Worship Joyfully.

If you had your life to do over, what would you do differently? Maybe you’d climb Mt. Kilimanjaro; or you’d hike the Appalachian Trail; or maybe you’d save more money. I don’t know what your item would be but most of us would do something different with at least one thing.

A survey was taken of folks across America who were in their 90s and asked the same question. Far and away, the top three answers were reflect more, risk more, and do things that outlive me more.

For those of us that love God and his son Jesus, most of us would respond to God more appropriately with our life. The writer of Psalms 100 gives us four ways we could be different in how we respond to God.

Verses 1-2 remind us to make a joyful noise and come before him with singing. With singing…but so many of us have excuses of why we can’t sing. I’ve heard some say, “I can’t carry a tune in a bucket.” But respectfully, I’d say, “Get over it.” Jesus calls us in Mark 12:30-31 to worship God with everything we have, bad vocals and all. I’m always amazed that some believe enthusiasm for the most worthy thing in the universe must be carefully contained. We are called to sing for all that God has done for us…give him praise and adoration for his mercy and grace.

Verse 2 reminds me to serve God gladly. We should respond to God with emotion but also with motion. Our very lives should reflect a servant heart for God and others as we strive to imitate Jesus in our life. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 9 that God loves a cheerful giver. That word “cheerful” can be translated “hilarious”! That is how I want the world to think of me. I serve in ways that the world thinks is crazy…hilarious by their standards. I should serve God because of the life he’s given me.

Verse 3 reminds me to love God intelligently. The first word of the verse is “know” or “acknowledge”. Paul tells us in Romans 12 to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And we are to know a couple of things about God. First, we should know his Lordship. Basically, He is God and you are not. You are his craftsmanship. You are a divine incident. Secondly, we should know his ownership. We are his people. And if you are a baptized believer, He paid for you with Jesus’ blood. Know who God is in your life.

Verses 4-5 tell me to thank God consistently. We come together on Sundays to worship, love, serve, and thank a wonderful Heavenly Father. But it doesn’t end on Sunday…it’s an every day affair. The Psalmist gives us three reasons why we should thank him: He’s a good, good Father, He’s merciful and He’s faithful to all his promises.

What if we decided to live every day in a worshipful posture to an almighty God? What if every day we worked at our job, loved on our spouse and kids, were good neighbors all as ways we worshiped our Heavenly Father? We are called as believers to worship him daily, serve him faithfully, love him completely, and thank him for everything He’s done for us. Blessings on the journey.

Shifting Perspective.

I love the movies. I can usually figure things out inside of 15 minutes into the movie. The first movie that really ever “got me” was the 1999 movie, “The Sixth Sense”. In the last moments of the movie, it was revealed one of the main characters had been dead the whole movie. Mind blown! I had no idea. It changed my perspective.

Jesus calls us to change our perspective in how we live…how we see things. He gives us an upside-down perspective compared to what the world offers. It’s never more evident than in Philippians 2 where Paul calls us to be of one mind and purpose.

See, how you think determines what you become. Paul wants us to the have mind of Christ. We can discover how Jesus lived by looking at the Gospel accounts of his life. Jesus was always caring. He had consistent joy in his life. He was obedient to what the Father had called him to do. He was patient with all those around him. He was compassionate to those society had deemed, “Not worthy.”

So, if you think like Jesus thought, you’ll live like Jesus lived. Paul reminds us in Philippians 2 that Jesus was a humble person. He left everything he was entitled to have to come to earth. Jesus shows us that God desires self-abandonment, not self-promotion. In deed, Jesus says in Mark 8:35, “Whoever loses their life for me will actually find it…”

Paul introduces himself as a “slave” to Jesus in the opening line of Philippians. Paul goes on to show Jesus was a servant or slave for us. So we, as followers of Jesus, imitate him by realizing we too are slaves and servants. See, serving is not what I do. A servant his who I am.

So the call today, reflecting on Jesus in Philippians 2, is to change your perspective. No matter what is going on in your life, you are Jesus’ person, created in his image, reflecting him in the world around you. Be transformed. Humble yourself. Discover and live out the Spirit of Jesus living in you. Blessings on your journey.

Starting Small for Big Things.

Two books I’ve read recently that were impactful where “The Power of Habit” by Charles Duhigg and “Atomic Habits” by James Clear. Clear reminds us that “goals don’t determine success; systems determine success. We don’t rise to our goals but fall to our systems.” Duke University did a study on habits just a few years ago and discovered a full 40% of our everyday is not a result of conscious choices but daily habits.

Daniel, in the Old Testament, had systems in place to help him be the man God wanted him to be. It no doubt started out as a small habit but created a lifestyle that was pleasing to God. You can find that habit in Daniel 3:3-10. Daniel rose to a level of leadership in Babylon second to none except the king. But the little habit that got him there was praying three times a day.

