Column: Trust or anxiety

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Commentary by Rev. Michael VandenBerg

The story is told of a rancher who went into the local general store during the early 1800’s and asked the store keeper if he could have all of the items he was purchasing on an account. The storekeeper said, “So what you are wanting is credit?”

“Yes,” the rancher replied. To this the storekeeper asked him one simple question which determined his credit worthiness. He asked the rancher if he was putting up any new fences. When the rancher said he was, the storekeeper asked him if he was fencing in or fencing out.

“Why fencing out”, the rancher replied. He had just added 360 acres to his ranch. The storekeeper immediately gave him the credit he sought.

An observer asked the storekeeper about this unusual method of determining credit worthiness. We’ve got two kinds of ranchers and farmers here – those who fence in because they are afraid of not making it next year, of wasting too much seed, or of what the weather might bring. They are the ones who pull up their fences and move them in just to make sure.

Then there are those who fence out – are confident in their future, and want to add a little more land to their farms and ranches. These are the ones who have hope, and I give credit to anyone who has hope.

Jesus told his disciples that life was more than what they ate, or more than even their physical life. He told them that God would provide for their every need and therefore if they would trust Him, they would not have to be anxious about anything. They would be people of hope, ones who when it came to life, were fencing out and not pulling back and fencing in.

Do you trust God to take care of you or are you anxious about life? If you trust God, then you will be able to break your reliance on always wanting more and never feeling as though you have enough. Your trust will be in God and not on the things you own, or the things that own you. You will be a person of HOPE!

 


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