Anyway this chapter is one giant harsh truth. In the grand scheme of things - you are nothing.
Ouch
Obviously we don't mean this is the - "you're nothing as a person, you're a waste of life, etc." We as humans are such selfish beings. All of us. Don't believe me? Have you ever worried about something? Ever been stressed?
“Worry implies that we don’t quite trust that God is big enough, or 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 out tight grip of control.”
Ouch. I have never thought of it like that. I've heard that about worry before, but stress - "the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our impatience." Yup - that pretty much nails it. What do we have to stress about! Bills, relationships, work, etc. Is that really important enough when looking through the filter God sees - lost, dieing, hurting people?
And it hurts even more when we read this:
"But then there's that perplexing command: "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" (Phil. 4:4). You'll notice that it doesn't end with "...unless you're doing something extremely important." No, it's a command for all of us, and it follows with the charge, "Do not be anxious about anything" (v.6).
That came as a pretty staggering realization. But what I realized next was even more staggering.
When I am consumed by my problems - stressed out about my life, my family, and my job - I actually convey the belief that I think the circumstances are more important than God's command to always rejoice. In other words, that I have a "right" to disobey God because of the magnitude of my responsibilities."
HOW MANY TIMES HAVE WE HEARD THIS!?!? We hear it in church, we read it in the Bible, it's everywhere and we always say AMEN. And then Sunday afternoon around 1pm rolls around and we start stressing! Maybe we're worried about the next week at work, maybe we're stressed about someone or something at church, maybe we're stressed about what restaurant to eat at!!
WE HAVE NO RIGHT TO DO THAT! We are COMMANDED to REJOICE! "Oh but I've got *insert your current struggle*" Doesn't matter - compared to the lost dieing souls God sees and the amazing power he gives us you have no reason NOT to rejoice. We could lose our jobs, our families, everything and if we just had God - rejoice! These are all earthly things!
Harsh? Absolutely! I love my things, I love my family, but we are still thinking so narrowly. In heaven are things going to matter? Nope. Are family going to matter? Sorry but no. As great as families are (God gave them to us!) compared to the eternal, compared to a life in heaven praising and just being in the presence of God, they mean nothing.
"Basically, these two behaviors [stress and worry] communicate that it’s okay 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."
Francis gives the example of picturing the Bible as a movie. Start from Genesis and go all the way to Revelation, picturing the settings, ALL of the actors (if you see a name or even a pronoun that person is an actor in the story), and then figure out how much "screen time" you personally get in the movie.
"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 10:13 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 of a second is about."
So when we say you are nothing - we're saying our personal opinion on how important we are (our life, our problems, our successes, our failures) means absolutely nothing when you compare it to the entire picture that is God. You know what the means? You've got nothing to worry about. NOTHING. What's not to (crazy) love about that? How much should we (crazy) love the person who made it possible?
Here are some more harsh truths from the book:
"Frankly, you need to get over yourself. It might sound harsh, but that's seriously what it means."
"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"
"The truth is, some people waste their lives. This isn't meant to bash those who are gone, but rather to warn those who are alive."
"His work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person's work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames (1 Cor. 3:13-15)
Perhaps that sounds harsh, but harsh words and the loving truth often go hand in hand
Friends, we need to stop living selfish lives, forgetful of our God. Our lives here are short, often unexpectedly so, and we can all stand to be reminded of it from time to time. That's why I wrote this chapter, to help us remember that in the movie of life, nothing matters except our King and God.
Don't let yourself forget. Soak it in and keep remembering that it is true. He is everything."
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