God’s Opinion 21

 I lived most of my growing up years worrying about what others thought.  My parents were all about meeting the expectations of extended family members, neighbors, school, and the community.  Whether I wanted to or not, ‘volunteering’ for extra chores and duties was a must. I think much of that attitude was healthy but the goal I interpreted was totally wrong. I felt the goal was to meet others’s standards rather than honor God, or even reflect what I learned from an activity  I hope I did not transfer these wrong motives to my own kids, and Hope I’ve matured enough to re-prioritize my life to follow His leading rather than feel guilty for nearly everything I do.  Guilt for what I did or didn’t do les to self shame that I could never measure up.  Those ghosts still come out of the shadows at times but God is full of grace, hope, and love.  

“The fear of human opinion disables; trusting in God protects you from that” (Proverbs 29:25 MSG).

“‎Worry implies that we don't quite trust God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough to take care of what's happening in our lives. 

Stress says the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our impatience, our lack of grace towards others, or our tight grip of control.

Basically, these two behaviors communicate that it's okay to sin and not trust God because the stuff in my life is somehow exceptional. Both worry and stress reek of arrogance. They declare our tendency to forget that we've been forgiven, that our lives are brief ... and that in the context of God's strength, our problems are small, indeed.” - Francis Chan, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God

Practical Worship 20

 Rick Warren summarizes this devotional with some practical thoughts and questions. What does God expect us to do with our daily lives? What tensions do we have between conformity to the world and transformation to God’s character? How is God’s Word transforming the way you or I see ourselves?

Each day seems to present new challenges with this tension. I’m constantly trying to break free from bad habits, a negative view of God’s sovereignty, a negative view of myself, or the world’s trash talk. The giants in my mind must be defeated if I want to humble myself into obedience to Him. If God is loving and truly cares, my life should live accordingly.

Two quotes from Francis Chan’s ‘Crazy Love’:

If God is truly the greatest good on this earth, would He be loving us if He didn’t draw us toward what is best for us (even if that happens to be Himself)? Doesn’t His courting, luring, pushing, calling, and even “threatening” demonstrate His love? If He didn’t do all of that, wouldn’t we accuse Him of being unloving in the end, when all things are revealed?

Has your relationship with God actually changed the way you live? Do you see evidence of God’s kingdom in your life? Or are you choking it out slowly by spending too much time, energy, money, and thought on the things of this world?

Crazy Love

 

‎"Do you know that nothing you do in this life will ever matter, unless it is about loving God and loving the people he has made?

The point of your life is to point to Him. Whatever you are doing, God wants to be glorified, because this whole thing is His.

Worry implies that we don't quite trust God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough to take care of what's happening in our lives. 
Stress says the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our impatience, our lack of grace towards others, or our tight grip of control.
Basically, these two behaviors communicate that it's okay to sin and not trust God because the stuff in my life is somehow exceptional. Both worry and stress reek of arrogance. They declare our tendency to forget that we've been forgiven, that our lives are brief ... and that in the context of God's strength, our problems are small, indeed.

Francis Chan, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God

The irony is that while God doesn't need us but still wants us, we desperately need God but don't really want Him most of the time. He treasures us and anticipates our departure from this earth to be with Him-and we wonder, indifferently, how much we have to do for Him to get by.

Francis Chan, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God

God will not be tolerated. He instructs us to worship and fear Him.

In our world, where hundreds of things distract us from God, we have to intentionally and consistently remind ourselves of Him.

Because we don’t often think about the reality of who God is, we quickly forget that He is worthy to be worshiped and loved. We are to fear Him.

The answer to each of these questions is simply this: because He’s God. He has more of a right to ask us why so many people are starving. As much as we want God to explain himself to us, His creation, we are in no place to demand that He give an account to us.

Can you worship a God who isn’t obligated to explain His actions to you? Could it be your arrogance that makes you think God owes you an explanation?

If God is truly the greatest good on this earth, would He be loving us if He didn’t draw us toward what is best for us (even if that happens to be Himself)? Doesn’t His courting, luring, pushing, calling, and even “threatening” demonstrate His love? If He didn’t do all of that, wouldn’t we accuse Him of being unloving in the end, when all things are revealed?

Has your relationship with God actually changed the way you live? Do you see evidence of God’s kingdom in your life? Or are you choking it out slowly by spending too much time, energy, money, and thought on the things of this world?

Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next.

Jesus’ call to commitment is clear: He wants all or nothing.

Our greatest fear as individuals and as a church should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.

If life is a river, then pursuing Christ requires swimming upstream. When we stop swimming, or actively following Him, we automatically begin to be swept downstream.

How could we think for even a second that something on this puny little earth compares to the Creator and Sustainer and Savior of it all?

True faith means holding nothing back; it bets everything on the hope of eternity.

When you are truly in love, you go to great lengths to be with the one you love. You’ll drive for hours to be together, even if it’s only for a short while. You don’t mind staying up late to talk. Walking in the rain is romantic, not annoying. You’ll willingly spend a small fortune on the one you’re crazy about. When you are apart from each other, it’s painful, even miserable. He or she is all you think about; you jump at any chance to be together.

There is nothing better than giving up everything and stepping into a passionate love relationship with God, the God of the universe who made galaxies, leaves, laughter, and me and you.

Do you recognize the foolishness of seeking fulfillment outside of Him?

Are you ready and willing to make yourself nothing? To take the very nature of a servant? To be obedient unto death?

True love requires sacrifice.

What are you doing right now that requires faith?

