Hosanna Restoration Church

Have you ever had a thought you wished had never crossed your mind? Everyone has. Not only have we had thoughts, we have followed them actions that we wish we had never done and words we wish we had never spoken. These types of things haunted me even before I came to know Lord. Of course we all know that once we do come to know Jesus, we are plagued with condemnation for thoughts that never originated with us and yet we suffer until we learn to cast them down, and even then it is a battle.

Based on what Jesus said, I want to suggest that we simply do not take those thoughts. There is no way that we will never have thoughts about the things that Jesus was talking about. We will always have thoughts about our lives. The New Living Translation says that we should not worry about our everyday lives and the New King James says don’t worry about your life, but society says something is wrong with us if we don’t worry!

So how can we not worry? How can we not be consumed with the cares of life? Actually the cares or life depend somewhat on our perspective. A person living on the street thinks a person with a home has nothing to worry about. Children who are starving don’t worry about what kind of food they get just so they get some. The person who has everything might in turn think that people with nothing have nothing to worry about.

Jesus had an answer for every care. He said just don’t take that thought. Put things in the proper perspective. Look from His perspective. There is more to life than those things. Now we have two key elements to the plan that Jesus was presenting.

First of all, thoughts will come, but we do not have to take them or let them take us. Once we take a thought, it becomes the thing in control. Once we allow that thought to begin to lead us down a road, we all know how it can consume us. Therefore when such thoughts come, Jesus gave us a thought that would help us to overcome it. Just don’t take the thought.

Then, since Jesus knew these thoughts were common for us, He gave us a replacement thought in the form of a question. Isn’t there more to life than those things? How many of us have come to the place where we thought there has to be more to life than what we are experiencing. What was Jesus referring to when He said this? Are there better thoughts to ponder? Give this some thought and we will continue this next time.