When Gas Prices Soar!

By now we are all aware of the fact that the price for a gallon of gasoline has soared. For reasons too complicated to get into (for they are many and varied), we are all feeling the effect of sticker shock when we go to fill up our tanks. Hopefully, the current prices at the pump won’t last forever. 

As I casually talk to people about what’s happening in our economy, and especially the soaring gas prices, it’s pretty easy to tell who is becoming stressed out by it all. As gas prices go up (and the cost of other things as well), there are those who can’t help but go on a rant and point fingers. Their stress level seems to be going through the roof. Often their stress turns into an anger that you can hear in their voice or even see on their face. And, I think to myself I really don’t want to go down that road—i.e., I don’t want my emotional state to be tied to the price at the pump! 

Like you, I am not at all happy about what I have to pay at the pump these days. And, sometimes I do find my stress level going up by it all—especially as I watch the meter on the pump go round and round and round. But I’m trying to remind myself of Jesus’ words, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (Matthew 6:25-27 – NIV) 

In other words, no matter what happens in the economy (whether gas prices go up or down), we have a heavenly Father who is more than able to provide for us as his children. That doesn’t mean we might not have to cut back on some things or be more careful about the use of our finances. But it does mean, we need not fall into anxiety and worry and fear over such matters. We need not become angry, argue, and spend our days pointing fingers. We need not allow our emotional state to fluctuate with the price at the pump. After all, if God takes such good care of the birds, won’t he do even more so for you and me and for all of his children. 

So today, I am asking God to help me to not get so caught up in the price of gas (or the price of meat or eggs or anything else), that I forget who the real source of all that I have is. I am asking God to help me keep my mind focused on him as the One who is my real provider, for as we look to him, we can rest assured that we have a good heavenly Father who truly does take care of his children—even when gas prices soar!  

Have a great day! 

Pastor Tim Harris