Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff

Matthew 8:1-10:42

Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff

“For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise
and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power
on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Arise,
take up your bed, and go to your house.” And he
arose and departed to his house.
(Matthew 9:6-8)

Go Deep: I’ve always loved that line: “Which is easier?”  If I had been the one in this situation instead of Jesus, I would likely have said, “Which is harder?”  But Jesus was God, so he didn’t sweat the small stuff—and to him, it was all small stuff.

That’s why he could forgive sins just as easily as he could heal a paralytic.  That’s why he could cure those with leprosy, raise a little girl from death, heal a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, open blind eyes, equip a mute man with speech, drive demons from those in the devil’s bondage and even calm a raging storm on the Sea of Galilee.  It was all small stuff to Jesus because he was God.

So what about your life?  What are you facing? What is your storm, your impossibility, your bondage—a physical challenge, a financial situation, a problem at work, guilt over a past sin, a broken marriage?  What is it that is causing paralysis in your life, keeping you from walking into the abundance that Jesus promised to give? (John 10:10)  Whatever it is, no matter how big of a deal it seems to you, it’s all small stuff to Jesus, because he is God after all.

As you face those things today that have paralyzed you with fear, anxiety, guilt, hurt, anger or inaction, take to heart the words of the prophet Jeremiah,

O Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth
by your great power.  Nothing is too difficult for you.
(Jeremiah 32:17)

So don’t sweat the small stuff—because it is all small stuff to Jesus.

Just Saying… The prince of preachers, Charles Spurgeon, England’s best-known pulpiteer for most of the second half of the nineteenth century said, “When you have no helpers, see your helpers in God. When you have many helpers, see God in all your helpers. When you have nothing but God, see all in God. When you have everything, see God in everything. Under all conditions, stay thy heart only on the Lord.” Put your hope in the Lord, because that hope will not be disappointed. (Romans 5:5)