What we can learn for Daniel’s story is we should never underestimate that God can start something big through one small habit. Over my life of 53 years, I developed some bad habits and some better ones. When my wife and I married 30 years ago, we committed to being fully consumed with Jesus. So, we built some habits that we still live by today. We meet with God’s family every Sunday and other times throughout the week. Even on vacation, we find a local church and go worship with them. We are also daily Bible readers. Every day, we dive into God’s Word to discover how the Spirit will lead us. Equally, we pray to our Heavenly Father every single day. We made a decision to tithe to the local church every week so we give back to God a portion of the material blessings that he gives us.

Duhigg calls that foundational habit a keystone habit. That’s a habit that propels you into other, life transforming habits. So you have to ask yourself, “Who do you want to become?” Once you’ve answered that question, you add a habit on to it the keystone habit you’ve developed. Based upon who you want to become, what one habit do you need to start this week to get there?”

We all have systems. You’re either being intentional about your system or you use one by default. Duhigg reminds us there is always a trigger that kickstarts a habit. So if you want to be different, you need to change your habits and in doing so, make the trigger obvious and easy.

An example for obvious would be that you want to be more physically fit so you decide to walk at least three times a week. The trigger? You place your running shoes by the front door so you see them when you get home from work. That’s making it obvious.

An example of making it easy would be that you want to read through the Bible so you commit to reading one verse a day. They even have apps for you to download that will send you a verse of the day. After 28 days, you will be in habit mode of reading your Bible and you’ll be wanting to add more than just one verse a day.

Remember, successful people do consistently what everyone else does occasionally. The folks you know who are deep spiritually, didn’t get there by accident. The people you see who are debt-free, didn’t magically just get that way. The coworker who is physically fit, didn’t just wake up that way. All of them had a habit and plan that got them there.

So, who do you want to be? Once you have decided that, what one habit will you begin to get you there? Blessings on the journey.

Who are you?

I’ve had moments of pause. Moments when I thought, “Why am I here?” or “What am I doing?” I have had to rethink and reformulate where I was going and who I wanted to become because I didn’t like who I’d become. I’ve recognized along the way, I did not have the right systems and habits set in my life so that they would lead me to a place I was proud to be.

As I looked at other people whom I admired and respected, I recognized that behind the scenes, they were doing things no one else saw that moved them in the direction they wanted to go. After all, successful people do consistently what most of us do occasionally.

Most of us want to do well but there are some things that create an unsuccessful attempt to be the people we are hoping to live like. One of those things is that we tend to focus on the “what” rather than the “how. James Clear says in his book, Atomic Habits, “Winners and losers generally have the same goals. Goals don’t determine success. Systems determine success. You don’t rise the level of your goals; you fall to the level of your systems.”

So think through it a moment: you want to be a better friend but you don’t consider all the small things needed to accomplish that. You want to lose 20 pounds but haven't considered the need to change eating habits and working out.

We also don’t see progress fast enough so we don’t think those small things matter in life. We wrongly conclude small good decisions don’t much matter so we give up on the small habits that will eventually make us successful.

The truth is, life is the sum total of all the small decisions you and I make every day. Rarely does one decision wreck our life. But those small, everyday habits…those small daily disciplines give you the edge to become the person you want to be. It’s the things that no one sees that bring results everyone wants.

So, who do you want to become? I’d love to be a real solid man of God…a Proverbs 31 woman…a Godly spouse…an incredible parent to my kids…financially free…radically generous with my resources…physically fit…a bold witness for Jesus at work and in my neighborhood. See, our identity shapes our actions and when we discover who we are, it changes everything.

Paul tells us in Romans 6 that in Christ, we are redeemed, forgiven, new, adopted, children of the Most High God and that we can do all things through Christ who gives us the strength. See, a healthy identity creates the positive habits that bring us closer to God and closer to the person we really want to become.

As you create those positive, Godly habits one by one, know God will empower you to accomplish and become more like his Son, Jesus, everyday. Blessings on the journey.

Promises.

You remember back in high school when you were dating someone you thought might be “the One”? You might have given them a promise ring to say I am telling you now I will be yours. Most of those promises went unfulfilled.

But as children of Light, we’ve been given a promise that will be guaranteed every single moment. It’s the promise of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The Apostle Peter, when he preaches on the day of Pentecost, moves the crowd so deeply they believe. And truth is, Peter didn’t move them, it was the Holy Spirit in the moment that swayed the crowd to believe the words of Peter about a risen Savior.

