Liz’s Morning Devotional: Scripture selected from Upper Room
August 19, 2023
Luke 13:22-34
22 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Therefore, I say to you, don’t worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. 23 There is more to life than food and more to the body than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: they neither plant nor harvest, they have no silo or barn, yet God feeds them. You are worth so much more than birds! 25 Who among you, by worrying, can add a single moment to your life? 26 If you can’t do such a small thing, why worry about the rest? 27 Notice how the lilies grow. They don’t wear themselves out with work, and they don’t spin cloth. But I say to you that even Solomon in all his splendor wasn’t dressed like one of these. 28 If God dresses grass in the field so beautifully, even though it’s alive today and tomorrow it’s thrown into the furnace, how much more will God do for you, you people of weak faith! 29 Don’t chase after what you will eat and what you will drink. Stop worrying. 30 All the nations of the world long for these things. Your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, desire his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. 32 “Don’t be afraid, little flock, because your Father delights in giving you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to those in need. Make for yourselves wallets that don’t wear out—a treasure in heaven that never runs out. No thief comes near there, and no moth destroys. 34 Where your treasure is, there your heart will be too.
Good Morning, Turn your worries over to God!
Would it be wonderful if there was a delete/discard button that allowed us to get rid of our worries? Even a forward button might do the trick. Instead of holding that worry in our own inbox, we forward it to God.
When it comes to planning, there are several groups. The two primary groups are the detail-oriented group and the big-picture group. Of course, the detail group, a.k.a. the micro-managers, work to make sure every detail is proposed and studied to the nth degree before they can move to the next detail. Even when they are on level two, they keep wandering back to those level one issues. Somewhere along the way, they become so overwhelmed with individual details that they lose sight of what they working toward. It becomes a project with a bunch of disjointed tasks that have lost the “glue” that connects them.
The Big Picture group is easily frustrated with the detail group because they want to move to the end goal. This group makes the detail team crazy because there seem to be no objectives that will lead them to the goal. To the detail team, the big-picture team operates under the delusion of magic. They mutter to themselves, “Don’t they know that if you don’t add 1+1, you will never reach 2?”
What about the big-picture group? They have their own struggles because, yes, there are details that must be managed. If they wisely assign the tasks to the right people, the goal will be met (all the details done) while they enjoy watching everything come together as they envisioned it. For success, a team needs a variety of workers. Without the detail team, things will get lost, but without the big-picture team, there is no goal for which to strive.
Consider the accounts of Jesus recorded by the disciples. Matthew was the recorder of details, Luke added the personal touch, Mark was in a hurry to get to the important stuff, and John was the idea or big-picture recorder.
In the grand scheme of things, God is the master planner who sees the full big-picture event. We, God’s children, are working to serve God, but sometimes we get caught up in the details and find ourselves off the path and into the weeds. It is easy to miss the mark when we lose sight of the target. Our job in this grand plan is to love God, love our neighbors as ourselves, and share the Good News so that we can transform the world by making disciples of all nations. God will manage the details that need tending.
25 Who among you, by worrying, can add a single moment to your life? 26 If you can’t do such a small thing, why worry about the rest?
Loving God, We thank you! Help us to let go of those things that waste our time or divert our focus away from you. We love you! Thank you! In the name of Christ, we pray. Amen
Thought for the day: Instead of worrying about my future, I will focus on God.
Let God do what God Does! Pastor Liz
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