Why do we get so stressed out in today’s society? Why do our bodies, our emotions, our schedules, our budgets get overloaded. The answer is because we try to do too much. And why do we try to do too much? Because we forget what matters most. Instead of focusing on the few things in life that matter most, the things that really count, that really make a difference, we try to do everything and we get overloaded.
Today, we want to remember what matters most. NLT Psalm 39:4 LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered, and that my life is fleeing away. We all know that our lives are not going to last forever, but we need to be reminded of it. Why? In order to make the most of our lives. NLT Psalm 90:12 Teach us to make the most of our time. We need God’s help to teach us what matters most. We need God to show what we should be doing in our lives.
Our time here on earth is but a blink of the eye in comparison with the endlessness of eternity. When I was a child, I memorized a short poem which went like this, “Only one life, will soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.” When we really think about it, we want our lives to count for something, we want our lives and what we do to have an impact that will outlive us. We want our lives to have an impact that will last for eternity. In order for that to happen, we need to make the most of our time by focusing on the right priorities.
To hear more about this topic, listen to my September 25, 2005 message entitled Focusing On Right Priorities
Each year, the pace of our society the pace of our lifestyles speeds up. The result is that people get on overload in their lives. If that overload continues for too long, they’re going to crash, in one way or another. Here’s some overload stats for you. People now sleep 2 and a half fewer hours each night than people did 100 years ago. The average office worker has 36 hours of work piled up on his desk. We spend 8 months of our lives opening junk mail and two years of our lives playing phone tag. We are a stretched to the limit society. We are chronically rushed, chronically late and chronically exhausted. You may feel like Job did in NLT Job 3:26 I have no peace, no quietness. I have no rest; instead, only trouble comes. 
Today we begin a new message series called “God’s Remedy For Stress.” Stress is defined as “A mentally or emotionally upsetting condition occurring in response to adverse external influences and capable of affecting physical health.” We can learn a few things about stress from this definition. First of all, stress is not good, it negatively affects your physical health. Stress occurs in response to adverse external influences. Some of these influences we can do something about, others we cannot. However, since stress is a response to adverse circumstances, we can learn how to respond differently and reduce our stress level.
The horrendous destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast has devastated cities and left many without any electric power, most likely for many months. Without electric power, it’s almost impossible to live or rebuild. Electric power is used for lights, refrigeration, heating, communications and the list goes on and on. Our houses and cities are designed to be run with electric power and we can’t live for very long without it. 
One day a Mom decided to take her three children to an ice skating rink in a unfamiliar part of town. After several wrong turns and stops to ask directions, she finally pulled over to the side of the road and suggested that all of them ask God to help them find the rink. With God’s help, they finally found the rink about an hour late. The next week they got in the car to go skating again and just before they took off, the 5 year old said, “Mom, let’s pray first and save time this week.” Not bad advice. Praying first would save us all a lot of time, a lot of headaches and a lot of problems in life.
