JANUARY 8 "DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY!"

  I love it when the world takes ideas and thoughts from the bible and secularizes them, actually I hate it, it really bothers me! “Don’t Worry Be Happy” was a song composed and sang by Bobby Mcferrin in 1988. It became the first acapella song to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100, a position it held for two weeks. The song’s title was taken from a famous quotation by Meher Baba. But we know, Meher Boba, whether he knows it or not got the thought from Jesus, as we saw in our reading today. However, the true saying was not simply, "Don't worry, be happy", but Don't worry, put your faith in me (Jesus) and be happy or "worry not". The World takes this saying, takes Jesus out and re-phrases it to simply say, "Don't worry be happy". And so the song takes to the airwaves and becomes a huge hit; people started singing, "yeah, don't worry, be happy", but the song quickly faded as people's problems and lives quickly over took them and then they hated that song. Why....because the song and reality didn't match. If only it was as simple as saying, "don't worry be happy" then I'm pretty sure Jesus Christ wouldn't have had to go to the cross and die the brutal death He suffered. This song was simply pop-psychology, "mind over matter". If you believe it enough it will be, but we've all seen that that's false. For years I could say I believed I would be a professional NBA Player!!! They told me "you're white, short and you can't jump or dribble" I told them, " I defy you, because I'M BELIEVING......" Some how I would imagine that I would never grow another 6 inches, somehow never start jumping 3 feet into the air, somehow never gaining rhythm and speed. Imagine if our story was…."Be Happy, Don't Worry" I sang when my mortgage was in foreclosure, Be Happy Don't Worry I sang when my marriage was falling apart. Be Happy Don't Worry I sang when the new depression hit and I was laid off, but they walked away with the keys to my house and I was laid off of work. America was hit with a crisis and any D.J. in America would have been A FOOL to pull out Bobby Mcferrin's old hit. The world tries to take the sayings of the Bible that are so good and true, but they repackage them and sell them as a false bag of Goods! Just believe.....DOESN'T WORK, Just Be Happy, Don't Worry, DOESN'T WORK! Put your faith in God WORKS, Believe that through CHRIST, all things are possible to them that believe, BOTH OF THOSE WORK, because they are based on the power of JESUS! You take God out of both those sentences (which the world has done) and they are meaningless at best and deceitful at worse! Jesus says in our text, "don't worry, this is what the minds of unbelievers are CONSUMED with". I wonder if Jesus was being nice? I'm sure this was a tongue and cheek comment. Jesus knew that the believers that were around Him also had their MINDS consumed with worry, that was the point He was trying to make. This is what "unbelievers" do who don't believe in me, so then why do you who say "you believe" do the same?" I remember a number of years ago a couple who had come out to our church; they had tried attending another church in the area as they had not yet heard about us. They confided in me many reasons for them leaving their previous church, but the reason that always stood out to me was that they could not accept that the Worship Leader of The Church they previously attended was on Anti-Depressants. Imagine, a WORSHIP LEADER on ANTI-DEPRESSANTS??? "I'm going to lead you in joyous, triumphant celebration and worship, I can only do this praise be, to the drugs I'm on to help me with depression, now let's worship Jesus, isn't He so good". A Worship Leader on Anti-Depressants is as big an oxi-moron as Jumbo-Shrimp! I know, I know, our clever Christian brethren have found a clever argument (or think they have) for this, they say, "if you were or knew someone struggling with diabetes, you wouldn't condemn them for taking insulin drugs, would you? And so they go on to say, just as people who have the disease of diabetes must take pills so must people who have the disease of the mental illness of depression take pills. One problem, I don't find this in my bible. Jesus says, you worry, and you worry, and you worry, what you need is to get dependent on some good drugs, not me; and that will help you!" I am the new Jesus of the new millennium. My hope for you is these awesome drugs they have today, of course in bible times, I couldn't use modern medicine to heal people so I did it myself, but why should I heal you today, if you can just take drugs, saith the Lord" Is that what Jesus says today? No he says, "you worry and you worry and you worry, where is your faith, why don't you put your faith in me!" Worry leads to anxiety and anxiety kept in festers into depression. Depression is an outflow, yes of what's going on in the mind, Jesus says, "their minds are CONSUMED with worry". Depression can be a lack of faith and constant worry and it can also be demonic, in both cases, Jesus is the answer! The Gadarene Demoniac, who had major mental problems, did not go back to his home town to tell all the people these awesome drugs Jesus had given him to heal him. Jesus told him, "go back to your city and tell them WHAT I HAVE DONE FOR YOU!" I have struggled with major depression; I have struggled with major times of darkness. The doctors are always quick to say, "Don't Worry, Be Happy and boy do I have the right pill for you" but my bible always told me "Don't worry, Be Happy, put your faith in me Jesus" and I will come through for you. My bible always told me, "that these demons/spirits come out by prayer and fasting" my bible always told me, "greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world". It would have been so much easier to just take drugs and make it all go away, but that so reminded me of what I used to do as a sinner, take a pill, a joint, a beer and make it all go away, not dealing with the real issues that were inside of me. Is your mind CONSUMED with worry, is this not what unbelievers do? Have you tried the secular clichés "don't worry be happy" and it's not working? Have you tried the secular clichés "just believe" and it's not working? Then why don't you try sticking Jesus back in both those sentences and try again, Jesus said, "put your faith IN ME, and only believe IN ME, and what is impossible will be made possible because ALL THINGS are possible to them that believe IN ME (JESUS CHRIST).