What are you worried and anxious about? Does it matter? Does it REALLY matter? Is what you are worried and anxious over the sum-total of your life?

We can be anxious about many details of our lives, but anxieties and the details we are anxious over to not compromise the entirety of our life. Our life is more than what we are anxious about.

In Matthew’s gospel account, Jesus said, “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?” (Matthew 6:25, ESV).

What are the areas of your life, the branches, that are dead and fruitless and in need of care and pruning? Are there activities or habits that you are doing that are not producing good?

We can cut back on so much busyness in our lives which is not bearing good fruit. We can prune the areas of our lives which are dead and fruitless and sucking up valuable energy and time without producing.

In the gospel of John, Jesus said to his disciples, “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” (John 15:2, ESV).

What do you treasure? Does your treasure have real value? Where is your treasure located? Is your treasure safe and secure? Will your treasure outlast your earthly lifetime?

Jesus spoke of the temporary nature of earthly treasures and the importance of valuing treasures of eternal significance and value.

In Matthew’s gospel account, Jesus said, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.” (Matthew 6:19, ESV).

What do your words produce in the people around you? How do your words impact the world? Do your words impact the world for life, or do your words produce death in the world?

Wisdom tells us our words matter. Our words carry the weight of life and death.

The wisdom of the Proverbs tells us, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” (Proverbs 18:21, ESV).

What keeps you in a state of fear? What releases you from fear?

Doubting God’s provision and presence can lead us to fear. Recognizing God’s presence can battle our fear and give us great courage. When we realize that God is with us, that he will strengthen us, help us, and uphold us, our fear subsides.

God spoke through the Prophet Isaiah saying, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10, ESV).

We are called out of fear by God. We are not alone. God will strengthen us. God is with us and God will help us. God will hold us in the palm of his hand.

How do you hold up under the weight of hardship? How do you keep the faith and believe? What gives you the hope you need? What enables you to endure difficulties?

We all face heaviness and weighty loads that we have to bear at some point in our lives. We all face challenges to our faith and have doubts in our relationships from time to time. We all need hope in the face of life’s broken hopelessness. Each of us encounter periods of trying and difficult times that require us to endure.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:7, ESV).

What is the commandment with a promise from God? How can we honor our fathers and mothers? What does it look like “that it may go well with us and that we may live long in the land”?

God takes honoring our parents seriously. It is the fifth commandment to honor our father and mother, and it is the only commandment with a promise of blessing.

Th the Apostle Paul wrote the church in Ephesus, saying, “‘Honor your father and mother’ (this is the first commandment with a promise), ‘that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.’” (Ephesians 6:2-3, ESV).

Who has your best interest in mind? Who advocates and mediates on your behalf for your best interest and good? Who comes before God for you and mediates and advocates for what is best?

We have many advocates and champions who mediate on our behalf for our well being. However, there is only one mediator between God and each of us who is advocating on our behalf. Our only mediator and advocate is Jesus.

The Apostle Paul instructed his young disciple, Timothy, with this truth, saying, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:5, ESV).

How did Jesus view his love, responsibility, and duty towards his mother? How do we view our love, responsibility, and duty towards our mothers? How do we love, honor, and care for our mothers?

Jesus loved and cared for his mother Mary throughout his life and ministry. We see Jesus turning water into wine, his first miracle, at his mother’s request in John chapter 2. And one of Jesus’ last acts before his death on the cross—literally from the cross—was ensuring that his mother was taken care of.

John’s gospel account tells us, “Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son!’ Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.” (John 19:25-27, ESV).

What does your heart desire? Are your desires also God’s desires?

Desire is a good thing. Desire motivates us to dream big. Desire motivates us for impactful action and meaningful living.

The Psalmist wrote, “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4, ESV).

Where do you find protection and peace in the face of the evil in this world?

God’s protection and peace is sure for the follower of Jesus.

God spoke through the Prophet Isaiah, saying, “No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD and their vindication from me, declares the LORD.” (Isaiah 54:17, ESV).

Where do you find your security, protection, provision, salvation, and sanctuary?

God provides all that we need to be secure, to be protected, to be provided for, to be saved, and to be kept safe from all harm.

The Psalmist recorded these truths when they wrote, “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” (Psalm 18:2, ESV).

God is our security, protection, provision, salvation, and sanctuary.

Where do you find grace in your life? Where do you get your strength? How do you find the power you need when you are weak?

We can find grace, strength, and power in God. When we are weak and in need of grace, we can find what we need in God’s resting power. We can rest in God’s resting power.

The Apostle Paul wrote the church in Corinth, saying, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9, ESV).

What measure do you use in determining what you do? How do you determine how much to serve? How do you determine how much to give? How do you determine how much good you do in the world?

What measure would you enjoy receiving? How much would you appreciate being served? How much would you like to be given? How much good would you like to receive?

We all have a standard by which we give, serve, and do good, and we all have expectations around what we wish to receive.

How are you making it better? What are you doing about your concerns in this life to make it better for this world, to make it better for the people around you, and to make it better for yourself?

As followers of Jesus, we are called to make it better by encouraging one another to love and to good works. We are called to meet together for mutual encouragement.

The author of the Book of Hebrews wrote, “let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:24-25, ESV).

How confident are you that God will answer your requests of him? When you make requests of God do you receive what you ask? Are you asking according to your desires or according to God’s will?

We can confidently make our requests known to God and trust that he will hear us and respond when we ask according to God’s will.

The Apostle John wrote, “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.” (1 John 5:14, ESV).

No Going Back

Have you ever been disappointed with the outcome of something you had hoped for, so you went back to what was comfortable and back to what you knew?

Most of the time we choose the ordinary. We choose what we know over the unfamiliar. We choose what is concrete over what we do not understand. We are creatures of habit. We long for certainty and for what we can simply understand. We do not like the unknown.

In the absence of answers and clarity, we fill in the blanks with our presuppositions, for better or for worse. We want answers. We want absolutes. And in the absence of absolute certainty, we are meaning making people.

Where is your focus? Are you looking forward and upward to what matters and is of eternal consequence? Are you looking at kingdom things that are with God?

What we focus our attention and affections on matters deeply and is of eternal consequence.

In his letter to the Colossians, the Apostle Paul wrote about the aim of focus for the people of God, saying, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” (Colossians 3:1, ESV).

Have you ever experienced judgement and punishment for something you did wrong? What do you think God has in store for you for all you have done wrong?

Many of us believe that God is out to get us. We think that God’s ultimate goal is to strike us down in judgement and punishment for our misdeeds. In our guilt and shame, we believe that God seeks to condemn us for all our sin.

God is not seeking for his children to be judged and punished. God desires for his children to be loved, saved, and set free in his son Jesus.

What happens to your misdeeds when you take them to Jesus? What happens to sin that is brought to Jesus to take away?

When we take our sin to Jesus, he takes our sin away. All our misdeeds are taken away when we come to Jesus.

John’s gospel tells us when John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29, ESV).