Scripture

Our verse for today comes from Luke 12:26, “If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?”

Background

#DIV/0!; #N/A!; #NAME?; #NUM!; #REF!; #VALUE!. Although this odd list of letters and characters resembles the #@$% & ! that gets used to represent foul language in a cartoon, these expressions can be much more significant and troubling in the real world. If you spend any time working with spreadsheets, you will recognize these codes as the error messages that appear when one of your formulas contains some type of invalid reference. #DIV/0! alerts you that you are trying to divide by zero. #NAME? means that the program does not recognize part of the text in your formula. #NUM! informs you that your formula contains invalid numeric data for what you are asking it to do. In Excel, and other spreadsheet programs like it, many formulas operate using the “If, Then” design. Simply put, the formula determines if something is true, and if so, then it returns a certain result. If not, the alternative result is produced. Nothing more, nothing less. But if the result is one of these error messages, some analysis must be done to figure out what went wrong with the formula, whether it be invalid references or illogical assumptions.

Application

Jesus isn’t reported to have used spreadsheets in His ministry. But He was a very logical, straightforward teacher. If certain things were true, then certain other things followed. And one very practical truth concerned our deep-rooted tendency to worry. Through various examples and multiple explanations, Jesus tried to show how pointless and unnecessary it is to worry. And where our focus tends to gravitate towards the daily needs of food and shelter and how we’ll provide them for ourselves and our families, Jesus said God takes care of these as simply as He sprouts lilies out of the ground. He says that if you could make yourself grow by worrying, then you could concern yourself with these things of the world. But since you cannot, leave them to the One who can. See the error message that your faulty formula is generating and make the necessary changes. Herein ends Worry 101.

Charge

As we seek Him today, let your faith show you things that your sight cannot see. Trust God to do what He said He would do.

Salvation – Eternal Life in Less Than 150 Words