Brown Nuggets

The Big Picture

I don't care anymore.

Let me rephrase that.

I will no longer allow myself to get depressed or stressed out because of work. It's just not worth it. Not worth my life, my happiness, my self-esteem and my time.

So what if I don't meet my target or budget for that matter? So what if I don't clock enough hours? Am I trying my best? I sure am. And to me, to God too, that's enough.

Last Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were the most depressive days I had since the horrible episodes last year in my previous job. My boyfriend was quite worried coz it was the first time he had ever seen me so down - he is truly God sent. He was praying for me when God impressed upon him this two verses from Matt 6:25-26 and he wanted me to read it (he had to read it out to me coz I was too sleepy/lazy/depressed to do anything). At that point, it didn't mean much to me (I was too sleepy/lazy/depressed to absorb anything).

Anyway, he suggested that I started reading Matthew (again) which I did a few days later and when I got to 6:25 I remembered that he wanted me to read those verses. I read and re-read them several times and I guess you could say I finally gained revelation (you know how we often read but don't really realise the true meaning? Matt 13:13 talks about it too "...seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand") because I felt the verses speaking directly to me about my situation.

Matthew 6:25-34

25 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
28 So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;
29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'
32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

After reading this passage, I remembered that God is truly able to provide for me. The Bible only says that if you do not work, you shall not eat. Do I work? I do! And to the best of my ability too. So surely God will take care of me.

Sometimes, we get so caught up with the little things we are doing that we lose the big picture. And the big picture is that none of all these things mean much. They are not eternal. So what if I do not do well in my career? So what if I lose my job? Is it going to mean anything when I get to heaven? (see words in bold below)

2 Corinthians 4:8-18

8 We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed--
10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
12 So then death is working in us, but life in you.
13 And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, "I believed and therefore I spoke,"* we also believe and therefore speak,
14 knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you.
15 For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,
18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

People and lives are what matter to God. I should put more of my time and life into serving God and helping people. That's what loving God wholeheartedly and loving people fervently means.

posted by Pocahontas @ 10:23 AM