God will bring you through 100% of your dark days until He brings you home. He will not forget you a single moment. He will not forsake you a single time. He will not fail you a single day. Will it always be easy? No. Will it always be comfortable? No. Will it always be the way you want it? No. But it will always be under the careful, calculated and compassionate rule of a Father Who loves you and has a purpose for you. You are alive and breathing today because God made it so; God made it so because you were made to be a light in this dark world (Matthew 5:14-16), and you are not done shining yet.
An Honored God And Happy People (Part 1)
It’s a question that most of us ask at some point in our lives as we consider the purpose of our lives: why am I here? There is this hard-wired desire in each us to know the reason we were born and remain alive on this earth. You may state the conclusion differently than I do, but the words of my personal mission statement offer the basic meaning for why God gets us up each morning: “I exist to know Jesus and make Him known so that God is honored in us and we are happy in Him.” Starting with ourselves and spreading to our circles of influence, we are after one ultimate objective: an honored God and happy people.
No Perfect People
There are no perfect people. When you find that you are focused on and frustrated with the faults of others, remember that your life is riddled with faults too … yet you are loved, accepted, forgiven and changed by Jesus. When we are humbled by, amazed by, overjoyed by and empowered by the forgiveness and help extended by God for our own sins and shortcomings, we will more readily extend grace to others. God judged Jesus in our place. We don’t have to be judged. We don’t get to be judge.
Short #12: He Doesn’t Need Us; They Do
God doesn’t need us to do anything for Him as if He could ever be deficient in some area that we could supply for Him. But our family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, teammates, and complete strangers do need us to do for them. Not because God is failing to meet their needs, and we should make up for His oversight or indifference, but rather because in His loving providence, He has sent us to bring His aid to them. God puts us in places where needy people are right in front of us so we can be like Jesus to them by offering a helping hand, a guiding word, and a loving embrace.
Short #11: Will It Matter?
Here’s a simple, but significant, lens through which life looks radically different than we often see it… will this matter 100 years from now? How we think, feel, speak, act, and react would be wonderfully different if we saw things in light of eternity, and remember that this short life is not all that there is. Our lives would create an everlasting ripple if we could look a century into our future to see the impact of our today. As we live by grace, in dependence upon the presence and power of Jesus, let us give less priority to the things that really don’t matter and more priority to the things that do.
Short #10: The Anchor For Drifters
We all drift. We all move away at times from the beautiful design of how God intends for things to work and the wonderful harmony that God intends for us to experience. One of the reasons He wired us for community is to help each other make our way back to Him when we lose our way, focus, joy, purpose, peace, strength, or hope. When we see each other discouraged in our faith or distracted away from it, let us point each other to the God who sent Jesus to be the anchor for drifters like you and me. He always receives us back, refreshes our hearts and restores our course. He may let us drift, but He will not let us go.
Short # 8: Live Fully
Living fully is not about having the most fun, experiencing the greatest pleasure, and doing the biggest good in this world as if this place is all there is. Instead, it’s about the eternal ripple that your life can make when you use it for Jesus. That doesn’t mean you leave happiness and helpfulness behind; it means you find it in a more meaningful way. We are to be faithful witnesses for God in the everyday things of life that we’re already doing on earth (from cookouts to workouts to hangouts) in such a way that we’ll be glad we did when we get to heaven. Enjoy life. Do good. Glorify God.
Short #3: Be Courageous
Because of Jesus, we can be courageous in the face of tribulation. His power is greater than our enemies, His sovereignty rules over our battles, His promises reside in our hearts, His forgiveness ensures our futures, His presence empowers our lives, and His grace provides for our needs. Therefore… Be bold to speak the truth in His love. Be courageous to face enemies with His love. Be encouraged in tribulation by His love. Take heart today, Christian… your tribulation will not last forever; but your joy in Jesus will.
