So, I have this recurring nightmare– it’s that when I die, I go to the place of judgment and I fail to fully account for what I did while I was alive and I am thrown to the place where people gnash their teeth. Then, while I am there (at the place of gnashing of teeth), I spend all eternity on “what if”? When i wake up from the cold sweat in the morning in mid-alarm panic, I reflect on the past days and find missed opportunities and errant passes and over analyze the situation, trying to play back scenarios that will never be. In futility, I spend the rest of that day trying to compensate for the lessons I learned from my unpleasant dream and miss more obvious opportunities for that day. I know you’re not as shallow as I pretend to be, and this describes you on any given bad day, too. However, there’s a big problem with us and it’s because we say, “what if…” To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power… – 2 Thessalonians 1:11 Written pseudographically by the Apostle Paul, the question of “what if” is settled right here in this passage: if we pray for God to make us worthy of His calling, we will undoubtedly glorify Him; and we will also pick up some glory by riding God’s coattails. If you don’t believe me, just read verse 12 in conjunction with the verse you read above. If you notice in our Scripture passage for today, nowhere does it mention that Paul is praying for you to do anything in terms of making you “worthy” or becoming something to fulfill the purpose of your life. Rather, what you see is Paul’s prayer for God to make is worthy and for God to fulfill our lives by His power. The only thing we do for ourselves, or rather for people like us is pray for God to do that. If we pray to become, then God will fulfill that we need to become for His glory. Therefore, the question of “what if” becomes null and void. It is an unnecessary obsession that will always end with the gnashing of teeth and so we should stop torturing ourselves with it. We should, instead, be continuously praying to God for each other and ourselves so that God makes us worthy for His calling on our lives. Here’s my challenge today: I want you to find somebody or some people and pray that God gracefully makes them become worthy. Then you can watch or reassure that somebody or people that God is moving to fulfill them so very worthily and they should be ready to receive it.