Transcription
This week, as I was traveling between appointments in Seattle, Chicago, Linux, Massachusetts, and Charlotte, I read a headline that said that personal stress worldwide is now at near record levels. Near record levels. The highest it's been really since about World War II.
So, I decided to do a little research on this and I found out that today suicide has now passed car crashes as the number one injury death in America. The number one injury death in America is now suicide. I I read another statistic that the top seven stresses in life are number one your job, number two, money, three, health, relationships, poor diet, media overload, lack of sleep, and parking at Saddleback. Oh, I made up that last one. Obviously, maybe you can uh identify with this. I got this note, Pastor Rick. A few weeks ago, I went to a doctor for uh some chronic aches and pains that seem to be getting worse. I don't sleep well and I live in a constant state of fatigue. I told my doctor that I started a business seven years ago that's become very, very successful, but I now must force myself to go in to work. I feel overwhelmed. I feel overloaded. So my doctor asked me to list the stresses in my life and then think of some possible ways to reduce those stresses and then write down a plan of attack. I'd like to know what the Bible says about stress management.
I hope you're in the service today because today we're going to look at the classic text in the entire Bible on how to keep from stressing out. We've been in this series through the book of Philippians. And as we come to chapter 4, Paul gives us in verses 6 to 13 the classic antistress management recipe. If you have a Bible, you can open to Philippians chapter 4. If you didn't bring a Bible, that's okay. just pull out these notes. All the verses we're going to look at are inside uh your bulletin on this text passage outline.
Now, the key uh to this is that this passage actually comes with a stress management guarantee. And it's not guaranteed by a doctor. It's guaranteed by God. So, you really want to pay attention to this one if you want to lower the stress in your life. In verse seven, we have the promised guarantee. Here's what it says. If you do these things, you will experience God's peace. There you go. You will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. The Bible calls this the peace that passes understanding. How do you know when you have the peace that passes understanding? You're in a situation when you have no logical reason to be at peace. And you are. That's the peace that passes understanding. When you're in a situation where you're in total chaos, total meltdown, total stress, total tension, everything is going wrong at the same time, and yet you're at peace inside. That is the peace that passes understanding. And God says, I guarantee this to you. If you do these things, you'll experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind could understand. His peace will keep your thoughts quiet and keep your heart at rest. Wouldn't you like that? To have your thoughts quiet and your heart at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus.
Now, God promises a more peaceful, less stressed mind. Is anybody interested in this? Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Now, you know that there are over 7,000 promises in the Bible. But with every promise, there is a premise. God says, "If you do this, then I'll do this." There is a condition. And I want you to circle the premise for this promise. And it is those first several words. If you do these things, circle that. If you do these things, it's going to keep you from stressing out. You will experience God's peace. His peace will keep your thoughts quiet, keep your hearts at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus. If you do these things, what things? Well, that's what we're going to look at today. And there specifically are five things that God says to do in this passage. He says, "I want you to worry about nothing. I want you to pray about everything. I want you to thank God in all things. I want to keep you to keep your mind on good things. And I want you to be content in all things."
Now, we're going to look at these in detail. So, let's get right into it. If you're taking notes, here's the first step. If I want to keep from stressing out, number one, refuse to worry about anything. Refuse to worry about anything. Why? Because the number one source of stress in your life is not work. It is worry. You may be overworked, but it's more likely you are overworked. Work doesn't keep you up at night. Worry does. And most of you are overworked.
Now God is very clear in the Bible what he thinks about worry. And that's the first verse. Verse 6. The first part of the first verse. Verse 6. Philippians 4. It says this. Never worry about anything. Now circle never and circle anything. Never worry about anything. Question. Is there any wiggle room in that verse? No. Is there any exception? No. Uh is there any exemption? No. Is there any reason where God says it's okay to worry in this circumstance? No. Never worry about anything. That's about as big a blanket statement as you can make. He says in no circum what about no. Never worry about anything. But what about no? Never worry about anything. But what about no? Never worry about anything.