Short #2: What Others See
If people look at our lives, what do they most see us representing with what we say and do? It should not be: a political party or personality, a charity or company, our family or favorite team, or ourselves and our standards. While those things may be a part of what we stand for and show forth, what people most need to see in and through our lives is Jesus. Let us live out and speak out the gospel in a way which makes it clear that we worship Him and not any other thing, and in a way which makes it clear that He is the ultimate source of hope and happiness and not any other thing.
It’s Okay To Not Be Okay – Part 2
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. – Galatians 6:2
God means for us to share our burdens with others and bear the burdens of others. Yet, one of life’s biggest struggles for many people is to let others inside. We’ve been programmed to think we shouldn’t let people see our weaknesses. Or to believe that we are tough enough to take care of ourselves. Or to expect people to walk away if they get to know the real person inside of us. We drift from God’s design to the enemy’s desire for how our lives ought to be fashioned. We find it easier to ask for help carrying groceries into the house than we do in carrying the burdens of our hearts. We tend to talk about our fantasy football struggles, but not our marital struggles. We let people know our thoughts about the weather, politics, and workplace matters, but we tuck away our battles with depression, worry, fear, addiction, and overwhelm. Yet God sent Jesus as the ultimate burden-bearer to take on to Himself our sin and struggles. He lived the life we could not live, died in our place on the cross, and rose from the dead to secure both forgiveness and freedom for every place we are not okay. To those He called to be in the family of God, He also called to live as the family of God in administering His care to one another until the day comes when He will welcome us into our heavenly home, and there will be no more burdens to bear. Until then, it’s time to repent of thinking, believing, and acting as if you’re alone in the struggle. It’s also time to repent of leaving others alone in their struggles when God has called you to step in and offer His care. It’s okay to not be okay. It’s not okay to stay that way. Especially when God has equipped the church to take care of one another as we depend upon Him to graciously provide what we need in our time of need. The smartest thing you can do when you find yourself feeling overpowered, overwhelmed or overloaded is to ask for help. If it’s more than you can handle alone, that’s God’s way of saying He doesn’t want you to handle it alone.
It’s Okay To Not Be Okay – Part 1
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. – Galatians 6:2
It’s okay to not be okay. It’s not okay to stay that way. It’s not okay to hide your hurt. It’s not okay to handle it alone. It’s not okay to refuse help. It’s not okay to keep silent. It’s not okay to withdraw. It’s not okay to settle. It’s not okay to lose hope. It’s not okay to push others away. Self-sufficiency was never a part of God’s design for us. From mankind’s beginning, He purposed that we would be a people who needed help. Help from Him. Help from each other. God did not give us the means to accomplish every task, satisfy every need, solve every dilemma, and fulfill every longing in isolation from other people. In reality, there is actually very little we can do completely on our own. There is no shame in admitting you need help. We are broken people living in a broken world, so of course, there is going to be an open-ended need for assistance in every category of our lives. To need help is simply to be human. You and I are not wise enough, strong enough, or resourceful enough to go at it alone. God never meant for us to. Instead, He made us to be a people who would look to Him for help. Of course, He sometimes delivers this essential aid through divine intervention. But many times, He works through divine community. He calls, gifts, empowers, mobilizes, and sends the church of Jesus to be His hands, feet, and mouth to people inside and outside the family of God. To care for His people and to care for others so they become His people. He made us to be interdependent upon each other as a means of being dependent on Him. Therefore, it is your responsibility to let me know when you’re not okay so I can do what God called me to do in providing you help. It is my responsibility to do the same in reverse. It is our mutual obligation to “bear one another’s burdens” by asking for care when we are in a place of need, and giving care when we are in a position to meet needs. This is God’s design for us. This is how God works through us. This is how God provides for us. #shareyourburdenswithothers #beartheburdensofothers
The Battle-Axe Of Discouragement
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. – Galatians 6:9
