What We Want Most

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, March 24, 2019.  The Bible verses used are Philippians 4:4-9.

            What’s the one thing you’d like to have most in life?

            Well, there was a survey in Huffington Post a few years ago that asked about that.  The specific question was “If you could say in one word what you want more of in life, what would that be?”  And you know what?  What most of us want is not more material possessions.  You know what we do want?  The top ten answers to this question were things like happiness, freedom, joy, balance, things like that.  What they all amount to, really is peace.  All of us want to be at peace:  with ourselves, with others, with the world.  With God.  We want to be at peace with our lives.

            It’s understandable why we’d want that.  But the question is, why is it so hard for us to get it?  Why is it so hard for us to feel at peace in our lives? 

            Well, you know the answer to that as well as I do.  It’s hard for us to be at peace because we’re human beings living in a human world.  And anything that humans are involved with is less than perfect, sometimes a lot less than perfect.  And so, we have worries.  We worry about having enough money.  We worry about our health.  We worry about our loved ones--spouse, children, grandchildren, parents, grandparents, lots of others.  We worry about how things are going in the country.  We worry about how things are going in the church.  We worry, we worry, we worry, about these and a hundred other things.  And all those worries keep us from feeling at peace.

            If you think about all those worries I mentioned, plus any other worries you may have, what’s the one thing they have in common?  If you were to combine all these worries into one thing that we worry about, what would it be?

            The future, right?  The one thing that all the things we worry about have in common, the one thing that all the things that take away our peace have in common, is that we’re worried about the future.  

            Well, I guess that makes sense.  I mean, it would not make much sense to worry about the past.  That’s all over and done with.  We already know what’s happened, for good of for bad.  There’d be no point in worrying about that.  What we’re really worried about is the future.  What if I lose my job?  What if there’s a drought?  What if there’s a flood?  What if I get a serious illness?  What if something happens to my spouse or my kids?  What if something happens to my grandchildren or my parents?  What if, what if, what if?  We’re worried about all sorts of things that might happen, or may happen, or could happen.  And all those worries keep us from feeling at peace.

            Now, don’t get me wrong.  I do this, too.  But why?  Why are we so worried about the future?  And why do we let those worries keep us from feeling at peace?

            As we think about the things we can give up for Lent, this is one of the biggest ones.  This is one that would really make us feel happy, if we could just do it.  In fact, according to that survey, it would give us the one thing we want most in life.  This week, the challenge is to give up worry and replace it with peace.

            Why do we worry about the future?  Well, I suppose it’s because the future is unknown.  The past is known.  The present is known.  But the future is not.  Every day, when we get out of bed, we’re stepping into the unknown.  And that means anything could happen--that’s pretty much the definition of the unknown.  And because anything could happen, we start thinking about all the bad things that could happen.  And we worry.

            But again, why do we do that?  When we think about the fact that anything could happen, why do we immediately think about all the bad things that could happen?  After all, if anything could happen, that means there are all kinds of good things that could happen, right?  But too often, those are not the things we think about.  We think about all the bad things that could happen.  And we worry about them.

            Now, I want to make one thing clear.  There’s a difference between worrying about the future and preparing for the future.  I’m not saying that we should go around never giving a thought to what might happen next.  We should be prepared for things that could happen.  In fact, in a lot of ways, preparing for the future is the exact opposite of worrying about the future.  There’s no need to worry about what might happen if we’re prepared for it.  If we’re prepared, we know that when something happens, we’ll be able to handle it.  We’ll know what we’re going to do.  Even if it’s something really bad, we’ll know what we’re going to do about it.  We don’t have to worry about something when we’re prepared.

            But here’s the thing.  When we think about preparing for the future, what do we think about?  Usually, we think about things we can do, right?  If the subject is money, we think of things we can do to make more or to spend less, or both.  We try to get a better job, or to make better investments.  We think of things we could do without, or ways we could buy things cheaper.  If the subject is health, we try to eat better, or to get more exercise, or to get regular checkups at the doctor’s office.  If the subject is our loved ones, we try to do things to take care of them, to help them, to make sure they know they’re loved.

            Now, understand, there’s nothing wrong with any of those things.  Those are all good things to do.  But in all of our preparations, there are too many times we leave something out.  Or, rather, someone.  God.

            I assume that most of us here, maybe all of us here, would say we trust God.  But do we really?  Do we really trust God to take care the future?  Or do we think we have to do it all ourselves?  And here’s an even more important question:  do we truly live our lives as if we trust God to take care of the future?  Or do we live our lives as if we have to do it all ourselves?

            Again, we should do what we can to prepare for the future.  But if we’ve done all we can do, and we’re still worrying about the future, then it seems to me that we really don’t trust God as much as we should.  We don’t trust God to take care of the things that you and I cannot take care of.

            Now, again, I’m as guilty of this as anyone.  Maybe I say that too much, but I never want anyone to think I’m up here acting like I’m somehow better than you, that I have this all figured out and that you people need to shape up.  The reason I can understand these things is that I do them as much as anybody.  I worry about all kinds of things.  And I don’t trust God as much as I should.

            Trusting God is really the key to it.  Listen again to what Paul says in the letter to the Philippians:  “The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

            If we want to have peace in our lives, Paul tells us what to do.  Present your requests to God.  Ask God to take care of the situation, whatever the situation may be.  There’s no situation that’s too big for God to handle.  And there’s also no situation that’s too small for God to handle.  That’s one of the really cool things about God--we can go to God with the big, major issues, but we can also go to God with the little things, the things that might not seem important to anyone else, but they’re important to us.  Whatever you’re worried about, take it to God.  God will hear, and God will understand.

            How do we do that?  With prayer.  And when I say prayer, I’m not talking about a quick five or ten second prayer.  There’s nothing wrong with quick prayers, but they should not be all we do.  If we’ve got something that’s really worrying us, and we want to give it to God, we need to spend some time.  We need to tell God all about it.  Tell God everything about the situation and why we’re so worried about it.  Not because God does not know--God knows everything.  But if we want to be at peace, we need to tell it to God.  We need to give God all of it.  That’s the only way we’re going to get rid of the burden of worry.

            Remember what else Paul says:  “The Lord is near.”  God is near.  And we may know that in our heads.  But the only way we’ll feel God’s presence in our hearts is if we spend some time with God.  That’s why, again, we need to tell God all about the situation, whatever the situation is.  When we tell God all about it, when we spend some time with God, we can feel God’s presence in a way that we cannot feel it in a quick five or ten second prayer.  And it’s only by feeling God’s presence that we can truly turn our problems over to God.  And it’s only be turning our worries over to God that we can stop worrying about them and be at peace.

            So that’s our challenge for this week.  Whatever we’re worried about, let’s take it to God.  Whether it’s a big thing or a small thing or something in-between, take it to God.  Spend some serious time in prayer.  And trust God with it.  Whatever “it” is, trust God with it.  Feel God’s presence with us, and trust God with it.  If we can do that, we’ll have the one thing that everyone wants.  We’ll have peace, the peace that comes from trusting in God.