Overcoming Doubt

OVERCOMING DOUBT BY DECIDING WHO’S IN CONTROL.

When I was very young, I used to watch a science fiction show called “Captain Video (and his Video Rangers).”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Video_and_His_Video_Rangers

Boy, am I giving away my age.

This show and so many other science fiction programs used the phrase “Mission Control Here!”  You would then hear this very “dark and mysterious” voice relaying messages and giving commands.

At one time they offered a special “Captain Video” helmet which I ordered.  When it was delivered it came in a flat cardboard envelope.  My first thought was..”This doesn’t look like what I saw on TV.”

I was right! When I took it out of the envelope and unfolded the thinly colored “helmet” and put it on my head, I quickly realized…I COULDN’T BREATHE!…and IT WAS HOT!!  It was the first and last time I ever ordered something offered on a TV program.

I decided to never again be swayed by the “lure of the commercial.”  After all, all they want is my money!

Mat 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?

Commercial advertising makes you believe that life would be much better if only you would buy their product.  They create the anxiety that being left out of something is going to have a negative impact on you or the life of your family.

In the garden Satan came and tempted Eve with the fact that she was missing out on something, and his desire was to lead her away from a sincere relationship with God.  2 Corinthians 11:3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

She was led astray by the “lure of the commercial.”  "After all Eve, don’t you want to be like God and know what is good and evil?"  Gen 3:5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

It seems like so many of the commercials on TV and phone calls we receive at home are from people (companies) wanting us to go back to school and get more education.

“Hey,  Mr. Moffitt!  Why not go back to school and see what you're missing. You’ll be much better off if you do.”

No, the Lord tells me to learn to be content.  Don’t get me wrong, there are times when God may be calling you to go back to school in order to become more effective for Him such as to Seminary, Bible School, or some other field of choice where you can be used for His glory.  But it’s for Him and not self!  It is to make a better life for you and your family.  Not all education is a bad thing.  However, just as in all of life, there’s good and evil. Food is a good thing, but gluttony is a bad thing.  Sex is a good thing — within the boundaries that God has set.

ANXIETY PROFITS NOTHING

Mat 6:26 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? Mat 6:27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

Mat 6:28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,

Mat 6:29-30 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  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?

Anxiety comes as a result of having little faith.  The closer we get to God, the more we get to know Him.  The more we know Him, the more we believe in His Word.

He is faithful;  He is true; He loves me! That’s something you can take to the bank.  It’s there to withdraw for those rainy days of doubt!