Do I Bring Stress on Myself?

Do I Bring Stress On Myself?

1 Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife.

Prov 17:1 (KJV)

20 Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth. 21 As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife.

Prov 26:20-21 (KJV)

25 He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife: but he that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat.

Prov 28:25 (KJV)

 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

Romans 13:13-14 (KJV)

Bunch of verses this morning.  This turned out to be one of those bible studies where you feel like God is standing in front of you showing you the verses you need to read.  Today what I want to discuss:  what I feel led to discuss are some terms that all kind of fit together.  Strife—Contention—Pride

As I look at my own life, which by the way is really the only thing I am able to really give precise info on, spiritually speaking.  First let’s look at these terms.....Strife—basically it is conflict and the bible talks a lot about strife.  In Prov 17:1  is the main verse I want to talk about right now though.  Please read all of the verses even if I don’t get to them in this message.  I think there is a very wise point that is made in this verse.  He is saying that better is it to have barely enough to eat than to have wealth and riches with STRIFE.  Why would that be an issue?  As I look at my own life and what all my family has been through, I see that most of our problems stem from always pushing for more “stuff”.  I spoke on this thought once before, but can you imagine if we could just learn to be happy with what we already have?  How nice would it be to go to sleep at night knowing that we didn’t have some payment looming the next day or week.

I know many wealthy people.  I have known some in my own family, and the one thing I see, is that besides all of the “new stuff” they are just like me.  They struggle just like me, but sometimes on a more intense level because they have more to pay for.  The point is, if we are not content with what we already have, then that discontentment can and will lead to strife.  It can and will lead to stress. 

Proverbs 28:25 kind of hit me this morning.  As I read my bible, it is always obvious why it is also called a sword.  The truths in the bible will cut right to the heart of the matter.  I tend to me a proud person.  I do try and accomplish things for God’s Kingdom, but a lot of times the human sin of pride comes in, and when it does so does stress.  The verse here is telling me that when I build my own self up I will endure the stresses that follow, but if I put all of my faith in the fact that I am doing God’s work, then the Pride will not be an issue, which also means the Strife won’t be an issue, which finally means that this kind of stress won’t be an issue. 

Romans 13:13-14  These verses are yet another way for us to do away with some of the stresses in our lives.  I also challenge you to read the ESV version of the verses.  It says,” let us walk properly as in the daytime”.  I think this means to deal with people at night the same way you do during the day.  Be the same way during night hours as you are during the day.  How many of us act one way during the day and in front of one group of people, and then completely act different when in the company of another group of people.  Basically, we should act in our nights as if we were in the company of other Christians.

The point to this long blog is this..............There are definite things in our lives that we do that CAN and DO cause us UNDUE STRESS.  As Christians we will always have stress, but it doesn’t have to be compounded with stress we bring on ourselves.  I feel God telling me to chill out more and be more forgiving.  I think I bring on most of my stress by how I live.  Some of you may know what I’m talking about.  If any of you are OCD like me then you know that you a lot of times feel like you have to do everyone’s job.  You get involved in things that are out of your control.  This will cause undue stress.  Anyone out there who knows what I’m talking about, knows that we cause 50% of our own stress. 

The awesome thing is, in today’s verses, we see God showing us ways to release this stress.  Trust in God.  Let Him fix some things in your life.  As we learn to release things to Him, we will also learn that He is in control anyway.  I’m going to pray that God will help me take the following approach:  I am only going to focus my energy on doing the best I can.  Everything else I’m going to turn over to the Big Man Upstairs. 

Sorry for the long blog today, but this helps me to get stuff off my chest and hopefully helps some of you who may go through what I do. 

By the way........If any of you ever want to shoot me an email on anything, please send to sedwardn92@yahoo.com.  In the subject line please put Blog.

The “30 Days of Conviction” ebook seems to be selling more than the paperback, so please, if you want one they are only 3.99 on Amazon.  Give one as a Christmas gift. 

God Bless!