Tuesday, September 23, 2008

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Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

In 1997, psychologist and author, Richard Carlson, wrote a book entitled, "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff . . . and it's all small stuff."  The book has enjoyed worldwide success, has been translated into 135 languages, and has circulated around the globe.  Carlson became well known and appeared on magazine covers and talk shows.  The book, or at least its title, apparently grew out of a letter that Dr. Wayne Dyer wrote to Carlson because of a misunderstanding between them, in which Dyer said the following,

"Richard. 
There are two rules for living in harmony. 
#1) Don't sweat the small stuff and
#2) It's all small stuff. . . .  
Love.  Wayne."

On December 13, 2006 at the young age of 45, Richard Carlson died of cardiac arrest on a flight from San Francisco to New York.  He didn't profess to be a Christian although it is clear that he was a spiritual person.  Was he "sweating" his passage from life to the hereafter?  I don't know.  What I do know is that on that particular day he, like each of us one day, faced the biggest stuff any of us will ever have to face.  Death is the biggest thing we will ever confront.

There are things, big and small, that each of us have to confront each and every day of our lives.  And one day, each of us will have to confront our death.  Can we simply choose to not sweat the small stuff and decide that it is all small stuff.  That may be popular psychology but is it enough to really make a difference in our lives.  We need to look at what scripture says.  What does the word of God say?  Interesting, it says something very similar, but with an extremely important difference. 

Years ago, when my wife was attending a Christian camp, a friend gave her a particular passage of scripture and wrote in the margin of her Bible these simple words, "Thou shalt not sweat it!"  The scripture is found in Psalm 37:

"Delight yourself in the LORD;
And he will give you the desires of your heart. 
Commit you way to the LORD,
Trust also in Him, and he will do it. . . .
Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him;
Fret not yourself . . .
Fret not yourself, it leads only to evildoing. . . .
But those who wait for the LORD, they will inherit the land. . . . 
But the humble will inherit the land,
And will delight themselves in abundant prosperity"
(Psalm 37:4-11 NASB).  

Scripture too says that we are not to sweat it.  We are not to sweat the small stuff.  Why?  Because of God.  And because everything that we could ever face up to and including death is small in comparison to God.  It's all small stuff is only really true if and when we believe in God.  Rest in the Lord, we are told.  Wait patiently for him.  Delight yourself in the Lord.  Commit your way to the Lord.  Those who wait for the Lord.  Are we catching the recurring theme?  The Lord.

I agree that none of us should sweat the small stuff.  And I agree that in the final analysis, it is all small stuff.  But that is only because God is so big.  And because he loves you and me so much.  Psalm 138:8 says simply,

"The LORD will accomplish what concerns me."

Paul said, "What, then, shall we say in response to this?  If God is for us, who (or what) can be against us?" (Romans 8:31).  And he asks whether trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword could come between us and the love of Christ? (Romans 8:35).  No, these are all small things.  Don't sweat anything.

"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, . . . nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:37-39).

Don't sweat the small stuff.  It is all small stuff.  For there is nothing in life or death or anything in between that is bigger than our loving God!  We can face life and all it throws at us.  We can even face death without fear.  It is all small stuff to God.  He has conquered life and he has conquered death.  And nothing, absolutely no thing, can separate us from his huge love for you and me!

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