.

But as we sit this morning eating at MdDonalds, I look out the window and see some muhly grass, small cypress plants, some pansies, and some mulch. A sparrow or two. Do you think those plants or birds are worried about the future? Here is your Bible thought for the day: Matthew 6:²⁵ “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? ²⁶ 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? ²⁷ And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?^[g] 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ 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? ³¹ Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” ³⁴ “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Are you a worrier? I am. I worry about not having anything to worry about. I think, “things are going too good; surely something bad is going to happen!” I am a “what if” person. What it this happens, what if this or that goes wrong. People hate to travel with me b/c I stress them out with my worrying. Anyone out there like that?

Jesus wasn’t telling us to not even try to work hard and provide for our needs. The birds don’t “sow or reap or gather into barns”, but they do constantly look for bugs to eat and to carry back to their chicks in their nests. But they don’t store up in barns for the future. They live day to day. And your (our) heavenly Father feeds them. How much of my time and energy is spent on planning for the future, for retirement, for possible catastrophic events? Again, nothing wrong with insurance and retirement plans. That is just good stewardship of what God has given us. But that should not be my main focus. I need to be focused on just enjoying each day that God gives me.

The sad thing is that, compared to most third world countries, I really don’t have anything to worry about. I have money, a nice house, stocked pantry, food in the fridge and freezer, and a credit card to go to a grocery store that in over stocked with food. I have a family doctor and we have hospitals and medical help for any sickness. I have medicare A and B and a supplemental policy to pay for it. I have nice cars. In the meantime, some child is walking 3 miles one way to get dirty water from a pond that the animals drink from and waste gets into. I. saw a “Water for Life” commercial raising money for drilling wells for clean water in Africa. A lady’s baby had died from drinking contaminated water. The mother could do nothing to get clean water and they did not have money for medical help. She had a 2nd baby and was afraid to let that baby drink the only water she had, the dirty water, for fear that child would die also.

Maybe a good New Year’s resolution for me would be to try not to worry so much. As Jesus said, worrying about something doesn’t help one bit, and it is a lack of faith. Seek first the kingdom of God and let God provide. What can I do today that would be the kingdom living that you read about in the sermon on the mount? What can I do today that will help someone find the kingdom of God and salvation. That’s what I need to be focussing on.

Have a great new year.