The Suffering Sermon (Part 4 of 8) 

What is Really Important 

Mother Teresa once said, quote; 

"In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love." 

Accepting the world as it is, has finally allowed me to relax. I have finally learned that I can't save the world, and little me is not supposed to either. Saving the world is not my purpose, it’s not what God fearfully and wonderfully created me for. (Plus as I came to discover, Christ already saved the world a long time ago…)  

Anyways, the point here is that I still aspire to do great things, however, more than that, I desire to simply serve the Lord and trust His will. And if it is His will, He will use me, and great things will happen. But not because of me and my own vanity. 

And that has led me to the revelation that being intelligent (as I so thought I was...) is not about being studious all the time, it is knowing how to be fulfilled and all circumstances. I thought I was intelligent, but I wasn't fulfilled in the most basic of circumstances. I thought I needed this or that to be complete. I thought God made my brain wrong. I felt the world was wrong and that I knew how to fix it. I thought that it was because of me and my intelligence and ambition that I was going to do great things. 

Come to find out, I was so wrong. I used to base my actions on my feelings, which were based on my own understanding, without knowing all of the facts, so of course, I got it wrong most of the time. So what a relief it was for me when God revealed to me that it is not about me at all. It is not about how I feel, or what I think I want. It is all about God. 

And I could not say it better than original wiseguy, Mark Twain. quote; 

“It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.” 

So it is not about what mister wiseguy wants, and it is certainly not about what mister wiseguy feels. So you should just ignore your feelings, right? Yes, that is correct. Well, sort of. Of course, it is a little more complicated than that, but that is the basic idea. At first, the thought of neglecting how I personally feel about whatever felt so stupid and counter-productive. How am I to control how I feel? If I'm mad or I don't like something how am I supposed to just ignore my feelings? 

Well, here is a little lesson in logic: If you control your thoughts, and your feelings come from your thoughts, then you control your feelings. Yes, it is that simple. Keep this in mind always. Whatever feelings you have or emotions you’re experiencing, it all came from a thought… And you control your thoughts. And if you don’t believe that you control your thoughts, then ask yourself who is controlling you? Just keep your mind on Christ and just give love. It is that easy. 

It is when I realized that I am creating my own world based on how I perceive and react to whatever comes my way. If I react with violence and contempt, or loftiness, then that negative energy will expand and rebound back at me... If I plant even a single seed of evil, then, of course, wickedness will grow in my world. If I ignore my own feelings, sometimes acting against my own better judgment, and just respond with loving kindness, then the grace of God will come back at me. It is that simple. 

That is what it means to have the Spirit of God inside you. As Jesus said, when you turn the other cheek, when you love your enemies, when you humble yourself, when you love the sinner and your neighbor, then and only then will Father God will exalt you. It is when you no longer act based on your own feelings,and when you obey the perfect laws of God, that you will be freed from the curse of sin. 

Now being filled with nothing but love, nothin but love comes out. When anger or envy try to creep into my reactions, and I'm about to do or say something stupid, I ask Jesus to put me in a choke hold...