There are days when I feel like giving up on trying to make a difference because I wonder if I’m making any difference at all. Maybe you can relate. These thoughts and feelings aren’t random, they are intentional. They are the work of the enemy trying to bring us down so he can shut us down. One of the weapons he wields most frequently is the battle-axe of discouragement. Satan wants to convince us that our doing good isn’t actually doing much good. He will skew the facts, point to the wrong metric, and mislabel our actions as failures. But God doesn’t measure our success by social media likes, comments and shares. God sees us quietly toiling behind the scenes loving Him by loving others and measures our success not by our fruitfulness or fanfare, but our faithfulness. It should bring a smile to our faces knowing that what we do brings a smile to His face when we do it for the good of others and the glory of His Name. When we struggle for the motivation to continue down the sometimes long and lonely road of serving, let us remember that we serve an audience of one. The enemy wants to discourage us, but be of good cheer … Jesus has wrested the battle axe from his hands and has given us the Armor of God to press on in doing good. It is not we who live, but Christ who lives in us! By His sustaining grace, His empowering resolve, His enabling strength, His guiding leadership, and His motivating cheer, let us continue to fight the good fight of faith. Nothing we do for His kingdom will ever be in vain. Therefore… Let us not lose heart or lose hope. Let us not slow down or shut down. Let us not give up or give in. Let us listen for the applause of heaven. Now we hear from a distance, but someday in His presence.
Imperfect People Loving Imperfect People
But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. – Romans 5:8
Let’s be honest, loving others isn’t as easy as it sounds. When we say it out loud, what a beautiful ring it has: let us simply love the people in our lives. It not only has a beautiful ring, but it’s a beautiful thing when we look out for the best interests of those around us as we defend, pray for, welcome, involve, help, correct, befriend, equip, encourage, guide, care for, speak life to, and support them. But it’s not so simple to simply love others, and here’s why: others don’t always bring out the love in us. Some of the people where we live, work and play are know-it-alls, gossips, selfish, cry-babies, back-stabbers, unforgivers, troublemakers, lazy, outcasts, judgmental, self-righteous, unkind, power-hungry, cheaters, entitled, drama queens, hypocrites, snobs, clingy, braggarts, and downright unlikeable. Who would love people like them? Jesus. Jesus would love people like them. Jesus loves people like you and me, who are just like them. Oh, didn’t you see yourself in that list above? I certainly felt like it was a mirror to my face for more than one entry. But Jesus loves us anyway. Oh, the height and depth and width of His love for sinners like you and me and them! This is what brings out the love in us for others. This is our reason to repent of being unloving, of loving selectively, and of being consumed with self-love. This is the model, means, and motivation for every expression of our love toward the people God has put into our lives. Jesus loves us. Jesus loves us. Jesus loves us. When we remember and rejoice in this, this will fan into flames our love for others. For who better to love imperfect people than those who were at their own worst when Jesus loved them anyway? We will extend love to others when we remember how wonderfully it has been extended to us.
Every Person In Your Life
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” – Mark 12:30-31
Your zip code is not an accident. You live there. You work there. You play there. But God placed you there. He worked in ways that you could never comprehend or calculate to divinely position you right where you are at this very moment and this very season. Life didn’t just take you there. He did. If God thought it important enough to ordain in which community you and I would live, work and play, we should think it important enough to find out why. And then, by His grace, get busy doing what He placed us here to do. While there are undoubtedly very specific things God means for us to do, one over-arching purpose for our divine deployment is to “love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:31) Every person in your life is there for this reason: for you to love on them. Have you ever thought about that? God put you where you are, and brought people into your life where you are, so you could demonstrate His love for them, to them. These aren’t just neighbors, co-workers, and team-mates; they are intended recipients of God’s affection to be administered through you. God providentially orchestrated the events that got you and other people to meet so you could love on them, and point them to the greatest love of them all … His love for us. Every meeting, every conversation, every interaction, every passing, and every encounter is a wonderful occasion to bless and brighten someone else’s life to the glory of God. Those intersections where your life meets someone else’s life hold a beautiful, God-given opportunity and responsibility to love like Jesus.
