I Got Nothin'

And....a lot of it :) 

BUT, GOD creates Ex Nihilo (out of nothing). 

It is important to understand that God created all the somethings from NOTHING.  If there were already things in existence, then He is really just good with recipes or mechanics...putting things together...mixing things up, but He is not the CREATOR, you know what I mean?  Even MacGyver had stuff to work with :)

We can think of this concept strictly in terms of it being philosophical or theological and never let our minds consider it because of it's depth (I want to give up when my brain starts to hurt :)....BUT, if we really consider it...we can start to see that nothing is impossible for Him....He will always bring something from nothing because creativity flows from Him.  Why is this important?  Well, we tote and lug things around that we think God needs...pride tricks us into believing He NEEDS our talents....He NEEDS our time....He NEEDS  our love....He NEEDS our brilliant ideas....like MacGyver's  string, duct tape, and paper clips :)  BUT REALLY, GOD doesn't NEED our stuff and, no matter what we have, it REALLY isn't anything....it is completely nothing compared to what GOD brings to the equation.

I like a funky song from Shane & Shane partly because you can groove to it, but, I also like how they present this concept that we bring NOTHING to the table when it comes to our relationship with GOD.  We just bring ourselves and God does everything else.  EVERYTHING!...As a person who hates showing up somewhere without a small housewarming item or food....this idea is SOOOO infuriating to me.  Brad makes fun of me at how frustrated I can be if we get invited somewhere spontaneously and I have nothing to take....even when the people say, "don't bring anything"  I still want to, you know.  My own pride wants me to believe I have great things to add to what God is doing.

Here are some places my mind went with this....

WE CANNOT MESS UP GOD'S PLAN....(AMEN)

HE CAN HUMBLE US WITH THE REALIZATION THAT WE REALLY HAVE NOTHING TO OFFER OUTSIDE OF HIM...

WE HAVE TO UNDERSTAND OUR DEPRAVITY BEFORE WE CAN YEARN FOR HIM TO CREATE SOMETHING NEW WITHIN US...

...THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE BECAUSE HE CREATES OUT OF THAT VERY

 NOTHINGNESS

and

GREAT THINGS COME FROM humble BEGINNINGS.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUBXfGCcyjc