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The Most Important Thing is NOT TO WORRY

By most individual’s standards, I am the prime candidate for worry: mounting bills, no income, no job prospects, and no clear direction of progress.  I often wake up in the morning with questions like: What am I going to do with my life? How am I going to pay this month’s rent?  Is it legal for the collector’s to call back to back like that?  Often times I feel overwhelmed by everything I can’t take care of. 

On the verge of feeling like a complete failure, I have to remind myself the difference between what I think is important and what God thinks is important. 

“O my people, listen as I speak.  Here are my charges against you, O Israel: I am God, your God!   I have no complaint about your sacrifices or the burnt offerings you constantly bring to my altar.  But I want no more bulls from your barns; I want no more goats from your pens. For the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills.  Every bird of the mountains and all the animals of the field belong to me. 

If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for all the world is mine and everything in it.  I don’t need the bulls you sacrifice; I don’t need the blood of goats. What I want instead is your true thanks to God; I want you to fulfill your vows to the Most High. Trust me in times of trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.” Psalms 50:7-15 (New Living)

God has a different definition of success and failure than society does.  He is not looking to what we can bring to the table in terms of material possessions, monetary status or even sacrificial offerings.  He is looking for sincerity of heart, unwavering trust in Him, thanksgiving for all He is.  See, God is not worried about supplying all our needs.  He is already equipped to do that and more.  He is not concerned about what we do for a living as accountant, cashier or lawyer, but more so how we are living as children of the Most High God.  He doesn’t care about receiving offerings, more than He cares about receiving thanks.  And He certainly will not hold failure against you when you fall, He just wants to be the one who rescues you. 

In the morning when I wake, I still have the same questions. I just have a better understanding of what the right answers are.  To God be the Glory. 

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