Now, now Jesus thought worry was such an important topic that he spent a major section of his most famous sermons called the sermon on the mount talking about worry. [snorts] And in that sermon on the mount, he gives us the four reasons you should never worry about anything. You might want to write these down.
Number one, Jesus says about worry, worry is unreasonable. It's illogical. It is unreasonable. It doesn't make sense. In verse chapter uh Matthew 6:25, Jesus says this, "Don't worry about your life. Don't worry about your life. What you'll eat or drink or about your body or what you wear? Is not life more important than food. And is not the body more important than clothes?" He's saying, "This is not logical. You got your priorities out of order. It's irrational. It's it it it doesn't make sense. It's unreasonable."
Now, why is worry unreasonable? Well, there's a couple reasons. First, because worry exaggerates the problem. It never makes a problem smaller. It always makes it bigger. Have you noticed somebody says something bad about you, the more you think about it, the bigger it gets. Or you got a problem, you start worrying about it. The more you worry about it, does the problem shrink with your worry? No. It always gets bigger. Worry exaggerates. It's irrational. It's unreasonable. It makes it bigger. It grows the problem out of proportion. And not only does is worry exaggerating your problem, worry doesn't work. It never has worked. It is worthless. It is stewing without doing. It doesn't make any difference in your life. You see, to worry about something you can't change is useless. And to worry about something you can change is stupid. Just go change it. In either case, worry is not the answer. Worry doesn't work. It's unreasonable.
Second, uh Jesus says worry is unnatural. It's unnatural. Why? Because in the entire universe, the only creations of God that worry are human beings. Birds don't worry. Cows don't worry. Dogs don't worry. Cats don't worry. Cats create worries, but they don't worry. Worry is unnatural. What do I mean by that? Because you weren't born with it. There are no born worriers. You might think you are, but you're not. You're not a born worrier. You learned it. Worry is something you learn. Now, the good news is if you learn to worry, it can be Yeah. unlearned. Now, you learned it. And actually, to get good at it, you got to practice it. Some of you are pros at worry. You have practiced it so much. You are so good at worrying. You are you I mean you get the PhD if you were if they had Olympics on worry you'd get a pen okay because you have practiced it so much but it's learned worry is not natural no baby is born worrying they pick it up from everybody else now Jesus says in Matthew 6:26 look at the birds of the air they don't sew or reap or store away in barns and yet your heavenly father feeds them are you not much more valuable than they if anybody's on God's welfare program It's birds. They don't do anything except birdie things. Tweet. That's it. Well, I tweet, but maybe they tweet, too. Look at the birds of the air. They don't sew a reap. But he says, "Your heavenly father feeds them." Notice your heavenly father. He's not talking about the bird's heavenly father. He's saying your heavenly father. Now, if God is your heavenly father and you are his child, children get special privileges. And children of royalty are treated royally. And he says, "What are you worrying about? Birds don't worry. And they're not even God's not their father. God's their creator, but not their father. God's your father. Don't worry about it." He says, "Birds don't worry. Animals don't worry." Verse 28 and 29, Jesus says, "And why do you worry about clothes? Why do you worry about clothes? Look at the liies of the field." The field liies, they they don't worry about theirs. Yet King Solomon in all his glory was never clothed as beautifully as they are. He's saying in all of God's creation, in the entire universe, only human beings worry. Animals don't worry, plants don't worry. We are the only thing God made that doesn't trust him. And he says, "Worry is unnatural." He says, "God says, you're valuable, more valuable than these things. I take care of them."
