The Selbys
Scripture
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Philippians 4: 4-6
LESSON:
You will need:
-clear vase or quart jar
– glass of water
– cooking oil (canola, olive, etc.)
-food color (optional, but fun)
– egg
– mustard
– dishwashing soap
I’m sure we can all think of a time that we worried about something that never happened. Let each family member share something they have worried over that never happened. Toward the end of 1999 many people began to worry that computer systems would fail in the year 2000 and create havoc all around the world. Some people stock-piled food, toilet paper, and water fearing they would not be able to buy those things on January 1st of 2000. Y2K never happened and, all the worry and preparation for it was not necessary.
In the scripture today, Paul tells us not to be anxious (worry) about anything. Think about the last 3 days. Let each family member share a worry or fear they have had while pouring a little of the water into the clear jar. Pour the water into the jar until about half full. Put a little food color in the jar and mix. This jar of colored water is like our fear and worries. The Bible tells us that this anxiety is not from God and can even be hurting us and our relationship with God.
Some anxiety or worry appears to be legitimate. In Philippians 2:28 Paul says he has been anxious about the spread of the gospel. However, most of our worry is not about spreading the good news of Jesus.
We are told to trust Jesus with these worries. What is trust? We trust people that are dependable and have shown us that they will help us and be there for us. We can ‘give’ our worries to Jesus because we can trust Jesus to take care of our fears. Pour about ½ cup of canola oil in the jar of ‘worries.’ The oil is our trust in Jesus. What happens? As you can see, trust and worry do not mix. Trusting Jesus and worrying do not belong together. The ‘trust’ (oil) cannot get down into the ‘worries’ (water). Take a picture
Paul gives a cure or an antidote for worry that has 3 parts: prayer, petition, and thanksgiving.
The egg is prayer. Whenever we find ourselves repeating a worry or fear, we can stop and pray instead. Break the egg into your jar and mix with a whisk or spoon. The egg(prayer) may not make the worries disappear, but now the trusting in Jesus can reach down into the worry and change our outlook. The ‘trust’ mixes with the ‘worry.’ However, after a few minutes you will probably still see a thin layer of oil (trust) sitting on top of the new mixture.
The mustard is petition. What is petition? When one of my daughters wanted a dog, she wrote down the kind of dog she wanted and all the things she would need for the dog and brought the letter to me. I was the one with the authority to tell her yes or no. You can think of petition as talking to God about what you would like. God is the one with the authority and knows what is best for us. Put a big squirt of mustard (your requests) into your jar and stir again. When you pray, talk to God about how you are feeling. Ask him to take the fear and worry. ‘Present your requests to God’ just as the verse tells us. After a few minutes, look at your jar. You may still notice a small layer of separation. The final piece of the antidote is thanksgiving.
The dish soap is thanksgiving. Put a big squirt of dish soap into your jar and stir. Take a picture. You should notice that now the ‘worry’ water has been completely taken over and there are no more layers to your jar! Being thankful can be very hard when we are upset, afraid, and worried. Think hard about all the good things you have. Sometimes, we have to be thankful and give God thanks even when our heart is not feeling that way. Be thankful that Jesus is in control, that He knows, He cares, and He will see us through to the other side of our worry.
Next time you have a worry that will not leave you alone, remember Philippians 4:6. How can you take the worry and ‘give’ it to Jesus? Prayer, Petition, and Thanksgiving.