What does society know?

Since we were kids we have been told that we can become anything that we want.  Whatever we dream, we can do.  I hope that this doesn't burst any bubbles, but society is a big...fat...liar.  Each of us was given a very specific set of gifts, talents, attributes, personality traits, ideals, etc. that make us perfect for something.  Because these specific gifts make us perfect for one thing, that means that they make us horribly wrong for other things.  This isn't a bad thing, it's just the way it is.  I wanted to be an astronaut, but it probably wouldn't work with me being claustrophobic.   What if I wanted to be president? It might be fun, except my temper would probably start WWIII within the first months of my term.

God has given all of us special gifts in order for us to special things, but there are certain things that we cannot do, were not made to do, and in turn... shouldn't do!  Again, this isn't bad, it's just something that we need to accept.  Instead of telling ourselves we can do whatever we put our mind to, why don't we start putting our mind toward figuring out what we were designed to do.  If we can determine our gifts and what we are good at, we can figure out our purpose and why God put us in this world.  What is it that you enjoy doing?  What is it that you can't help but love when your in the middle of?  Whatever this is, it's more than likely what God wants you to be doing with your life.  Max Lucado said it best in his book Cure For The Common Life, "You cannot be anything you want to be.  But you can be everything God wants you to be."

God has given You, and only You, the set of gifts that you have.  There is only one of every single one of us.  Every person on this earth was made with a purpose, made to do something, made to glorify God in our own unique way and if you don't do what God intended you to do, the whole world will miss out.  Not only that, but if your not living out God's purpose for your life, you will never feel truly happy.  Not that life won't move on or be fulfilling in some way, but there will always be something missing and that feeling will never go away.  We have one chance, one life, to be the person God wants and needs us to be.  If we don't live out God's will, it will never be lived out.  No one else can do what you were put in this world to do.  No one else can affect the lives that you were put in this world to affect.  You can't be someone that you aren't! You can and should be the uniquely wonderful person that God strategically designed you to be.  God made every one of us different for a reason!  Now it's time to figure out what that reason is and live it out the way God wants you to!

Time to be happy

It seems to me that no matter how great life is going, I can always find something to get under my skin or stress me out.  Whether it's bills, sleep, work, or women, there is always something that is keeping me from being 100% happy.  Too often I worry about these things that I have no power to control.  While I do need to work to pay my bills and I do need to be around women if I ever want to get married,  I shouldn't worry about what's going to happen as long as I'm doing my part.  I can only control my actions, my words and the things I do, everything else is out of my control.  As long as I'm doing my part, I can't worry about the outcome since it is out of my hands, but I still do...

The question that I have started asking myself is, "Why am I spending my time worrying when I should be out living my life and having fun?"  Whenever I start to stress, I have noticed that my work starts to get  harder, my bills feel like the have doubled their amount, it's more difficult to meet new people and be myself,  basically, everything is effected because of the stress I am feeling.  Why do I stress myself out?  Is it because I don't feel like I'm taken care of? Is it because I feel like I have to do things myself?  Or maybe the question is... Do I not believe that God is good?

That last one is a hard pill to swallow.  I've lived a large part of my life as a believer in Jesus Christ and his greatness, but I think sometimes I act as if the stories we read in the Bible are just like the fairy-tales we were told as children.  I say that I know God is taking care of me, but doesn't the stress in my life almost prove that I'm not acting that out.  If I was living proof that God is good, I wouldn't be worrying about anything,  I would just be content in knowing that God had everything under control and all I have to do is sit back and enjoy the ride I call my life!

This reminds me of Matthew 6 verses 25-34.

"That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life-whether you have enough food or drink, or enough clothes to wear.  Isn't life more than food, and your body more than clothing?  Look at the birds.  They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feed them.  And aren't you far more valuable to him than they are?  Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

And why worry about your clothing?  Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow.  They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are.  And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you.  Why do you have so little faith?

So don't worry about these things, saying, 'What will we eat?  What will we drink? What will we wear?'  These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs.  Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring it's own worries.  Today's trouble is enough for today."

Why do we have so little faith?  God promises that if we serve him and live the way that we are called to live, he will provide everything that we need.  So instead of worrying, I am going to take all my worries off my shoulders, set them down by the feet of God, follow him, and allow him to provide me with what I need.  I'm done worrying!!

It's time to be happy!

Sometimes NO is better

On a daily basis, I seem to think that I know what is best for me and exactly what I need to be happy.  Whether I think it's a relationship, more money, a better job, or whatever it is that has drawn my attention, I know exactly what is best for me.  The fact, though, is that I don't know what's best for me!  I think I do, but there is someone who knows better! 

What if we got everything we wanted?  Where would that leave us?  Just like a child, we don't always see the big picture!  We can see the here and now, and what WE think will make our lives better, but what happens  later on down the road?  As hard as it is for some of us to understand, sometimes God has to tell us no.  It's not that he doesn't want us to be happy, or that he is trying to punish us for something, he just knows what is best for us and as much as he wants to say yes, he knows that sometimes saying NO is going to be better for us in the long run.

The funny thing is that even after he says no, usually he's got a yes planned out that's even better than we could dream of.   Whether it happens a week, a month or even years later, God puts something or even someone in our lives and you just know he's beaming with joy watching his child get something better than they wanted.  As Rob Bell put it in his Nooma video called "Kickball", " God's idea of better is better."    We never realize it until it happens, but when it does we can't do much more than thank him for his infinite wisdom.  We never like hearing the word no, but when we look back at the no's in our life, I would be happy to bet that later on we got a yes that blew our minds!  I know it's happened to me more times than I can remember.

Matthew 7: 9-11 (NLT)

"You parents- if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead?  Of course not!  Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not!  If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him."

What's your resolution?

Every year on December 31st, millions of people celebrate the arrival of a new year by going out on the town, heading to friends or families houses or by just staying in with loved ones.  People celebrate in many different ways and have their own traditions, but there is one thing that is the same no matter who you are! All around the world, people make resolutions to get in shape, stop smoking, or whatever else they deem as a change that needs to be made.  As I was thinking about the resolutions I would be making for myself, a thought came into my head.  If there are things in our lives that we don't like or think need changing, why do we wait until the new year to change them.

Every day we should be changing!!  Every day we should be looking at our lives and how we live them and changing not to better ourselves, not to make others happy, but to glorify the God that gives us each and every breath that we take.  As Christians, we have been issued a death sentence!  This a death sentence from the evil and sin of the world.  In 1st Peter 2:24(Phi), it says:  And he personally bore our sins in his own body on the cross, so that we might be dead to sin and be alive to all that is good. 

Jesus died on the cross so that we could be saved from the sins of this world.  He paid the ultimate sacrifice so we wouldn't have to.  So this year, while your trying to follow a new years resolution, I will challenge you like I am challenging myself!   Make a resolution to die daily to your sins.  This year... accept your death sentence!