Skip to main content

“It’s time to deal with the fear of not mattering.”

A thought by Max Lucado (2012-02-06) from his book, Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear (p. 25). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Do you feel that way?  Do you fear that you don’t matter?  Do you?  Listen, it is a very powerful fear.  It really is.

Max says, “The fear that you are one big zero will become a self-fulfilling prophecy that will ruin your life. It works like this.”

He goes on, “You’re slugging away at a menial job that pays poorly and saps your energy. The salary covers the bills but nothing more. Your God-given abilities languish like unwatered roses. But then you read of a job opening that capitalizes on your skills, maximizes your abilities. So in a moment of uncharacteristic courage, you submit your application. The employer invites you in for an interview. That’s when the mentality of the Tribe of the Too Smalls returns. ‘I’ll never impress them,’ you moan. ‘I’ll look stupid in the interview. They’ll ask questions I can’t answer. I’ll never get this job.’ A mouse in a lions’ den has better odds of success. You flop miserably and descend yet another level into the basement of self-defeat.”

Max continues, “Fear of insignificance creates the result it dreads, arrives at the destination it tries to avoid, facilitates the scenario it disdains. If a basketball player stands at the foul line repeating, ‘I’ll never make the shot, I’ll never make the shot,’ guess what? He’ll never make the shot.”

Max then says, “Even more, you are disagreeing with God. Questioning his judgment. Second-guessing his taste. According to him you were ‘skillfully wrought’ (Ps. 139: 15). You were ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ (Ps. 139: 14). He can’t stop thinking about you! If you could count his thoughts of you, ‘they would be more in number than the sand’ (Ps. 139: 18).  Why does he love you so much? The same reason the artist loves his paintings or the boat builder loves his vessels. You are his idea. And God has only good ideas. ‘For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago’ (Eph. 2: 10 NLT).”

“You are his idea. And God has only good ideas.”  He does.


Would you let him right now reinforce in you the reality that you are his idea, and you are a very good one?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

“There’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.”

A thought by Bob Goff from his book, Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People ( p. 41). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)   Have you ever built a sand castle or maybe a Lego castle?   Have you? Bob says, “We actually build castles all the time, out of our jobs and our families and the things we’ve purchased. Sometimes we even make them out of each other. Some of these castles are impressive too. Lots of people come to admire what we’ve built over the course of our lives and tell us what great castles we have. But Jesus told His friends we weren’t supposed to spend our lives building castles. He said He wanted us to build a kingdom, and there’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.” Bob goes on, “You see, castles have moats to keep creepy people out, but kingdoms have bridges to let everyone in. Castles have dungeons for people who ha...

“When you understand that life is a test, you realize that nothing is insignificant in your life.”

A thought by Rick Warren, (2012-10-23) from his book, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (Purpose Driven Life, The) (p. 57). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. To realize that from God’s perspective life is a test goes a long way in determining how you handle your life.   It is important to see that in testing your character is both developed and revealed.   Rick goes on to say that “even the smallest incident has significance for your character development. Every day is an important day, and every second is a growth opportunity to deepen your character, to demonstrate love, or to depend on God.” So there is a God purpose behind each situation in your life.   Even the bad ones are there to strengthen you and develop you.   You see those bad situations are really good ones because they are there for your good. I start each day with a reminder that God is good.   Not every situation that is going to come in my day is good but because G...

“Sometimes we think we’re stuck simply because things are hard.”

A thought by Matt Perman, from his book, How to Get Unstuck (p. 52). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the That is a possible trap for many, isn’t it? Matt says, “But if you’re continuing to make progress and aren’t experiencing huge snags, you’re not stuck. Rather, you’re in a dip. “A dip is a temporary hard slog that you will get through if you keep pushing and don’t give up. And pushing through the hard slog is actually the fastest route to the destination. In these cases, you will be especially tempted to bail. Be discerning and able to identify that you’re in a legitimate dip and you’re not a failure.” Matt says another trap to be careful of, “Some people are stuck and don’t know it.” He goes on, “Everything can be going your way, going smoothly, and going quickly. Everything feels and seems wonderful. Yet... you are still headed toward a dead end, a form of getting stuck, if you are leaving God out of t...