Sumair Mirza

Bypass surgery

Cancer Family relational difficulties

Relationship challenges

Occupational Pressures

Sibling life issues

Family finances

Health issues

A French soldier in World War 1 carried with him this little receipt for worry: “Of two things, one is certain. Either you are at the front, or you are behind the lines. If you are at the front, of two things one is certain. Either you are exposed to danger, or you are in a safe place. If you are exposed to danger, of two things one is certain. Either you are wounded, or you are not wounded. If you are wounded, of two things one is certain. Either you recover, or you die. If you recover, there is no need to worry. If you die, you can’t worry. SO WHY WORRY?”

—Walter B. Knight

• Helps us understand the motivation behind our actions

• Challenges us to be good without idea of benefit or punishment

• Explores the concept of “innocent suffering”

• Delivers the rationale for injustice

• Presents us with the appropriate reaction to suffering

Why?

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1. Defames God

2. Rejects God’s sovereignty

3. Denies God’s omnipotence

4. Belies God’s benevolence

5. Leads you away from God

6. Reveals our lack of faith

• “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.”

(Matthew 6:30–32, ESV)

• Worrying is illogical in the world of a sovereign God

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:33–34, ESV)

• Worrying is illogical in the world of a Creator God “And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious

about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!” (Luke 12:22–28, ESV)

• Worrying is illogical in the world of an omniscient God

“For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them.”

(Luke 12:30, ESV)

Worrying or Complaining or Questioning God

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Epic Logic Fail (discounts that God is good and all powerful)

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Epic Faith Fail

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

(2 Corinthians 4:17–18, ESV)

Eternal perspective

God minded

God centred

Christian worldview

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

(Jeremiah 17:7–8, ESV)

Eternal perspective

God-Centred

God-Minded

Christian worldview

Eternal perspective

God-Centred

God-Minded

Christian worldview

“For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”

(Romans 8:6, ESV)

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”

(Isaiah 26:3, ESV)

Eternal perspective

God-Centred

God-Minded

Christian worldview

“For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”

(Romans 8:6, ESV)

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”

(Isaiah 26:3, ESV)

Seek His Kingdom (Matthew 6:33)

Cast your anxieties on Him

(1 Peter 5:6-7)

Pray, supplicate, and give thanks (Philippians 4:6-7)

Pervasive genuine Godly view

(Philippians 4:8)

Sanctified living (Philippians 4:9)

In your handsTo do list

Out of your handsPrayer list