October 21

Don’t go overloaded

“Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (Matt. 6:34).
“Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting . . . and cares of this life” (Luke 21:34).

In order to make “good speed” in your day’s journey, do not go overloaded. I do not refer so much to your undertaking too many things as to your carrying too many cares. Honest work is strengthening; but worry frets and fevers us. The temptation to worry should be resisted as a temptation of the devil; to yield to it is a sin against our own peace, and a reproach upon our Christian character. The journey made by any pedestrian is simply a succession of steps. In accomplishing your day’s work you have simply to take one step at a time. To take that step wisely is all that you need to think about. If I am climbing a mountain, to look down may make me dizzy; to look too far up may make me tired and discouraged.

Take no anxious thought for the morrow. Sufficient for the day—yes, and for each hour in the day—is the toil or the trial thereof. There is not a child of God in this world who is strong enough to stand the strain of today’s duties and all the load of tomorrow’s anxieties piled upon the top of them. Paul himself would have broken down if he had attempted the experiment. We have a perfect right to ask our heavenly Father for strength equal to the day; but we have no right to ask Him for one extra ounce of strength for anything beyond it. When the morrow comes, grace will come with it sufficient for its tasks or for its troubles.
—Theodore Cuyler.

Why should this anxious load
Press down your weary mind?
Haste to your heavenly Father’s throne
And sweet refreshment find.
—Philip Doddridge.

Read full article...