By the way, since worry is unnatural, uh it's also unhealthy. Your body wasn't designed to handle worry. It wasn't designed. When people say, "I'm worried sick." They're telling the truth. And and doctors say a lot of people could leave hospitals today if they knew how to get rid of guilt, resentment, and worry. Cuz that's what puts most people in. And see, what I'm saying is it's not so much what you eat. It's what eats you. It's what eats you that makes you sick. It's the worry in your life. It's not just unnatural. It's unhealthy. Causes all kinds of health problems. Let me show you a couple verses up here on the Bible on the screen. The Bible says this. Proverbs 12:25, "An an anxious heart weighs a man down." Boy, you know that one. And you feel like you're just pulled down by the worries. You know, the the word worry actually comes from an old English word which means to strangle or to choke. That's what worry comes from. To strangle or choke. And when every time you worry, you are strangling and choking the life out of your life. An anxious heart weighs a man down. Look at the opposite on here on the screen. Proverbs 14:30 says, "But a heart at peace gives life to the body." You want to be healthier, you need to stop worrying. Never worry about anything. Why? It's unreasonable and it's unnatural.
The third thing Jesus says, it's unhelpful. It's unhelpful. Worry cannot make you one inch taller. [laughter] Worry can't make you one inch shorter. Worry can't take 10 inches off my waist. If it could, it would have worry cannot lengthen your life. It It can shorten your life, though. We know that worry cannot change the past and worry cannot control the future. All it does is make today suck. It messes up today. That's all it does. It doesn't change the past. It can't change control the future. It just messes up today. It's kind of like sitting in a rocking chair. You expend a lot of energy, but you don't make any progress. You're just it's it's useless. The only thing that worry changes is you. It makes you miserable. Doesn't solve the problem. It's unhelpful.
And then the fourth reason why the Bible says, "Never worry about anything is because it's unnecessary." God says, "What in the world are you worrying about? Don't you think I'm going to take care of you? Don't you think I'm going to meet your needs? I made you. I created you. I saved you. I love you. I put my spirit in you. Don't you think I'm going to take care of your needs? It's unhelpful, but it's also unnecessary. There's no need to worry." Jesus says this in Matthew 6:30. You know, if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, think of all the beautiful flowers that are never seen by human beings, but God takes care of them. He said, 'If God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won't he most surely care for you, oh you of little faith? You're as happy as you choose to be. If you're unhappy, it's cuz you're choosing to be unhappy. Don't blame your husband, your wife, or anybody else. It is a choice, and so is worry. Worry is a choice. Nobody's holding a gun to your head. You don't have to worry.
And so the first step in stress management is to refuse to worry about anything. Why? Cuz it's unhelpful, unreasonable, unnatural, and unnecessary. The Bible says this, 1 Peter 5:7, "Unload all your worries on God since he is looking after you." And I love that word unload because literally in the original Greek it means to just drop. It's not like take a a a long throw of it like like you're throwing a baseball or throwing a rock across a lake. It just says unload. It means let it go. Let it go. And God says, you know, all those things you're stressing about this morning, all those things you're anxious, you're worried, you're fearful, you're uptight about, let it go. Let it go. Never worry about anything because it's not going to do any good anyway.
So what do you do anyway? you do the next step and that's the second part of this verse. First part of verse six says never worry about anything. The second part is talk to God about everything. That's the second step. You talk to God about everything. Don't panic. Pray. Don't worry. Worship. Stop talking to yourself about all the stuff that stressed you out and start talking to God. Talking to yourself won't do anything, but talking to God will. He's saying talk to God about everything. This is the second part of this verse. Philippians 4:6. Never worry about anything. Instead, in every situation, let God know what you need in your prayers and in your request.
You know, I got to thinking yesterday, if you prayed as much as you worry, you'd have a whole lot less to worry about. And and and by the way, God has since God has promised to care for you, if it's not worth praying about, it's not worth worrying about. He says, talk to God about everything. God knows what you need in your prayers. You know, when I was a kid, anytime I had a need in my life, I would uh I'd go talk to my dad, say, "Dad, I need this." And sometimes it was something that cost something. It was expensive. And I said, "Dad, I need this." I I I can distinctly remember that not once as a kid when I said, "Dad, dad, I need this." Never once did I worry about where my father was going to get the money. [laughter] Never once. Cuz that's not my job. It's my dad's job to figure out where the money is going to come from. It was my job as a kid, as a child, to simply ask. It's not your job to figure out how God's going to do it. It's your job to ask to ask your heavenly father, "Father, I need this help." You see, when you worry instead of asking the When you worry instead of asking, you're acting like an atheist. Worry is practical atheism. That's what it is. It's It's acting like I don't have a heavenly father in my life. It's acting like God doesn't exist. It's acting like I'm a spiritual orphan. Worry is practical. atheism. God says, "I'll take care of you." It's acting like God can't be trusted.
