to enjoy the present, you must brush aside …

so if you want to live a joyful life, first of all throw out all regrets – the grief, the grudges and the guilt and then brush aside all worries about your future.

we’ve got to face the other end of life.  if you’re going to enjoy the present, you must brush aside all worries about your future.  worry, hands-down, is the greatest killjoy of them all.  you cannot be joyful and worried at the same time. 

we’ve talked about this many times. worry only makes things worse.  the more you worry about something, the bigger it gets in your mind.  it turns molehills into mountains and it exaggerates and gets bigger and bigger in your mind.  worry is just as useless as regret.  you can’t change the past and you can’t change the future. 

now paul’s antidote is these verses.  first philippians 3.13 (tev), one thing i do is to forget what is behind me and do my best to reach what is ahead.  notice it says, forget what is behind me.  i start by doing that. 

then philippians 4.6 (nlt),  don’t worry about anything, instead pray about everything.  tell GOD what you need and thank HIM for all HE has done. 

here’s his alternative: you can either worry or you can pray.  if you are worrying it means one thing – you’re not praying.  if you are praying you don’t have to worry.  so paul says if you want to be filled with joy, you’ve got to forget the past and you’ve got to forget the future and focus on right now.  don’t worry and don’t regret because GOD has a plan for your life.

the old english word for “worry” means “to choke or to strangle”.  today the word is “necktie”.  worry, like a necktie, can cut off the blood to your carotid artery and you can’t think straight and you do really stupid things.  paul says omit all worry about your future.  instead, pray.

just a thought from the front porch…