Manna in the Morning

Once again we turn to Paul’s letter to the Romans chapter 12 verses 9-13 for what William Barclay calls “the Christian Life in Everyday Action.” It is a very appropriate title for this inspiring section of Scripture because it touches so much of what we face each and everyday. The last exhortation in verse twelve is to be “patient in affliction.” Another translation suggests that we “meet tribulation with triumphant fortitude.” I like that. Encountering troubles and trials is not a matter of “if” but “when.” The way of our journey is not always easy... sometimes there are bumps in the road. The day of our travel is not always sunny... sometimes the storms come. The path that we take in following Jesus is often met with adversity. When trials come we have a choice. We can either be beaten and discouraged or we can face the trial with a sense of victory because of our triumphant faith in Christ. Jesus once said, “In the world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world!” (John 16:33) Everything may not go the way we want it to today but with faith in God it can go His way! Today is Friday... that means Sunday’s coming. Be in church with the gathered body of Christ on the Lord’s Day and celebrate the victories that He has won for us!

Both Jesus and Paul tell us about the problem of anxiety. Jesus preached that we are not to "worry about tomorrow." (Matt. 6). Paul wrote, "Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything. (Phil. 4:6). Robert Burdette wrote, "There are two days in the week upon which and about which I never worry...One of those days is Yesterday, with its cares and frets and pains and aches, all its faults, its mistakes and blunders, has passed forever beyond my recall. It was mine; it is God’s. The other day...is Tomorrow...with all its possible adversities, its burdens, its perils, its large promise and performance, its failures and mistakes, is as far beyond mastery as its dead sister, Yesterday. Tomorrow is God’s day; it will be mine. There is left, then for myself but one day in the week—Today." So we take it ONE DAY AT A TIME! "It isn’t the experience of Today that drives people mad. It is the remorse of what happened Yesterday and fear of what Tomorrow might bring. These are God’s Days...Leave them to God."