Now, here's what the Bible says. Look in your outline. James 4:2. You do not have because what? >> You do not ask. You do not ask God. So, here's the second key to stress management. Worry less, ask more. Worry less, ask more. Instead of worrying, pray worry about nothing, pray about everything. You say, 'Well, I don't want to bother God with this little bitty tiny little thing. There's nothing tiny to God. Every problem in your life is tiny to God. There's no big problems in your life. There no little problems in your life because all of them are tiny to God.
Now, here's what the Bible says in Romans chapter 8:32. Since God did not spare even his own son, Jesus, but gave him up for us all, he died on the cross for us. Won't he give us Christ? Who won't he who gave us Christ also give us everything else we need? What's he saying here? Follow the logic. Your biggest problem is getting into heaven because heaven's perfect and you're not. And neither am I. I stopped batting a thousand about breath number three. And so God came up with plan B. He came to earth in human form. And he said, "I'll live a perfect life and I'll die for you and you can get into heaven on my ticket. It's grace. I don't work it. I don't earn it. I don't deserve it. I don't buy it. It's just grace." I told you last week that one of my mentors was Peter Ducker. And I asked Peter one time, "Peter, at what po point did you step across the line and accept a relationship with Jesus?" He said, "You know, Rick, the day that I understood grace for the first time, I realized I'm never getting a better deal. There was no way I'm getting into heaven on my goodness. I'm I'm not good enough. It says, if God did not spare his own son, but gave him for us, won't he give us everything that Christ has given to us? Won't he give us everything else we need? If God solved my biggest problem, everything else is small by comparison. And if God loved you enough to die for your sins, don't you think he loves you enough to help you with your finances? Don't you think he loves you enough to help you with your health? with your relationships, with a career decision, with closing a deal, with making a sale. Yeah, there is no area of your life that God is not interested in. The Bible says he has the hairs on your head numbered. Now, for some of us, that's not too hard. But God knows every hair on your head and even the ones you left in the sink this morning. That's how detailed. I don't even know how many hairs on my head, but God does. God says, "I'll care for you and I'll care for all of your life." So, one of the dumbest things you can say is, "God, I'll handle this." Really? When he's offered to take care of every area of your life to say, "God, I'll handle this." Why? You want to lower the stress in your life. Worry about nothing and pray about everything.
Number three, the third thing he tells us to do is to thank God in all things. Thank God in all things. Now, it doesn't say thank God for all things because there's a lot of things you shouldn't be thankful for. There's pain in the world. There's there's evil in the world. Somebody gets cancer, you don't have to thank God for cancer. Somebody dies, you don't have to thank God for their death. But it says, "In all things, give thanks." which means even in the bad times I can find something good. Now here's the third part of that verse. Philippians 4:6, he says, you know, worry about nothing. And then he says, when you ask God for what you need, also thank him. Circle that. Thank him for all he's done. Always ask with a thankful heart. The today's English version said, you cannot be happy and ungrateful at the same time. Happy people are grateful people. unhappy people or ungrateful people. Study after study after study has shown that the healthiest emotion known to human beings is the attitude of gratitude. And the more you build gratitude in your life, the more happy and the more healthy you're going to be. And the in fact studies shown that having an attitude of gratitude actually raises your immunities and being ungrateful and being resentful actually lowers your immunity uh to uh to uh other other things in life. We know that that gratitude is one of the remedies for depression because it gets my eyes off myself and gets it on other people. Instead of looking at what I don't have, I look at what I do have. It's a stress reliever. Gets the focus off me. Ungrateful people are unhappy people. He says when you ask God, don't just ask, but also thank him. Always ask with a thankful heart.
