I just read something funny in the Atlas of the Bible, by Reader's Digest.
"Assyrian kings and male commoners alike wore earrings and crimped their hair and beards with curling irons. The royal headgear, in the shape of a truncated cone with a smaller, rounded cone at the top, was festooned with ribbons that hung down the back to waist level." Pg 14.
I'm afflicted. The world and its heavy burdens are a pain in the neck. Jesus Christ's requirements are lighthearted, and a pleasure to do. Pleasing Him: I can do it out of love and in all faith, but the world makes it really, really hard to do it because the world has its requirements and they get it in the way. And not only that, but they're impossible.
I'd rather be understanding the Lord's knowledge. Yesterday. I worked 12 hours. Was only supposed to work 9: 10:45 AM to 7:45 PM, but I worked 10:45 to 10:45 then on to 11 o'clock a little bit. And you'd think the world would be happy. No. You can't please the world. You can't be friends with the world without it forcing you to have emnity with God, and I'm not doing that: I have to work 7-4 today but I have an exam from 1-3 then another from 3:30 to 5:30 in the same building. The world requires me to be in two places at once. It's impossible for me. So I call it and tell it I have to call in because I can't work. I can only do one or the other. So the world tells me: I can write it down in the book, but it's not going to be an excused absence.
Not excused? I have 6 classes and I've struggled so much to do well in this Chemistry class. If I don't do well, I wont have a chance at going to something big like medical school or something bigger, even though even they are in vain... It takes an hour to get to Tampa. If I came in to work, I'd have to leave at 11. But I haven't studied. Because I worked so hard. But I don't get some sort of medal for working hard and past my requirements on the day before from the world. No. The professor doesn't come to me from school and tell me that I'm working a part time job, running 2 businesses, and trying to keep up with studies is amazing and I should keep up the good work. They could care less. No worldly people love enough to care if I've overworked, hadn't taken my last break, and now have an oxygen headache from my chest being too tight and not having a bathroom break. There's no one that cares. Even my own mother doesn't care and falls asleep at the sound of my voice when I come to tell her how my day was assuming she would have asked. Nothing.
Who will reward me? Who cares what I'm going through? If I care about someone that's going through a lot, where's my reward? Is there anyone that will read what I'm typing now, and does the person thats reading even care a little bit, being someone in the world?
But those aren't questions that I'm asking because I've already been told the answers. My reward is in the kingdom of Heaven. It's reserved for me with my name on it, and waiting for when I'm welcomed home. The Lord my God cares more than I'll ever know about what I'm going through. If I care about and pray for my friends even when they don't care about me and my problems, my reward is with my heavenly Father, and my inheritance I get from Jesus Christ. It doesn't matter whether there's anyone to share it with, or that no one hears my cry: God's known the numbers of hairs on my head since the day I was removed from my mother's womb. He's heard my cries, and they're recorded in the same kingdom that my heart hopes and depends on going to, and it pleases the Lord that the treasuries of my heart are there - the true home. My citizenship is of there. So I'm a stranger to the world and all its ways. The world may be my enemy but I have an advocate with the Father that will die for me, and I'll do for Him. No one can accuse me of not working hard. God knows.
So I'm gone to study for my two exams today, since I'm missing work.
