The other day, I was playing badminton with my wife. And she’s very good at badminton, I’ll tell you that. I’m not too bad, but you know, she’ll make me run left and right. And you know, we play well together, but just the other day, I was thinking about the church and things about, matters that I needed to look into, also about the sermon that I’ll preach and all that.
And as I was playing with her, I noticed that my performance was dropping. I was not present. I was not in the now. And it affected my performance. I know it’s a small thing, but in all the affairs of life— by the way, I got myself back and said: “I’m going to enjoy this moment with my wife, playing this game.
” “I won’t think about tomorrow, tomorrow will take care of itself.” “I’m going to enjoy this time with her.” And my performance improved. Jesus said: “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow” “for tomorrow will worry about itself.” “Each day has enough trouble of its own.” The Message Bible. I love this one. “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now.
” “Don’t get worked up about what may or” “may not happen tomorrow.” “God will help you deal with whatever hard things” “that come up when the time comes.” I love it! Do you see that? “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now.” “Don’t get worked up about what may or” “may not happen tomorrow.
” “God will help you deal with whatever hard things” “that come up when the time comes.” So you say that: “Well, I need to worry” “about the future because I need to be prepared.” “Those who fail to plan, plan to fail.” “I need to be prepared.” But friend, your mentality is out of fear because you’re saying: “Unless I prepare myself, I will fail when the time comes.
” Not if you’re worried. You can plan without worry. Okay? I’m not talking about planning things that are legitimate. Okay? I’m talking about things that you are just projecting, you’re trying to over-prepare yourself, overthinking the future. Then you are worried about the future. but you need to know this: That when the future comes, there will be grace for your future.
God always gives grace for your rest. God gives you grace. Just like Israel, God gave them manna every day. And they cannot keep the manna for the next day. It spoils. The manna will spoil. They must eat the manna for the day. On the next day, they must trust God for fresh manna. And the next day, they’ll trust God for fresh manna.
However, on the sixth day, before the day of rest. On the seventh day, which is their day of rest, their Sabbath, God gives them double manna. Why? Because God wants them to have confidence that they can rest. The supply is there. God wants them so much to rest. Now, back then it was physical rest. Now for you, it may involve physical rest for some of you, but basically in essence, what I’m saying about, sharing about is resting on the inside.
Resting on the inside. Amen. When you live in the now, when you find that you live in the now, your mind becomes mentally sound. Amen. What the psychiatrist will call a person who is whole, integrated. Amen. You find all the kinks in your personality starts dissipating and you find that wholeness comes in.
