Other

Last week we asked people at our church what they worried about.

The point of the question was not to get information so I could pull out the Jesus gun of Matthew 6 and fire off, "Jesus said not to worry."  I wasn't setting people up so I could sweep in with a Paul hammer and hit them with, "Do not be anxious about anything."  Worry is a topic that requires grace, teaching, and the Holy Spirit's work.  It's not the place for a surprise attack.

We gave four options to choose from; future, money, health, or other.  Of those who answered, it turned out that "other" was marked more than the other three.  Future was next, followed by health, and last was money.

Do you know where my mind went when I was told that?  I can imagine the issues of the future - I've got a bunch of those concerns.  I can imagine what someone might have been thinking with health things - I'm in the middle of some.  I can imagine money issues - I have a house and car payment too.

My mind was caught up with the "other" and what that represented.  Then I thought about the fact that we all have areas of life that don't fit into someone else's three neat categories.  Maybe we all have "other" in our worlds.  Those life elements that seem to bring us the challenges that we didn't expect and don't feel equipped to handle.

Even the ones who identified a specific area on Sunday have an "other" that doesn't fit in anyone's category.

Maybe that's what Jesus was doing when he invited the people who were "weary and burdened" to come to him.  Maybe he was reaching to the people who had the "other" stuff in their life that gets heavy.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."  (Matthew 11:28-29)

Jesus didn't preach against the causes, he spoke to the result - weary, burdened.  He gave them the answer, "Come to me, take my yoke, learn from me."

Resting from the other,

Pastor Dave