| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “The end of anxiety and despair” Our Bible verse for today: “For each person will have to carry his own load.” Galatians 6:5 (CSB) Our thought for today: “It’s your life, it’s your responsibility” In yesterday’s devotional I made the statement that faithfully practicing the basic disciplines of the Christian faith is the second-most-important point we’ve considered over these last two months regarding how to deal with anxiety and despair in our lives. I said that as unlikely as it might seem, there is actually another element that plays an even bigger role. That element is personal responsibility. You see, it’s one thing to know what we need to do, but it’s something else to actually do it. Knowledge without action is useless. If you don’t do something with what you know, then the fact that you know it really doesn’t matter much. I’ve mentioned in previous devotionals that my favorite “attitude” book is “The Traveler’s Gift” by Andy Andrews. It’s a fictional story about a man named David Ponder. David’s life is a train wreck and he is virtually paralyzed by anxiety and despair. In a dream God takes David on a journey through time to encounter significant historical figures. From each of those figures he learns an important life-lesson about personal responsibility. He ends up making seven vital decisions that will guide his life from that point forward. Below I summarize one of them for you, which pertains directly to the subject of this devotional. “I am a man of action: I will not dwell in a pit of despair and I will not waste time regretting lost opportunities. I will take the action necessary to make my life better. When faced with a choice of doing something or doing nothing, I will always choose to act.” I’m going to stop us there. There are six other important points, including “The buck stops here; I will seek wisdom; I have a determined heart; I choose to be happy; I am a forgiving person; and I will persist and persevere without exception.” I encourage you to read the book to learn more about them. But I want us to stop this morning by considering that important phrase, “I will take the action necessary to make my life better.” Each of us has a personal responsibility to take the action necessary to deal with our own problems. Nothing will help more to relieve anxiety and despair than to do something about it. Just do something constructive to deal with it. Anything. Just move. Any step forward is a step that brings you closer to relief. Take action to make your life a little bit better, one small step at a time. We’ve just completed two months of devotionally considering how to deal with anxiety and despair. But remember, knowledge without action is useless. Now it’s time to move forward. Be a person of action. It’s your life, it’s your responsibility. God bless, Pastor Jim |
| Copyright © 2022 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. |
-
Follow
Following
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Oak Hill Baptist Church 