What causes stress?
Too much work? Too many people who depend on us for solutions? Challenges beyond our ability?
What gives birth to stress? Where does stress find a home?
Stress is birthed in the idea that I am the source of my solutions and my success. It is a sense birthed and living in the mind, emotions and will that one must keep the machine of life running at all costs.
It is the conviction that says one cannot stop or everything will stop.
A life filled with loving activity is not the source of stress. Stress is more subtle than that. Stress is hidden in the thoughts, emotions and will of busy people.
Not all active and busy people are stressed. Jesus was active and busy but He was not stressed.
A life filled with suffering as we deliver love is not the source of stress. Stress is more painful than that. Stress is hidden in the thoughts, emotions and will of suffering people.
Not all suffering people are stressed. Jesus suffered but He was not stressed.
A life filled with people who resist our plans is not the source of stress. Stress is more offensive than that. Stress is hidden in the thoughts, emotions and will of offended people.
Not all resisted and offended people are stressed. Jesus was resisted and offended but He was not stressed.
There is a way to rid our mind, emotions and will of stress. Jesus is the way.
Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Jesus can cure our stress as His mind, emotions and will become ours in our busy, hurting and offensive world. We need this cure desperately for ourselves and for those we love because stress is deadly and contagious.
Bud McCord
Abide International
Monday, April 25, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Walk On or Run Away!
Imagine for a moment that you are in a major city in the middle of the night. As you walk all alone down a poorly lit street you suddenly see another person coming your way.
You don’t know them but steadily they draw nearer to you in the shadows. Your mind is filled with thoughts of all the horror stories you have heard about muggings and robberies happening to people foolish enough to be on a quiet, dark street in this city filled with so many people.
Your heart is beating faster. You mind is racing. Should you turn and run away?
You walk on as the unknown person comes toward you. As they pass you see that it is an elderly man lost in his own thoughts as he seems to be heading home.
You laugh at yourself because you nearly ran away from a quiet, older man who meant you no harm. Even so you know that it won’t always be a harmless older man you will meet.
The tragic thing about this scene is that we live in a world where we are afraid of other human beings. What we should be thinking when another human being approaches us on a dark city street is “Thank God! Someone else is here with me!”
When we pray “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done…” we are praying a prayer that would eliminate our need to run away from any human being coming our way. We are praying a prayer for that wonderful day when just to see any human being will mean that more love is heading our way. When the kingdom comes we will not fear any human being ever again.
For now, not running away from those who come toward us in this dark world is the narrow path that few find. Not running away but walking this path like Jesus did is how the Kingdom comes to our dangerous cities. Don’t run away. Walk on like Jesus did.
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Bud McCord
Abide International
You don’t know them but steadily they draw nearer to you in the shadows. Your mind is filled with thoughts of all the horror stories you have heard about muggings and robberies happening to people foolish enough to be on a quiet, dark street in this city filled with so many people.
Your heart is beating faster. You mind is racing. Should you turn and run away?
You walk on as the unknown person comes toward you. As they pass you see that it is an elderly man lost in his own thoughts as he seems to be heading home.
You laugh at yourself because you nearly ran away from a quiet, older man who meant you no harm. Even so you know that it won’t always be a harmless older man you will meet.
The tragic thing about this scene is that we live in a world where we are afraid of other human beings. What we should be thinking when another human being approaches us on a dark city street is “Thank God! Someone else is here with me!”
When we pray “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done…” we are praying a prayer that would eliminate our need to run away from any human being coming our way. We are praying a prayer for that wonderful day when just to see any human being will mean that more love is heading our way. When the kingdom comes we will not fear any human being ever again.
For now, not running away from those who come toward us in this dark world is the narrow path that few find. Not running away but walking this path like Jesus did is how the Kingdom comes to our dangerous cities. Don’t run away. Walk on like Jesus did.
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Bud McCord
Abide International
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Do I Really Understand?
Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Eph. 5:17
Do I understand what the will of the Lord is? Can I be wise without understanding what the will of the Lord is?
Wisdom gives us the ability to predict what will happen before it happens. Wise people know exactly what consequences come from human behaviors. Wise people are seldom caught by surprise.
If a disciple of Jesus does not understand clearly what God wants, they will be constantly surprised by what is happening around them. Understanding what God wants and what God does not want is critical to wise living and discipleship.
One of the best ways to understand what the will of the Lord is comes from reading the Gospels and watching closely the behavior of Jesus. Jesus said of Himself “Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.” John 14:9 In other words, watching Jesus reveals what the will of the Lord is. Jesus is what God wants from human beings. Cooperating with Jesus is wisdom.
As you read the Gospels, make a list of what Jesus does and you will see from that list exactly what God is doing and wants to do in and through us.
For example, In the Gospels we see Jesus constantly forgiving sinners. We see Jesus refusing to treat people differently because of their social standing or power. We see Jesus serving others even when they do not serve Him. Jesus is what God wants. Is that what we want?
If you say you want to do the will of God, you are saying you want to live like Jesus. Do you really understand what living like Jesus means? It means you will have to lose your will and completely cooperate with God’s will instead. As frightening as that might sound, it is the wise thing to do. Even if doing so means dying, you will live and bless many in the process.
I would counsel every Christian to go back and read over and over again the four Gospels until you can honestly say “I see the will of God and I understand it.”
Then I would challenge every disciple to say “I want exactly what Jesus wants. I want the will of God.”
Bud McCord
Abide International
Monday, April 04, 2011
The End is Near
Soon after my conversion I was exposed to constant preaching on the “End Times.” At first I was a big fan of the prophetic messages. Eventually I began to lose interest in the constant predictions and theories.
I began to notice that people in the church, including me, could become so focused on the “end” that they were not living and loving “now”. It seemed as if we were so focused on who might the Anti-Christ that we were not living the real Christ.
Well, the End is nearer now than it was back in the 1970s. I am older and the world is going crazy in the middle east. Certainly “The End is Near.”
So, what does that mean to me right now? It means that my love for God and my neighbor is more important than it has ever been. Perfecting my love vertically toward God and horizontally toward my neighbor needs my full attention. I don’t have time for theories right now unless they can move me to love more perfectly. Yes, the end is near and love is calling me out among the people of the world whose end may be as near as today.
By the way, the End in the Scriptures is Jesus and He is always near.
Revelation 21:6 And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts."
Bud McCord
Abide International
I began to notice that people in the church, including me, could become so focused on the “end” that they were not living and loving “now”. It seemed as if we were so focused on who might the Anti-Christ that we were not living the real Christ.
Well, the End is nearer now than it was back in the 1970s. I am older and the world is going crazy in the middle east. Certainly “The End is Near.”
So, what does that mean to me right now? It means that my love for God and my neighbor is more important than it has ever been. Perfecting my love vertically toward God and horizontally toward my neighbor needs my full attention. I don’t have time for theories right now unless they can move me to love more perfectly. Yes, the end is near and love is calling me out among the people of the world whose end may be as near as today.
By the way, the End in the Scriptures is Jesus and He is always near.
Revelation 21:6 And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts."
Bud McCord
Abide International
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