Mind Over Matter part 2
If you don't mind... it don't matter. That's what's been on my heart recently. The whole idea of how we let ourselves get wrecked so often by the smallest things. Perceived slights. We think someone is being rude to us, when the truth is they probably aren't thinking about us at all. See, I'm convinced that people are more for themselves than they are against us. Which is why my advice is, "Don't take it personally, even if it is." Because even if it is personal, there's probably nothing you can do about it. So where's the sense in getting all fired up about it? Why not just turn the other cheek, shrug your shoulders, and carry on? Let's try it like this: In Matthew chapter 14 there's a story about Jesus walking on water. And the revelation I had there is that I don't think Jesus particularly cared that there was water or what between Him and His disciples. He wanted to get to them, and He wasn't worried about how He was going to do it. So He just walked on out to them. Then He called Peter to join Him--well, actually Peter ASKED to join Him, and that was a-ok with Jesus. So Peter stepped out. And I think Peter, rather than necessarily standing on the water, was standing on the word of the Lord. But then Peter got distracted. His circumstances got the better of him. He stopped looking at Jesus--the author and finisher of our faith--and he started to get scared. He started to see how "impossible" it was for him to be doing what he was doing. He started to see the waves churning beneath his feet. And then, in the Message Bible, we see this in Matthew 14:31, "Jesus didn't hesitate. He reached down and grabbed his hand. Then he said, "Faint-heart, what got into you?"" Now think about that. We seem to have come to the conclusion that God will punish us for just about any and every thing. But here Peter "lost his faith." The KJV even reports Jesus as saying, "...O thou of little faith..." But either way, when Peter started to sink, Jesus reached out and grabbed him. He didn't punish anybody. He saved them that needed saving. And then He asked the important question: What got into you? Because its not what we get into that matters as much as what gets into us. What we LET inside us. The things that we LET bother us. And guys, let me just say this: When you know the truth you can ignore the lie. You don't have to let anybody else's opinion bother you. Especially when you consider that most of the time people don't know the whole story anyway. So why do you care so much what they say or think? Why do you let things get into you? Its mind over matter. The mind of Christ over the matters of the world. Knowing and believing what's already inside you is what keeps things from getting into you. Knowing and believing that you are loved with an unconditional love is what keeps you afloat. And, like I always say, if Jesus is holding you up--and He is--then nothing can drag you down. It doesn't matter what people say. It matters what your heavenly Father says. And what HE says is, "You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." What HE says is, "I love you, I love you, I love you," with every beat of His heart in your chest. That's what's already in you. You don't need to let anything else in. You simply need to let what's in there come out!