Are You Unfulfilled? Jesus Offers Purpose.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. – Ephesians 2:10
The enemy wants you to feel like your life doesn’t have real meaning. The enemy wants you live in such a way that it doesn’t make a difference. The enemy wants you to waste your life. But if you have given your life to Jesus, nothing you do for Him will ever be in vain; to the contrary, it is only what you do for Him that will matter in eternity. As CT Studd wrote, “Only one life, ’twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.” You were made by Him, for Him and like Him as an image-bearer of God to show and tell the world all about Him through your good works. When we put our trust in Jesus, we were created anew in Him for this life of good works which God has planned out and supplies what is necessary to carry out. This is why you were made: to finish the good works that God has prepared long ago for you to do. Love God. Love people. Make disciples. Share your faith. Be kind. Help others. Encourage. Bear burdens. Speak life. Make Jesus look good in your life by trusting Him, thanking Him and treasuring Him. Do all to the glory of God. God didn’t create you primarily so you could make a lot of money, take a lot of trips, have a lot of fun, and indulge in a lot of temporary pleasures. Those things may be a part of your experience, but they are a means to this end: “to let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5:16).” God means to work through your life to change other people’s lives so that He is honored in them and they are happy in Him now and forever. Today, be mindful of the beautiful calling upon your life: You were made to be an image-bearer. A difference-maker. A Jesus-treasurer. A God-glorifier. A good works doer. That is why you are here … so, go shine your light!
Christmas Is About Greatness
But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. – Mark 10:44-45
God wants you to be great. But your greatness will not be found merely in your personal achievements, resources, influence, popularity, or any other metric in which you strive to be first. Your greatness will come when you strive to put others first. God wants you to be great … as a servant. In the world we live in, the more people who serve you, the greater you are. But in the kingdom of God, the greater you are, the more people you serve. It’s not about getting more for yourself from others, but giving more of yourself to others. That may seem like giving up a lot. Until we consider Christmas. Until we think of Jesus coming to us and what He came to do. Until our hearts are moved by how much Jesus gave up to serve us. In light of all that we have gained, it doesn’t seem like giving up anything at all. He is a beautiful picture of both our model and motivation for the greatness that comes through serving. Jesus showed us what it looks like to have a servant’s heart and then melts our own self-serving hearts so that we can be great in His kingdom. We long to be first. We long to be great. God is in favor of both of those things. He just measures them in ways that are radically different than the world. He measures greatness in the finished work of Jesus and in every act of His children that expresses that same kind of servant love towards those in need of it. Christmas is a reminder that Jesus came to serve and calls us to serve. So… Be great today. Be like Jesus today.
The Reason For The Season And Everything Else
But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. – 1 Peter 3:15
————————
Every belief, action, fact, event, spoken word, attitude, and outcome has one. There is a reason for all things. Some are known. Some are unknown. But there is a basis, cause, explanation or motive for why things are what they are. Christmastime and Christianity are based on this one: Jesus is the reason for the season and the reason for our hope. Not favorable conditions. Not an optimistic outlook. Not our resources or connections. Simply Jesus. And it’s not just hope that Jesus has caused for us who revere Him in our hearts as Lord. He’s the reason we celebrate all of the amazing gifts we’ve already been given and the reason we anticipate that the future promises of God will be fulfilled for us, and we will be given even more. He’s the source of our unending hope, joy, peace, purpose, courage, victory, security, faith, strength, truth, acceptance, approval, guidance, access, help, rest, forgiveness, blessings, provision, freedom, life, eternal life, everything. Remember this today: Jesus didn’t come to earth only to rescue us from sin, condemnation and hell; He also came to invite us into the most complete, most lasting, most satisfying life that begins right now and will extend into the never-ending reaches of eternity. The greatest testimony we can give for Jesus is to submit our lives to Him because of this hope that we have in Him. Onlookers in our lives need to see and hear us really living like our hearts are full … because of Jesus … because they really are. Here’s the question: Why do you have hope and happiness? Here’s the answer: Jesus.