Now, the fact is I can always find something to be grateful for. We've talked about this before on on on the cover of Kay's last book on choosing joy. There is a pair of railroad tracks and it's representative of life that on in your life you're always got you've got two rails at the same time. One rail are the good things that are happening in your life and and the other rail are the bad things that are happening in your life. Now, I used to think that life was a series of hills and valleys, mountain tops and and low low times and and you know that you have all of these good times and you have all these bad times. But that's not really true. The fact is you get them both at the same time all of your life. In other words, there's no time in your life when everything is good and and there's nothing bad in your life. And and there's no time when everything is bad and there's nothing good in your life. No matter how good things are going on in your life, there's always something you need to be working on and no matter how bad things are in your life, there's always something you can be thankful for, be grateful for. And and and so I can always find something. And this is the third step for stress reduction. Be thankful and thank God in all things. This is exactly what the Bible says. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says this, "In everything," circle that. Now, it doesn't say in most things, it says, "In everything, not for, but in everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." You know, people ask me all the time, Rick, I'm just trying to figure out what God wants me to do with my life. What is God's will for my life? There it is right there. This is the will of God for you. And before God shows you step two, you need to take step one. God does have a will and a plan for your life, your marriage, your career, your education, and everything else. But before we get to those specifics, God says, "Let's work on the general." The first thing is I want you to learn to be grateful in every situation. This is the will of God for you.
Number four, the fourth step we find in the next couple verses, and it's this. If I want to reduce the stress in my life, I worry about nothing. I pray about everything. I thank God in all things. And number four, I think about good things. I think about good things. Now, this is extremely important because the stress and your war with stress in your life, that war, that battle is going on between your ears. The stress isn't out there. It's in here. It's inside. It's between your ears. The battle is in your brain. It's in your thought life. It's in your mind. And your war with stress or won or lost in your mind. And what you fill your mind with will determine the level of stress in your life. If you want peace of mind, now listen closely. If you want peace of mind, you're going to have to start controlling what you allow in it. Most people, they just their mind's like a freeway. Anything can drive through it and they fill their mind with poison and garbage and stuffing and all kinds of things. And you know, the mind is like a computer. It's G gigo, garbage in, garbage out. Whatever you put in your mind is going to come out in your life. and and and and so they go and they see movies they shouldn't see and they watch shows they shouldn't watch and they read novels they shouldn't and they listen to gossip they shouldn't listen to and they just let anything in their mind. They worry about water pollution. They worried about food pollution. They worry about air pollution but they're not worried at all about mind pollution. And yet that's the most serious pollution. They say, "Well, I'm just trying to be open-minded." Some people are so open-minded their brains fall out. and they will allow anything into their lives and let it.
Now, here's what the Bible says. Philippians 4:8. Fill your mind with those things that are true and good and right. Think about there it is. Fill your mind. Think about things that are pure and beautiful and respected. If anything is excellent, if anything is worthy of honor, think about those things. Now, notice the Bible gives us eight tests on whether we should allow something in our mind or not. It says if you want to lower the stress, you're going to have to change what you think about and control what you allow into your mind. And and the eight tests are before I listen to or watch or talk or say or hear this, I should say. Is it true? Is it good? Is it right? Is it pure? Is it beautiful? Is it respected? Is it excellent? Is it worthy of honor? Doesn't that just sound like television? No. No. And and television is getting worse and worse. I mean, because the heroes today on televisions are in order zombies, vampires, serial killers like Dexter, um, crack addicts, corrupt politicians, uh, and, uh, and and perverts. And you call that entertainment? I got enough of that in the world. You know, you would never invite somebody over and say, "Hey, come on in here and and and sit in my living room and kill 19 people, but you'll do it on the television."