So, when they asked Peter, “What do we do?” (Acts 2:37) Peter says they need to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins and they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Can you imagine…the power of the Holy Spirit living within to guide you, steer you, help you, counselor you…be your friend? What a wonderful gift!!

All through the book of Acts, we see baptism paired with the receiving of the Holy Spirit. Baptism is that surrendered moment when you participate in the death, resurrection, and rebirth with Jesus (Romans 6). With our public confession, we are indwelled with the Holy Spirit. But we don’t always tap into that power.

Imagine you received a gift to clear some land you just bought. Your wife gave you a brand new chainsaw. You put that on a shelf and a couple of weeks later begin clearing the land. But instead of using the powerful chainsaw, you break out your pocket knife. By the end of the day, you’ve got a stubby knife and bloody knuckles. You had the gift of a powerful tool to use but opted not to use it.

Sometimes, we are like that concerning the Holy Spirit. At our baptism, we are infused with the same power that raised Jesus from the dead (Ephesians 1). But for multiple reasons, we try to do the work ourself rather than tapping into the power that lives within us. So, how do we know if we are walking in the Spirit? What does it look like to live by the Spirit?

The Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12-13. In chapter 12, Paul describes the GIFTS of the Spirit and in chapter 13, Paul describes the FRUIT of the Spirit. While each of us have at least one gift of the Spirit, our lives should reflect fruit of the Spirit. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:1-2 that we can have multiple gifts but if we don’t have love for others (one of the fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5), it doesn’t mean a thing. We’ve missed the point if the fruit of the Spirit (love, patience, peace, joy, faithfulness, gentleness, kindness, goodness, and self-control) is not evident in our daily lives. And it’s the Holy Spirit who makes it possible for our lives to evidence this kind of living.

So, how do I keep step with the Spirit and allow him to transform my life? Peter tells us in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost. We are called to repent meaning saying I’m sorry for the way I’ve lived and want to live to God’s glory. We fully surrender our life to Jesus, asking him to take over. We ask God to send his Holy Spirit to guide us and change us. And then believe Jesus is everything he said he is…we claim the power and promise of Jesus in our lives. When you make this move, everything will be different for you. Saying “yes” to the promise of God will give you the life you’ve always dreamed of. Blessings on your journey.

Big Time.

Right now, we are living in a moment when we all need a kind word or an act of random kindness. Whether you believe in Jesus as the Son of God or not, his message of inclusiveness, grace and mercy is something each one of us can resonate with. His call to a life of selfless service creates a relational atmosphere that we all want to be a part of.

So, as the Apostle Paul tells us in Colossians 4 use wisdom as you interact with the world around you. Be wise in your daily interactions. Be observant with the people you come in contact with each day in order to bring Jesus to them.

I am called to be transformed in Christ. Because I’ve said “yes” to the risen Savior, my life is very different than it was before. I become different than the world around me. But many times I get so focused on the noise around me I neglect the need for my behavior and language to be truly transformed. It’s so easy for me to be consumed with the way others are living that I forget I must be transformed first before I can enter God’s story to help transform others.

So Paul says make the most of every day. Thomas Edison said, “Most people miss their opportunity because it usually wears overalls and looks like work.” If a relationship looks like I will have to put some sweat equity in it, I tend to walk away. I mean, usually we love the spotlight. Those big splash moments when the world can see all we are doing for those around us. But most of the time, serving Jesus happens in quiet moments.

We make a difference for Jesus when we help a neighbor when the power is out or give money to help by school lunches for lower income kids on spring break or inviting a single person over for dinner to let them know they haven’t been forgotten. It’s when we offer to buy groceries for the shut in on our street or calling someone who is working through cancer treatments to remind them they are not alone or inviting that newly divorced person to coffee just to let them know they are known and prayed for.

Every single moment is sacred and redeemable to God. It’s more than just Sunday morning. But we tend to think a 30-minute message will fix what we spend six days breaking.

If COVID taught us anything, it was that we needed to slow down. These past 12 months reminded us that we’ve been running from one appointment to the next and missing opportunities to share Jesus with others. Make every moment count.

Equally, let your conversations be full of grace. Today, we tend to keep our face in our smart phone using our social apps to talk to people. Paul calls us to actually talk to people even when it’s uncomfortable. We have lost the art of conversation and now simply create monologue to file our opinion in public space. We need to listen more and talk less. We need to offer grace to others and extend the benefit of the doubt. We need to be more forgiving and less offended.

See, Jesus called us to be different. In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, he says that we are salt and light. What does salt do? It brings flavor to what your cooking. It tenderizes the meat. So we in our lives should bring flavor to the interactions we engage in every single day. We should be tenderhearted toward those with whom we encounter daily. Make the most of every opportunity. Blessings on your journey.