Self...Stop Worrying and Focus.

I spoke this Sunday from Jesus' teaching at the Sermon on the Mount about stress, worry and anxiety. It is amazing how much I am more aware of how much I worry about stupid stuff.

Then, last night, I heard a guy on the radio ask a couple of questions that helped me focus a bit...

"Do we really believe that good people can go to hell?"

and

"How much do I really value a soul?"

Discovering how much God values a soul is not difficult...except to place a quatitative value on His Son...Jesus Christ.

So I said to myself, "Self...stop worrying and focus."

QUOTES - Sinking In

I heard and read this quote last Friday.

"To reach people no one else is reaching, we must do things no one else is doing."
[Craig Groeschel]

I'm not sure what it means for my life yet, but I sure cannot get it off my mind.

Am I Asking for An Ostrich?

I read a story about a man who found an old lamp in his attic. He rubbed the lamp, a genie popped out, and he was offered 2 wishes. First, he wished that every time he needed money for something, he could reach into his pocket and pull out exactly what he needed. That's a little different from asking for a million dollars...and probably a wiser choice.

When he made his second wish, he wished for a tall chick with a large butt who would always agree with him. The genie answered his request...and an ostrich appeared.

As I watched the Presidential debate last night, I kind of felt the same way about followers of Christ in America. As followers of Christ, we say that we pray for God to provide our daily bread and that we believe [Philippians 4:19] God will supply all of our needs. Yet many who say that they follow Christ focus so intently on those issues that we forget that there are more important things like the values of life and family [Matthew 6:25].

We should be careful and not take our eyes off of Kingdom values. Should we work and care about the physical needs? Sure. But we can focus so much on what WE think we need or WE want that we could, without even knowing it, end up asking for an ostrich.