Now, he says here, uh, "Think on things that are good and pure and right." Let me give you a verse to write down. Proverbs 14:9. This isn't in your outline. Proverbs 14:9. It's here on the screen. It says this, "Fools make fun of sin." That's foolish. That's foolish. Now, when you think about these things, um, true, good, right, pure, beautiful, respected, excellent, worthy, uh, you know what that is? It's a picture of God. And what he's really saying is, think about God. Here's what Isaiah says there on your outline. You, Lord, will keep in perfect peace. Wouldn't you like to live in perfect peace? Wouldn't you like to be less stressed out? You, Lord, will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you whose thoughts are fixed on on you. If you fix your thoughts on God, he says, I will keep you in perfect peace. You see, the what you think about is going to determine how stressed and how worried you are.
You know, I've told you the story of Corey Tinboom. Corey Tinboom was a Dutch Christian young woman uh during World War II. Her family, the Tinboom family, her dad was a clock maker and they lived in Amsterdam during World War II. And uh they made a story. They she wrote a book about it and they actually made a movie of her life called The Hiding Place. And during World War II, the Tinboom, this Christian family, took in Jewish uh friends and hid them in what was called the hiding place in their house for many years, uh to prevent them from being captured by the Nazis and shipped off to death camps. Uh one day, uh the Nazis found out and not only took the the Jewish friends, but took Corey and her family and they went were taken to death camps in Poland. And Corey lost her entire family. She was the only one that survived. And it's a very wonderful story. And in it, she says something I've never forgotten. She said, "If you look at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within, you'll be depressed. But if you look at Christ, you'll be at rest." It all depends on what you have your eyes on. You know, people say, "Well, look within." Well, I did. I didn't like what I saw. I don't want to look within. I want to look without. I want to look at God. I want to look at Christ. Think about good things.
Now, there's one other step, and that's number five. Be content with anything. The Bible tells us to be content with anything. This is the fifth key to living a reduced stress life where God says, "If you do these things, you'll have God's peace in your life." Now let me explain contentment because a lot of people misunderstand the meaning of contentment. A lot of people think means contentment means I have no ambition. No, no, no, no, no. Paul who wrote this book, remember, he's probably one of the most ambitious men who ever lived. He single-handedly takes the good news, the gospel all across the Roman Empire. He's one of the most ambitious people ever. And he says, "I've learned to be content." So it has nothing to do with ambition. That's not contentment. Contentment is not laziness. Contentment is not apathy. Uh contentment is not complacency. Contentment is not fatalism. What will be will be. Saras contentment is not lacking ambition. Content. Here's what contentment is. It's enjoying what I have right now rather than waiting for something else to happen in order for me to be happy. Does that make sense? It's enjoying what I've got, right? Doesn't mean I don't want to progress. Doesn't mean I don't have goals. The Bible says you should have goals. It means I'm not waiting for something to happen in my life in order to be happy. Contentment is the opposite of coveting. Coveting is when and then thinking. When this happens, then I'll be happy. When this happens, then I'll be happy. And when that happens, then I'll be happy. That's when and then thinking. Contentment is actually independence from circumstances. It means my joy is not connected to what's happening in my life right now. My joy, my happiness is not based on my happenings. It's not based on my circumstances. It means I've learned to enjoy whatever I've got right now. And I'm not waiting for something or someone to make me happy.
Now, here's what Paul says in in the next two verses, verse 11 and 12. He says, "I've learned I've learned to be content." Circle the word learned. Contentment is is not natural. I'm by nature content. You're not by nature content. You have to learn it. Just like you have to unlearn worry and you have to learn happiness, you have to learn contentment. It's something that we we get educated on. I've learned to be content whatever the circumstances. He says,"I know how to live on almost nothing or I know how to live with everything." And in the original Greek here, he said, "I know how to live in poverty and I know how to live in luxury. I know them both." He said, "I I know how to be happy in either, in poverty or luxury, in nothing or with everything. I've learned the secret of contentment in every situation, whether I'm wellfed or hungry, or whether I have more than I need, or when I don't have enough."
