The paths will divide.  The objectives will conflict.  The plans will differ.  The desires will compete.  The advice will disagree.  We will often find ourselves having to choose sides for who we will listen to, go with and live to the satisfaction of … God or people.  We simply cannot be and do what will make Him happy and others happy at the same time, all the time.  Rather than compromising to satisfy the crowd, let us show others the better path, the better objective, the better plan, the better desire and the better advice found in the good news of Jesus.  Today, by grace, let us prioritize pleasing God over pleasing people.

He doesn’t need advice.  He doesn’t need instructions.  He doesn’t need guidance.  God rules and reigns over every location and situation in the universe with absolute certainty.  You will not find Him getting confused, getting caught off guard or getting into a place where He second guesses Himself.  He always knows what to do, how to do it, and when to do it in order to accomplish the goal of His purpose and the good of His people.  This is the One we turn to and trust in!  When we struggle to make sense of our lives, let us remember:  Even if we don’t know what it is, God always knows exactly what He’s doing.

He didn’t need a blueprint.  He didn’t need inspiration.  He didn’t need assistance.  God created all of the universe without anyone’s ideas, input, ingenuity, innovation or imagination.  He just designed it all and made it all out of nothing.  When you consider the amazing diversity and creativity and majesty displayed in every corner of the created world that we can see, hear, smell, taste and feel, God’s handiwork is just absolutely stunning.  He created angles and dimensions, shapes and textures, colors and flavors, scents and elements, and, well, everything known and unknown to us.  Praise Him for He has done great things!

The ultimate goal of our lives is for God to be honored in us and us to be happy in Him.  There isn’t anything higher to aspire to than the duality of God’s honor and our happiness.  When we thank Him, trust Him, and treasure Him, these two things are achieved.  Thanking Him means our hearts are glad because of something He gets glory for doing.  Trusting Him means we delight to do what God has decided because we believe that He is good.  Treasuring Him means we find enjoyment in His companionship because He is infinitely worth knowing.  To seek His honor is to seek our happiness.

Who He is deserves it.  What He does deserves it.  Our great God accomplishes great things and is worthy of our heartfelt praise.  Let us stand still, stand back and stand in awe of the One Who is perfect in every act, every decision, every purpose, every trait and every way.  He creates from nothing.  He rules over everything. He can do anything.  And all that He is, says and does is good.  We cannot improve upon a single thing in the universe that bears His handiwork or bears His likeness. Today, let us worship Him with glad and grateful and glory-giving hearts, remembering this: It is always appropriate to applaud God.

Every single day you and I should do whatever it takes to be happier in Jesus.  That’s how we win against temptation, frustration and dissatisfaction in this life.  The attempts we make to improve ourselves, improve our circumstances, and improve our lives should not simply be about trying to take away things we dislike and add in things we do like.  Instead, our goal should be to know and enjoy Jesus more and more and more.  We grow in our inner peace, rest, security, confidence, hope and joy not because over and over we figure out a way to make things better, but because over and over we find our way to Jesus.

Chosen means to be selected.  Chosen means to be wanted.  Chosen means to be included.  And there is always a basis for being chosen that explains why any person, place or thing is selected, wanted and included. I’ve been chosen to be on an all-star team, to be a keynote speaker and to be a husband. These were all based on merit.  But when God chose me to be in His family, it wasn’t because I deserved it.  It was because Jesus took all of my sinfulness and replaced it with all of His righteousness. His merit replaced my demerit. I wasn’t chosen because of my skill, knowledge or charm.  I was chosen by grace.

We go to great measures to gain treasures in this world.  But trophies, trips, triumphs, titles, toys, things and time spent on earthly pursuits and pleasures with no regard for eternity will undo us in the end.  It’s not that these things are inherently wrong, evil or unprofitable; it’s that we often ignore God to pursue them and value them more than we do Him. God has given us all things richly to enjoy, but the point of that enjoyment is to point us to Jesus. To gain all that the world has to offer yet not have Jesus is to have nothing at all.  To gain all that Jesus has to offer yet not have the world is to have everything.

God delights to give His children the good things they ask from Him.  Why then are there times when we don’t get what we want in life?  One reason is simply that we aren’t asking Him for good things.  That could mean that we aren’t praying at all, and we don’t get what we ask for because we aren’t asking.  That could mean that we are praying, but what we are asking for isn’t good for us to get.  Whether it’s the wrong thing, the wrong track, or the wrong time, God loves us too much to say “yes” to all of our requests that we would regret in the end.  When He acts differently than we asked, it’s always an upgrade.

Many people see God’s commandments as a life-draining set of rules that is unpleasant, unnecessary and unwanted. They are seeing them wrongly.  Do you know how bridges are designed, built and maintained for our safety?  By “rules.” Do you know how meals are prepared, served and consumed for our nourishment? By “rules.” Do you know how music is composed, recorded and performed for our delight?  By “rules.”  God has decided how things should work for our … Safety. Nourishment. Delight. God’s good design for all things in our lives and in our universe is not life-draining; it is life-giving.

