We had a guest preacher yesterday, and the title of his sermon was, "Me, Worry?" I knew I was in for it.
To tell you the truth, I haven't known very many women who DON'T worry, although I know the Bible calls it a sin. I guess I think it is because we humans have only a limited power to control what happens to us, and things are happening elsewhere or have happened previously that affect the outcome anyway.
In the course of his sermon, the pastor mentioned "the sweetest verse in the Bible." This is the story that he told. An older church member lay in the hospital, and things were not looking good for him. A younger man visited, and in an attempt to comfort the old man, he asked if he could read the sweetest verse in the Bible to him. The old man agreed, and the younger man read him this verse from John 14:2:
In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
"No, no, " the old man said, "read on." The younger man did, to the part of that chapter that says "that where I am, there you may be also."
"That's what I'm looking forward to," the old man explained. "I don't care about the mansions. I want to be where Jesus is."
Different verses in the Bible have been sweet to me at different stages in my life, but I see the old man's point. I have long thought that the difference between heaven and hell is that God is in one place and not in another, and I want to end up where He is.
I know that I only understand this in a limited human way. The best way I know to explain it is that when I am with my husband and we are doing things, I am usually really happy and time does not seem to exist; there is only the moment. I think that must be what heaven is like, sort of.
To tell you the truth, I haven't known very many women who DON'T worry, although I know the Bible calls it a sin. I guess I think it is because we humans have only a limited power to control what happens to us, and things are happening elsewhere or have happened previously that affect the outcome anyway.
In the course of his sermon, the pastor mentioned "the sweetest verse in the Bible." This is the story that he told. An older church member lay in the hospital, and things were not looking good for him. A younger man visited, and in an attempt to comfort the old man, he asked if he could read the sweetest verse in the Bible to him. The old man agreed, and the younger man read him this verse from John 14:2:
In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
"No, no, " the old man said, "read on." The younger man did, to the part of that chapter that says "that where I am, there you may be also."
"That's what I'm looking forward to," the old man explained. "I don't care about the mansions. I want to be where Jesus is."
Different verses in the Bible have been sweet to me at different stages in my life, but I see the old man's point. I have long thought that the difference between heaven and hell is that God is in one place and not in another, and I want to end up where He is.
I know that I only understand this in a limited human way. The best way I know to explain it is that when I am with my husband and we are doing things, I am usually really happy and time does not seem to exist; there is only the moment. I think that must be what heaven is like, sort of.
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