Now he says there,"I have learned to be content." How do I learn contentment? Let me give you a couple of three ways. You might just write these down. They're not in your notes, so just write them down. The first way you learn contentment is this. Stop comparing. Stop comparing. That's so important because the source of all discontent is comparison. I remember many many years ago when I was a little boy and got up on Christmas morning and my parents had given me the gift of my lifetime, a stingray bicycle. Okay. With these butterfly handles, get your motor running. Banana seat. I thought it was so cool and I thought I was so cool until I saw my neighbor got a better one and my happiness went out the door. Now, the Bible tells us over and over and over, it is stupid. It's dumb. It's foolish to compare yourself to anybody else. Why? Two reasons. One, you're always going to find somebody who's doing a better job than you and somebody who has more than you and you're going to get discouraged. two, you're always going to find somebody you're doing a better job then and you have more than and you get full of pride. Either way, you're dead in the water. God takes you out of the game and you sit on the sidelines for the rest of the game. Discouragement and pride are the two things that take you knock you out of life. So, he says, "Don't do that." God says, "I called you to be you. I made you to be you. If you don't be you, who's going to be you?" When you get to heaven, God isn't going to say, "Why weren't you more like your sister? or why weren't you more like your mom or your dad or what? God's going to say, "Why didn't why didn't you be you? I made you to be you." Most of us start off as originals and end up as carbon copies. God never makes copies of anything. No two snowflakes are alike. No two human beings are alike. You have a unique thumb print, handprint, voice print, footprint, eye print. You are unique. Even Even uh identical twins aren't really identical. They're different. in millions of ways. God never makes a repeat. God man makes clones. God never makes clones. When God made you, he broke the mold. God wants you to be you. And if you don't be you, who's going to be you. Now, if you be trying, if you're going to be somebody else in life, God may as well kill you cuz he doesn't need two of that person. He made you to be you and he wants you to be you. And so, he says, "Stop comparing." And when you because when you compare you get jealous and you get envious. Now the Bible says this. Look at this verse on your outline. Peace of mind makes the body healthy. But envy is like a cancer. In other words, it eats you up. It will eat you alive if you get envious. Now that phrase peace of mind makes the body healthy. That phrase that word peace of mind actually in other translation is the word contentment. Contentment makes the body healthy. So, stop comparing.
Here's a second little tip for uh for uh uh learning contentment. Stop thinking that having more is better. You see, there are three myths that we're taught by advertising in society. Having more will make me more happy. Having more will make me more important. Having more will make me more secure. None of those are true. They're all lies. Having more will not make you more happy. Having more will not make you more valuable. And having more will not make you more secure. The first place you can lose it all. You can use billion. You can lose a billion dollars on a lot of ways. And your value is not based on your valuables and your net worth is not based on your self-worth is not based on your net worth. It's based on who you are, not what you own. So stop thinking that having more will make me more happy. Having more will make me more important. Having more will make me more secure. None of those are true. You need to find your security in something that can never be taken from you. Well, I can't. If I put my security in my job, it can be taken from me. If I put security in my bank account, I can lose that. If I put my security in my health, I can lose that. Or my good looks, I can lose that. It has to put security in something can't be taken from me, and that is my relationship to God. I'll never forget Victor Frankl standing in a death camp. If you've never read his book, A Man's Search for Me, it's terrific book. And he says, you know, they they stripped me naked. They took away everything, including my wedding ring. And then he said, I realized that there was one thing that could never be taken away from me, my my ability to choose my response. You You cannot control everything that happens in your life, but you can choose how you respond. That's your freedom.
Now, here's what the Bible says. Ecclesiastes chapter 4. It's better to only have a little with peace of mind than to be busy all the time with both hands trying to catch the wind. It's what I call the saddleback syndrome. We go out and we buy things we can't afford with money we don't have to impress people we don't even like. And then we get in debt. We have to we have to become workaholics to pay for all the things we've bought. And if you own something and God told you to give it away, you don't own it. It owns you. A lot of people are possessed by their possessions. There's nothing wrong with possessions. Nothing wrong with it. But unless you make it your god. And and you cannot be possessed by your possessions. And he said, you know, if your whole life is trying to work harder to pay for stuff, he says, you're missing the point.
