Midterms = Stress

Sorry its been a couple days since I've posted...its midterms week here at Point. Not too excited about it. I had three exams and two papers I needed to have completed by the end of this week. I just got done with one of my exams and I wasn't too happy about it...but, there is always next time!

Along with the theme of midterms, God has been putting the thoughts of stress and worry on my heart. I was just reading through the book of Philippians and I came across 4:6...

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

"Do not be anxious about anything"....man, that is not me at all. I am anxious about EVERYTHING! I am worried about money, what am I going to do after college, what do people think of me, am I portraying God in a good way right now, etc., etc. But this passage is calling us not to worry or be anxious about anything, but instead give it up to the Lord and know that he will have supreme power over it. Like I said, God has put it in my heart because of me reading through Philippians, but, God is also reaching me through another book.

I am reading Francis Chan's "Crazy Love" right now and let me tell you, it is stinkin' amazing! It is all about the love that God has for us and the love that we should have for him. But, the part I want to focus on is also about worry and stress. I'll just write it out for you...
"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.
Basically, these two behaviors communicate that it’s OK to sin and not trust God because the stuff in my life is somehow exceptional. Both worry and stress reek of arrogance. They declare our tendency to forget that we’ve been forgiven, that our lives here are brief, that we are headed to a place where we won’t be lonely, afraid, or hurt ever again, and that in the context of God’s strength, our problems are small, indeed.
Why are we so quick to forget God? Who do we think we are?
I find myself relearning this lesson often. Even though I glimpse God’s holiness, I am still dumb enough to forget that life is all about God and not about me at all.
It goes sort of like this…
Suppose you are an extra in an upcoming movie. You will probably scrutinize that one scene where hundreds of people are milling around just waiting for that two-fifths of a second when you can see that back of your head. Maybe your mom and closest friend get excited about that two-fifths of a second with you…maybe. But no one else will realize it is you. Even if you tell them, they won’t care.
Let’s take it a step further. What if you rent out the theater on opening night and invite all your friends and family to come see the new movie about you? People will say, “You’re an idiot! How could you think this movie is about you?”
Many Christians are even more delusional than the person I’ve been describing. So many of us think and live like the movie of life is all about us.
Now consider the movie of life…
GOD creates the world. (Were you alive then? Was GOD talking to you when He proclaimed “It is good” about all He had just mad?)
Then people rebel against GOD (who, if you haven’t realized yet, is the main character in this movie), and GOD floods the earth to rid it of the mess of people made it.
Several generations later, GOD singles out a ninety-nine-year-old man called Abram and makes him the father of a nation (did you have anything to do with this?).
Later, along come Joseph and Moses and many other ordinary and inadequate people that the movie is also not about. GOD is the one who picks them and directs them and works miracles through them.
In the next scene, GOD sends judges and prophets to His nation because the people can’t seem to give Him the one thing He asks of them (obedience).
And then, the climax: The Son of GOD is born among the people whom GOD still somehow loves. While in this world, the song teaches His followers what true love looks like. Then the Son of GOD dies and is resurrected and goes back up to be with GOD.
And even though the movie isn’t quite finished yet, we know what the last scene holds. It’s the scene I already described in chaper1: the throne room of GOD. Her every being worships GOD who sits on the throne, for He alone is worthy to be praised.
From start to finish, this movie is obviously about God. He is the main character. How is it possible that we live as though it is about us?
Our scene in the movie, our brief lives, fall somewhere between the time Jesus ascends into heaven (Acts) and when we will all worship God on His throne in heaven (Revelation).
We have only our two-fifths-of-a-second-long scene to live. I don't know about you, but I want my two-fifths of a second to be about my making much of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." That is what each of our two-fifths is about.
So what does that mean for you?
Frankly, you need to get over yourself. It might sound harsh, but that's seriously what it means.
Maybe life's pretty good for you right now. God has given you this good stuff so that you can show the world a person who enjoys blessings, but who is still totally obsessed with God.
Or maybe life is tough right now, and everything feels like a struggle. 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. Like the psalmist who wrote, "I saw the prosperity of the wicked...Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure...When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God" (Ps. 73:3, 13, 16-17). It is easy to become disillusioned with the circumstances of our lives compared to others'. But in the presence of God, He gives us deeper peace and joy that transcends it all.
To be brutally honest, it doesn't really matter what place you find yourself in right now. Your part is to bring Him glory---whether eating a sandwich on lunch break, drinking coffee at 12:04 a.m. so you can stay awake to study, or watching your four-month-old take a nap.
The point of your life is to point to Him. Whatever you are doing, God wants to be glorified, because this whole thing is His. It is His movie, His world, His gift."

This really hit me hard....I'll tell you more later! Love you all, thanks for reading and I hope God can speak to you through this blog!

Ryan