Devotions

DEVOTION BY MARK FUGATE

What Does It Matter

• Phil 1:8 – But what Does it Matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached.  And because of this I rejoice, and yes, I will continue to rejoice.

I have always loved Paul’s response to some people complaining.  His what does it matter response is just incredible.  Do you know how much better you would sleep at night and how much stress would disappear if you truly made that your motto.  Well I have – “what does it matter”.  Karen even gave me a bracelet with those letters on it to remind me – WDIM.   The older I get the more emotional I get and the more understanding and empathy I have with people who are going through rough patches in life.  But every now and then someone needs to set me down and say Mark I love you – but you need to stop letting temporary stuff distract you from what really matters.  We need to stop letting little things destroy our joy and poison our spirit and distract us from what should be priorities in our lives. And we need to realize that half the stuff we are worrying about God is already working out and the other half we will never deal with anyway.  I use to bowl quite often – was in a bowling league for a few years.  Do you ever watch someone after they let go of the ball……What do they do?   They wave at it, talk to it, they threaten it.  They contort their bodies – they lean to one side, hop on one foot, hunch their shoulders.  They act as if they have some kind of magic control over an object that is no longer in their hands.

• That’s a perfect example that proves how much trouble we have letting go.

Do you know who doesn’t do all those things when they throw a ball – professional bowlers.  Rarely will you see a professional bowler do what the rest of us do – they either hold their pose, or sometimes even turn back around before the ball hits the pins.  Why?  Because they know as soon as it’s released – it’s out of their hands.   Listen Church, we can’t get back the things we’ve done and the days that have passed.  That’s all out of our hands now.  And to handle the days we live in now and the days to come – we need to be so much better at turning things over to God.  And when we let Him have them, then we need to truly realize they are out of our hands.   The person who is able to do that is the person that can look at anything that happens in this temporary life and conclude – what does it matter!