I don't watch the news. I don't watch local news because it is mind-numbingly boring. I really don't care about the local woman who owns a cat named "Mr. Snuffy Wuffy", or about the elderly gentleman who won 2.3 trillion dollars in the Pennsylvania Lottery and decided to spend it all on beef jerky and Coca-Cola. I don't watch the national news because it's depressing, and sometimes quite scary. I don't enjoy hearing that North Korea has built up enough nuclear firepower to wipe out the Western hemisphere, or that Iran has decided to attack the United States and will be firing missiles at the White House sometime in the next few days. There's always a prophet of doom on the news, saying that our economic future is bleak, and that within a few short years all of us will be forced to wear nothing but burlap sacks. The news makes the future sound frightening.

I don't watch the news because I struggle with enough fear about the future. Will I have enough money to pay the bills? Will my little girl be healthy? Will I do well at my job? Each season of our lives is filled with opportunities to worry. We worry about getting into the right college, and getting good grades in college, and marrying the right person, and getting a decent job, and being good parents, and having healthy kids, and paying bills, and retiring, and finally dying. Worry is a temptation each of us face on a regular basis.

It's when we're worried that we must forcefully remind ourselves of God's truth. Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."

What a sweet promise for the Christian! Our future is bright and full of hope, and we can rest secure in God's plans for us. We must fight to believe this when we're tempted to worry about the future. When the finances aren't there,we must remind ourselves that God promises a future and a hope. When illness is our constant companion, we must thank God for our hope-filled future. When it seems like we're never going to get married and we're sinking into despair, we must shout this promise at our soul until it's power warms our heart. Don't let worry rule you. Fight the good fight of faith by clinging to these precious truths.

What's one area of life that you're currently worried about? As you go about your day, meditate on how Jeremiah 29:11 applies to that one area of your life. Be transformed by the power of God's word as you speak the truth to your soul.