Day 15

My devotion today is about staying untangled from the world and I thought I'd share my thoughts on it.

2 Timothy 2:4 No man that warreth, engtangleth himself with the affairs of this life…

Ok, so the NIV might be easier to read but I love the word "entangleth". It brings a picture to my mind of having your feet all tangled up in a large fishing net and not being able to get free. When I think of this verse, I think of running in a race or toward a goal and somehow getting my feet all tangled up in this large net. The more I struggle the more I become entangled. Oh we let ourselves get tangled up in all sorts of things, don't we? Anything that distracts us from our goal is getting us entangled. For some it's drugs or alcohol. But it may be something as "innocent" as video games or facebook or a certain friendship. Those things can certainly distract us. That's what my mind always went to when I read this verse.

But today, my mind went somewhere else with it. It went to worry. You see, I am a lifelong worrier. Correction, I am a recovering worrier. At the age of 10, I had more stomach problems than you can imagine and my doctor said I'd have an ulcer before I could drive. For years my husband has been telling me, "can you do anything about it? Ok, then stop worrying, it won't help." Through a process of learning how to give it to God, for the most part, I have given up my worry. It's amazing how God can free you from a lifetime of worry once we pry our fingers off it. But today, this is where my mind went.

You see, worry will distract us from our goal and entangle us. It takes our focus off of God and onto something of this world. A worry of something we're not in control of. Well, I've got news, we're not in control of anything. Far too often, we worry about the wrong things. Are we worrying about the homeless or those that are starving? Are we worrying about earthquake victims in Haiti? No we're worrying about things that have no real eternal significance.

The next time you are worrying, ask yourself if this has any relevance in light of eternity. If the answer is no, give it to God. If the answer is yes, give it to God and ask Him what you can do to help Him. Life is too short to worry. Take action if you can. If you can't, then give it to God.

Philippians 4:6 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."