...lets me communicate it to someone else who needs it, then helps me re-learn it because I’m too much of an idiot to let it sink in and stick the FIRST time. Ha. I opened the devotional book I read ad infinitum, called “Streams in the Desert” (and received from an amazing friend and mentor, Leah Humphreys), and it fell open to the August 5th page, upon which I’d written “Treat [God’s] promises as REALITIES!” The Scripture for that day was 2 Corinthians 12:9- “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that christ’s power may rest on me.” How crazy is it that we so often forget about how God says things; His grace IS sufficient, not “may, can or might be”. IS. End of story. We get into this bad habit of asking God for stuff He’s already provided; strength, grace, power, forgiveness. We (especially me) have all these excuses about sin we get into, especially since we can explain it away as “not really sin”, such as worry or stress. God specifically tells us NOT to worry. “DO NOT worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” - Matthew 6:34. Or how about this one, from Luke 12:22-25 “Then Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who f you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?’” Or how about Philippians 4:6- “Do not be anxious about anything.” And only two verses previously, it commands us instead to “Rejoice in the Lord always! I will say it again: REJOICE!” I love how Francis Chan puts it:
Worry implies that we don’t quite trust that God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough to take care of what’s happening in our lives.
Stress says that the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our impatience, our lack of grace toward others, or our tight grip of control.
Both worry and stress reek of arrogance.
Whoa.
In other words...GET OVER YOURSELF.
I’m gonna sound like I’m on Chan’s payroll here, but he has a tendency to steal the words out of my mouth.
“God has allowed hard things in your life so you can show the world that your God is great and that knowing Him brings peace and joy, even when life is hard.”
“I am thankful for the unknowns and that I don’t have control, because it makes me run to God.”
I just finished reading Colossians for the n-th time, and one thing that strikes me as a prominent theme in it is thankfulness. Actually, thankfulness is just a huge theme in all of Paul’s works that seems to go hand in hand with the study of God’s word and living a Christ-centered life, as well as knowing God and understanding His will. So that was a huge paraphrase, but really, read the epistles. You’ll see what I mean.
In Chan’s book, Crazy Love, he includes a paper written by a 14-year old girl named Brooke Bronkowski who was sold out for God, entitled “Since I Have My Life Before Me.” She died in a car accident shortly after writing it, but at her funeral at least two hundred students accepted Christ.
“Since I Have My Life Before Me”
I’ll live my life to the fullest. I’ll be happy. I’ll brighten up. I will be more joyful than I have ever been. I will be kind to others. I will loosen up. I will tell others about Christ. I will go on adventures and change the world. I will be bold and not change who I really am. I will have no troubles but instead help others with their troubles.
You see, I’ll be one of those people who live to be history makers at a young age. Oh, I’ll have moments, good and bad, but I will wipe away the bad and only remember the good. In fact that’s all I remember, just good moments, nothing in between, just living my life to the fullest. I’ll be one of those people who go somewhere with a mission, an awesome plan, a world changing plan, and nothing will hold me back. I’ll set an example for others, I will pray for direction.
I have my life before me. I will give others the joy I have and God will give me more joy. I will do everything God tells me to do. I will follow the footsteps of God. I will do my best!!!
The only thing I would change is the very last line...I will do everything through Christ who gives me strength, because my best won’t last very long.
So anyway, I know this post, like all others, starts in one place and doesn’t really end where you’d expect it to, but that’s fine. I hope you got something out of it, but even if you didn’t, it’s been good for me to solidify my thoughts a bit more.
