Recent Thoughts...at 8:00am

1. Sleep is not overrated! I used to live by the motto “sleep when you die” well it has now changed to “sleep or you will die”! God designed us to need rest! After all he did! I think we should make rest a regular part of our worship!

Ecclesiastes 2:21-23 (NCV)
^2:21 People can work hard using all their wisdom, knowledge, and skill, but they will die, and other people will get the things for which they worked. They did not do the work, but they will get everything. This is also unfair and useless. ²² What do people get for all their work and struggling here on earth? ²³ All of their lives their work is full of pain and sorrow, and even at night their minds don’t rest. This is also useless.

2. The more I do the more I realize I should be doing less. It is one thing to be able to prioritize to fit everything in. But, I wonder if everything I am trying to cram in my life really makes my life better or just more active! I think better is better, “more” should never be the qualifier for what is better.

Hebrews 12:1-3 (NIV)
^12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.² Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

3. I wish I could process and live all the things I read! I love to learn, application is that hard part. I guess this goes back to that last point. Maybe I should read less so that I can live more! Wow I hate it when I am writing and I clarify my questions! AHHHHHH! But I love to read! But, the truth is I can get all my answers if I read one book (Bible)!

Hebrews 4:11-12 (CEV)
^4:11 We should do our best to enter that place of rest, so that none of us will disobey and miss going there, as they did. ¹² What God has said isn't only alive and active! It is sharper than any double-edged sword. His word can cut through our spirits and souls and through our joints and marrow, until it discovers the desires and thoughts of our hearts.

I think I’m done thinking for now! Too little sleep but at least I know how to be a success today, focus on “One” and attack each task as they come!

What is Insignificant to God?

While praying some time back, I saw an ant crawling on the carpet. I naturally wanted to display my power and kill it. Interestingly a bizarre thought came to me! I realized God's view of us. I determined that I am kind of like that ant to God, small , weak, and completely incapable of doing anything out of his control! But though all of this is true, I am NOT insignificant to him. So I let the ant live. I realized that just because I think that something is small and insignificant does not mean that it isn’t to God. I need to let God determine the value of thingsin my life and in his creation…not me!

1 Corinthians 1:26-31 (HCSB)
²⁶ Brothers, consider your calling: not many are wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth. ²⁷ Instead, God has chosen the world’s foolish things to shame the wise, and God has chosen the world’s weak things to shame the strong. ⁸ God has chosen the world’s insignificant and despised things—the things viewed as nothing—so He might bring to nothing the things that are viewed as something, ²⁹ so that no one can boast in His presence. ³⁰ But from Him you are in Christ Jesus, who for us became wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, ³¹ in order that, as it is written: The one who boasts must boast in the Lord.

Philippians 3:8 (MSG)
⁸ Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I've dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