Don’t eat the “nothing-burger”

I was recently traveling and got really hungry for a hamburger.  

I ordered what the waiter recommended, and it was a 5-inch-tall burger!

Can you imagine if that waiter had brought me two buns with nothing else?

Satan loves to get us to bite into a big “nothing-burger.”  We worry and fret about something that really is far less than we have imagined.

We often get stirred up about things that really result in one thing:  “nothing.”

Here are some “nothing-burgers” that we need to avoid:

1.  The “nothing-burger” of PRIDE.

“If anyone thinks that he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself” (Gal. 6:3).

Here is a huge “nothing-burger”:  PRIDE.

Pride is an inward voice that congratulates you on your superior power and intelligence.

Don’t take a bite!

Pride is empty and satanic.  When a thought of ego, superiority, or gloating enters your mind, refuse it.  

2. The “nothing-burger” of FEAR.

Our minds can run wild about what COULD happen.

We imagine the worst.  

Our palms start sweating about all the possibilities.

It turns out that it was a “nothing-burger.”

Most things we dread never happen:  driving in difficult situations, praying in public, going to the dentist.

When it’s over, it was NOTHING like we thought.

Fear lives in imaginations.

3. The “nothing-burger” of the PAST.

Peter fished all night and caught NOTHING.  Jesus told him to try again.

He reluctantly obeyed and filled two huge boats with fish that were sinking them.

He ate the “nothing-burger.”  He predicted his future based on his past. So what if you failed?  Try again.

Failure does not predict the future.  Learn from it and try again.  

If you stop at each failure, you are eating the “nothing-burger.”  Forget the past, and press on.

4. The “nothing-burger” of POSSESSIONS.

“We brought NOTHING into this world, and it is certain we take NOTHING out” (1 Timothy 6:7)

Possessions are so tangible.  A gold watch, a shiny vehicle, an expensive home.

You can’t take it with you.  Someone said, “There are no hearses pulling U-Hauls!”

God wants you to have what you need.  Just don’t sink your teeth into those things.

They get outdated.  They break.  Your happiness cannot be tied to those things.

I heard about an older lady who had lost her fascination with possessions.  She said, “I wear this world like a loose garment.”

“Things” and “blings” are a “nothing-burger.”

5. The “nothing-burger” of IMAGE.

Jesus saw a beautiful fig tree in the distance.  He was hungry and walked over to eat a few figs.

Instead, he found “nothing but leaves.”

It was all appearance and show.  

Don’t eat the “nothing-burger” of impressions and appearance.  

People don’t think about you because they don’t think about you!  They think about themselves.

Stop worrying about your image.  

It is better to have “fruit” than “leaves!”

Focus on the fruit of the Spirit in your life, not how many Instagram followers you have.

It’s a “nothing-burger.”  

Find the real food:  “loving God and loving people.”