When we are secure in our identity in Christ, we are free to have relationships that are not defined by comparing ourselves with others, but by caring for others.  If our sense of personal worth comes from how God feels about us, treats us, and remakes us as His children, then we don’t have to prove ourselves in categories of better and worse, more and less, or ahead and behind in how we measure up against the people in our lives.  Instead of ranking ourselves as better off than others or resenting others who we think are better off than ourselves, we can joyfully love and serve them as equal image-bearers of God.

This is the jaw-dropping reality of just how much you are worth:   Jesus loves you, gave Himself for you and lives in you. Don’t you see?  Your worth is not based on who you are; it is based on Whose you are.  Your worth is not based on your performance; it is based on His.   Your worth is not based on your making a name for yourself; it is based on the Name of the One who lives inside you.  If you belong to Jesus, the old you is dead, and the life you now live carries a value that is not found in any personal achievement, accolade or attribute.  You don’t have to prove your worth.  Jesus already did that.

God is at work… Through every trial and trouble.  Through every problem and perplexity. Through every heartache and hardship.  What is God doing during these times?  He’s teaching you to look to Jesus, and transforming you to look like Him. When you face adversity, don’t give up hope, because God hasn’t given up on you.  You may feel like everything is falling apart, but He’s actually putting you back together again so you can feel, think, speak and act like the person you were born to be.  When you look back, you’ll find this to be true:  your circumstances may not have changed, but you certainly have.

Great is MY faithfulness is not part of a proverb or hymn.  Nobody would ever celebrate my ability to do what I should do or do what I say I will do.  I’m both a promise-maker and a promise-breaker.  A thousand times I have failed to follow-through on my intentions in keeping God’s expectations as I have followed Jesus.  And a thousand times I have received in return… Grace.  Mercy.  Forgiveness.  Encouragement.  Renewal. Correction. Power.  Motivation. Reassurance.  Acceptance.  Instruction.  Hope. Love.  I cannot say that I have kept all of my promises to God. But I can say that He has kept all of His promises to me.

Like a thousand-piece puzzle, your life often looks like a jumble of disjointed and disconnected fragments that don’t seem to fit together very well.  But God is putting everything into place exactly where He wants it so you can be who you were made to be and do what you were made to do. He has a good reason for and a good result from everything He allows to come into your life.  Someday all will make sense, all will be made right, and all will be made new when He completes the good work He has started in you.  Take heart! When the last puzzle piece is put into place, you will see what God has been seeing all along.

Faith in Jesus is followed by following Jesus in faith.  Saving belief leads us to step off the throne, take off the crown, and let Jesus take over ruling our hearts and lives. We haven’t really put our faith in Jesus if we are indifferent to what He wants and resistant to what He says.  That’s not trust. That’s a lack of trust.  That’s mistrust.  Real faith in Jesus makes us want to give up our sin and self-rule to follow His steps, His ways and His commands (although imperfectly executed) more fully over time.  Why? Because we are confident that life His way is better than any other option, and that for eternal life He is the only option.

It is defined in different ways.  It is pursued in different ways.  It is measured in different ways.  But what happiness has in common no matter how it is defined, pursued and measured is this:  every single human being wants it.  The message of the world is to “do what you want to do and be who you want to be” and this will make you happy.  Only it … Does. Not. Work.  The message of Jesus is “do what I want you to do and be who I made you to be.” In doing so, we will experience His joy, and our joy can be full no matter what else is happening in our lives.  Want to be happy?  His. Way. Works.

Christians should count the various trials in our lives as joy. Not as defeat.  Not as pleasant.  Not as punishment.  Not as meaningless.  Not as insignificant.  Not as a reason to complain.  Not as a lack of God’s care.   Trials can be many things, but they cannot be joy-stealers unless we let them. While it may feel like trials are breaking you today, you can be sure that God is building you up through them in ways that are going to be amazingly good in the days to come.   Your faith muscle becoming stronger.  Your deliverance becoming sooner.  Your witness becoming louder.  Your homecoming becoming sweeter.

When we are unthankful, we rob God of something that we should be giving to Him.  Namely, glory. Ingratitude comes from prideful hearts that think we have earned what God freely gave to us, or we are entitled to what God hasn’t given to us.  To overcome this, we must… Trust God is at work for our good.  Realize we are owed nothing that is good.  Give credit to God for all that is good.  In doing so, we will burst with joy and gratitude as we see even a small sampling of the 10,000 things God graciously is for us, does for us and gives to us that we don’t deserve.  In return, we will give Him all the thanks and glory.

You can look all around and conclude that God is absent or that He is present.  May He give us spiritual eyes that see… Not just the beauty of a sunset, but the God who paints the sky.  Not just the miracle of a baby’s birth, but the God who brings things to life.  Not just the taste of a great meal, but the God who invented flavors.  Not just the satisfaction of achieving a goal, but the God who empowers us to do so.  Not just a lovely wedding, but the God who created marriage. Not just a great day, but the God who offers us eternal life.  Shining through every good and right and true thing we see is an ever-present God.