This is how much your God loves you: He directs you to that which is best. Yet he gives you the choice. Because, in the end, life isn’t what happens to you. It’s what you do with what happens to you.
“Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you’re on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute!”
Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies”
– Philippians 4:4-9, Message Version
It’s a choice. Your thoughts, that which occupies your mind, enters your heart. It’s. A. Choice. (Barring some degree of mental illness). If it weren’t a choice, God wouldn’t say you should be “filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious.”
It’s a choice. How you will handle the day. You can choose. You are free to choose: “Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you’re on their side, working with them and not against them.” Celebrate God. Or bemoan your circumstances. That’s up to you. Not anyone else. You don’t get to choose what happens to you. You do get to choose how you handle it. That’s on you.
And…part of that is laying down your grudges and complaints against others. Your anger and unforgiveness and offendedness. Because it’s not yours to hold. If you hold it, you hold onto judgment against yourself. “With the measure (of grace, forgiveness) you use, it will be measured against you”– Jesus. So…let go of it. And let people know you are for them, not against them. It’s not easy. I know this firsthand. It’s a struggle at times. But it is worth it.
Why do this? Because life is short. And you face Jesus next. He’ll sort it out. You’re not God. Quit acting like you’re the judge of everyone else. It’s exhausting. Not just for you. But for everyone who knows you. Let. It. Go.
And let worries become prayers of freedom. The spiritual, yet very real, transfer of burden from self to God. And watch what happens when “Christ displaces worry at the center of your life”
It’s easy to get caught up in worry, anxiety, drama. To cause it. And to get pulled into other people’s drama. Like watching a trainwreck in slow-mo. But that’s your choice. A better one is to move along. Celebrate your King. Love people (joining in drama is pretty much the opposite of that). Pray about your anxieties and worries. And choose your focus. What you feed your head.
– Choose to Celebrate God. All day, every day. REVEL in him!
– Choose to let grudges fall. To be for people instead of against them. And if they are against you, choose to walk away.
– Choose to live in light of a short life and a long eternity. Let stuff go. Now. Right now. This minute.
– Choose to go to God with your worries. And trust him. And walk away free.
– Choose what you feed your head. What you meditate on. Because what you take in is what you’ll give out.
This is how much your God loves you: He directs you to that which is best. Yet he gives you the choice. Because, in the end, life isn’t what happens to you. It’s what you do with what happens to you.
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