A a third thing and I'll I'll end with this is learn to learn to admire without having to acquire. I found this personally fun for me. Learn to admire without having to acquire. In other words, I have learned that I don't have to own it in order to enjoy it. The fact is with ownership, ownership's a lot of pain a lot of the times. I mean, you you got to insure it, you got to maintain it, you got to store it, you got to haul it. I mean, let me give you an example. My family and my kids and my grandkids, we like to jet ski and we like to go down to Mission Bay in San Diego, particularly in jet ski. We've done on several vacations, we'll go jet skiing. And because we've done this a lot as a family, I I've often thought, well, maybe I should go buy some jet skis. And then I think, why in the world would I do that? I mean, then I got to insure it. Then I got to maintain it. Then I got to store it. Then I got to haul it back and forth. If you know, if it's just down there, I go down there and use it, rent it for an hour or two. I'm going to give you a true confession. I know this is going to shock you. I have never spent one hour of my life scraping barnacles off my boat cuz I don't know one. Okay. I just use yours. You got a lodge at Aspen, I'll jump up and down on your bed. You can ensure it, maintain it, and store it and haul it and learn to admire without having to acquire. Learn that I don't have to own it to enjoy it. That's part of contentment.
Now, these five strategies that I've just mentioned, they're very easy for me to explain, but they're very hard to do. It's not easy to worry about nothing. It's not easy to pray about everything. It's not easy to thank God in everything. I It's not easy to think about good things. And it's not easy to be content with anything. So where in the world am I going to get the energy to do these things that reduce the stress in my life? God says this. You come to me. You come to me and I will give you the power and the ability to do what will help you do what is best for you. Paul ends this passage with verse 13. One of the most famous verses in the Bible is verse 13. I have the strength to face anything and everything by the power that Christ gives me. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I can worry about nothing. When Christ strengthens me, I can pray about everything. When Christ strengthens me, I can thank God in everything and all things. When Christ strengthens me, I can keep my mind on the right thing. When God strengthens me, and I can be content with anything when Christ strengthens me.
What we're talking here is not about a religion, a religion, about a relationship. You may be Buddhist, you may be a Baptist, you may be Catholic or Protestant or Jewish, mean Muslim or Mormon or no religion at all. God has never made a person he doesn't love. God has never made a person he didn't die for. God has never made a person he doesn't have a purpose for. And he says, "If you'll come to me, I will help you." I'm going to close with this last verse. Job 22 21 says this, "Obey God and be at peace with him. This is the way to happiness." You see, the real reason you're not at peace is because you're at war with God. And until you make your peace with God, that's what the Bible says God sent Jesus to do is to make peace with God for us. When you make peace with God, then you get the peace of God and then you can have peace with others. There not going to be peace in the world till the prince of peace is reigning in our hearts. So in order for you to have the peace of God, you have to first have the peace with God. And let's close with that. Let's bow our heads. Would you bow your heads with me? And I'm going to lead you in a prayer. My blessing on you this week is Romans 15:33. It says, "I pray that God who gives peace will be with you."
So would you pray this simple prayer? It doesn't really matter what your words you say. If you just say as I say this, you say, "Me too, God. Me too." Say, "Dear God, I don't really want to be stressed out. I want to learn the habits of happiness. And you have promised that if I do these things, I will experience your peace. So, I'm going to hold you at your word. Now, I don't have the strength to do these. So, Jesus Christ, I need you to give me that strength. Help me to worry about nothing. To remember, it's unreasonable and unnatural and unhelpful and unnecessary. You're going to take care of me, dear God. Help me to worry about nothing. And dear God, help me to pray about everything instead of talking to myself to talk to you. Help me to thank God in all things. Help me to think about the good things. And God, I ask you to help me to be content with anything. God, I want to have peace with you so I can have the peace of God. Jesus Christ, I don't understand it all, but as much as I know how I say yes to you, I don't want a religion. I want a relationship. I I I just want to get to know you. And so I open my heart as humbly God I say make yourself real to me and I pray this in your name. Amen.