What Matters Most If What You Forward Ahead
One of the greatest dangers and deceptions that you will face in your life is that of disobedience by delay. That is, you will be tempted to wait to do what God has called you to do as an ambassador for Christ. Wait until a more convenient time, thinking you have plenty of time, but more often than not, you will run out of time. Missed opportunities are the result of thinking we’ll get another chance though one is not guaranteed, and thinking that another day would be better though God’s timetable cannot be improved upon. The biggest shift in thinking that you and I need to make is this: our time is to be invested more than it is to be spent. Spending time is using it in such a way that it does not benefit God’s kingdom. Investing time is using it in such a way that it brings eternal dividends in the lives of other people and eternal rewards for ourselves to the eternal praise of Jesus. We all need to remember that every bit of time we are given can be an investment that has a beautiful and bountiful return which appreciates in value throughout all eternity if we will be intentional about how we use it. For most of us, God doesn’t mean for us to wait until some future day to serve Him by going out in a million-dollar blaze of glory, but rather He wants us to give ourselves to Him in daily nickels and dimes of service to those around us. Lay up treasures in heaven with how you use your time today, because it’s not what you leave behind that matters most. It’s what you forward ahead.
Why Are You Here On Earth?
It’s a question that most of us ask at some point in our lives as we consider the purpose of our lives: why am I here? There is this hard-wired desire in the DNA of each us to know the reason we were born and remain alive on this earth. You may state the conclusion differently than I do, but the words of my personal mission statement offer the basic meaning for why God gets us up each morning: “I exist to know Jesus and make Him known so that God is honored in us and we are happy in Him.” Starting with ourselves and spreading to our circles of influence, we are after one ultimate objective: an honored God and happy people. How do we accomplish this? By making disciples who make disciples. A disciple is a follower of Jesus. Discipleship is the ongoing process of following Jesus. Disciple-making is the ongoing process of helping others follow Jesus. The practical reason why you and I haven’t already been called home to heaven is because we have been left here to help other people take the next step in their spiritual journeys with Him toward heaven. To mature in and multiply our own faith, and help others do the same. To make a difference, make disciples who make much of Jesus! The specific details will vary for each of us, but for every person in the family of God whose heart still beats, we have one common aim and ambition for the rest of our lives: to make the greatest difference for the greatest length of time. And there is nothing we can ever do on this side of eternity that will have more significance and more endurance than being used of God to impact the eternities of other people so that He is fully and forever honored by us, and we are fully and forever happy in Him.
The Only Words God Can’t Use
God sends you to other people to do good works; He also sends you to deliver good news. It’s not enough to model the Christian faith, you must talk about it as well. More than your political views, weather thoughts, weekend recaps, chit-chat, sports rants and other normal aspects of everyday conversation, people desperately need to hear about Jesus from you. You are an ambassador who speaks on His behalf, shares His message, and sends out His invitation to come find life in Him. Rather than giving other people pep talks, false hopes and self-improvement strategies for “living their best lives now,” we should point them to the life-giving, life-changing, life-enriching good news of Jesus and all the blessings and benefits He has secured on the cross for those who will trust in Him. The people we know need to know what we know about Jesus! When we give practical guidance, it should include a reminder of what Jesus has promised to them and an encouragement to rely on Him. When we talk of our own lives, we should testify to His faithfulness and goodness towards us. When we voice our views, we should give the truths of God’s words as the basis for our beliefs. It’s always about Jesus. So… Tell others about Him. Encourage others to trust Him. Help others know Him. Speak up in faith about your faith and trust God to speak through you as you speak for Him. The only words God can’t use are the ones you don’t say.