God doesn’t call us to be comfortable.

If one person “wastes” away his day by spending hours connecting with God, and the other person believes he is too busy or has better things to do than worship the Creator and Sustainer, who is the crazy one?

Am I loving my neighbor and my God by living where I live, by driving what I drive, by talking how I talk?”

If I stop pursuing Christ, I am letting our relationship deteriorate.

The way we live out our days is the way we will live our lives.

What will people say about your life in heaven? Will people speak of God’s work and glory through you? And even more important, how will you answer the King when He says, “What did you do with what I gave you?

Francis Chan, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God

 God's definition of what matters is pretty straightforward. He measures our lives by how we love.

Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.

Francis Chan, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God

Both worry and stress reek of arrogance.

Francis Chan, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God

Take a Break 19

 Rick Warren asks questions how God’s view of us inspires us to view ourselves in light of His love. Warren teaches that God is all about changing our identity, despite our culture’s view that our identity is only rooted in genetics and our environment. I am tempted at times to think fatalistic ideas, that life is determined with little outside intervention. But God’s Word strongly indicates that our Creator is active in changing events and primarily us. Our holy is not to go with the flow but to be bold in glorifying Him.

A couple of quotes from Francis Chan in his book, Crazy Love: 

“Can you worship a God who isn't obligated to explain His actions to you? Could it be your arrogance that makes you think God owes you an explanation?

Francis Chan,

 

‎"Do you know that nothing you do in this life will ever matter, unless it is about loving God and loving the people he has made?

Francis Chan, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God

Suffering

 

 

Your suffering is not a sign that you’ve been forsaken; rather, it’s a sign that you live in a world that doesn’t function the way God intended and is in need of complete renewal.

Paul David Tripp, Suffering: Gospel Hope When Life Doesn't Make Sense

Peter knows that when we suffer, we are susceptible to the lies that the Enemy whispers in our ears: “Where is your God now?” “Why have you been singled out?” “Perhaps God does have favorites.” “Why isn’t God listening to your prayers?” “Why do others have it so much easier than you?” “Maybe God doesn’t love you after all.” The function of all these lies is to sow seeds of doubt in our hearts when we feel the weakest, the most afraid, and are reaching out for help. The Enemy is seeking to make us doubt the goodness, love, presence, and power of God. He knows that if we begin to question God’s character and power, we will quit going to God and seeking his help. His lies are meant to damage and weaken our faith so that on the other side of our suffering (if there is another side) we will not love and serve him as we once did. Peter understands that

Paul David Tripp, Suffering: Gospel Hope When Life Doesn't Make Sense

Left unchecked, discouragement will become your eyes and ears, determining what you see and hear and how you see and hear it. Unchecked, it will become the master of your emotions and the ruler of your choices and actions. Unchecked, discouragement will rob you of your hope and motivation. It will steal your reason for doing good things. It will rob you of your ability to trust. It will make you closed, self-protective, and easily overwhelmed. Discouragement will sap you of your strength and courage. It will cause you to see negative where nothing is negative and miss the positive that is right in front of you. If given room, discouragement will tell you lies that have the power to destroy your life. Discouragement is natural for someone who is suffering, but it makes a very, very bad master.

Paul David Tripp, Suffering: Gospel Hope When Life Doesn't Make Sense

God is not shocked or surprised that you are discouraged. He doesn’t wring his hands, wondering what to do next. He knows every struggle of discouragement in your heart. He knows your cries before you cry. He knew that you and I would be weak; that’s why he promised to be our strength. He has promised never to give up the battle for our hearts until that battle is finally won forever. This means he fights for us even when we have given up the fight. Our desire to follow him may weaken, but he will never give up or turn his back on us. He knows us because he made us, which is why he sent his Son to be for us what we could not be for ourselves and to do for us what we could not do on our own.

Paul David Tripp, Suffering: Gospel Hope When Life Doesn't Make Sense

Storms do come to our lives. What causes them? Sometimes other people cause them. In Acts 27 Paul got into a storm because the people in charge of the ship would not listen to the Word of God. Sometimes God causes the storm to test us and build us. In Matthew 14 Jesus sent His disciples directly into a storm to teach them an important lesson of faith. Sometimes we cause the storm by disobedience—we are like Jonah running away from God, and the only way He can bring us back is to send a storm. But the greatest storm that ever occurred was at Calvary. When the sun was blackened for three hours and God the Son was made sin for us, all of the waves and the billows of God’s judgment came upon Jesus on the cross. Because He weathered that storm, you and I can cry out to God. He can deliver us from the storms of life or take us through them, giving us the strength and courage we need. The psalmist promises, “He calms the storm, so that its waves are still. . . . So He guides them to their desired haven” (vv. 29–30).

Warren W. Wiersbe, Prayer, Praise & Promises: A Daily Walk Through the Psalms

You probably know the following verse well, but read it aloud as though you were hearing it for the first time. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (v. 105). What lessons can we learn from that statement? The world is dark. It is in a constant state of moral and intellectual darkness. We have more education today and less wisdom. People make foolish decisions. The world is also dark spiritually. Satan has numbed people’s minds. They don’t want to see the light of the glory of God in Jesus Christ. The way is definite. How do we make it through this dark world? God has marked out a definite path for each one of us, and we don’t have to be afraid of where it leads. It is a path of life, blessing, and righteousness. Our walk is deliberate. As we take each step, we see more of what God has for us. Sometimes I would like to have a spotlight that shines for miles down the road. But God says, “You’re going to learn to walk by faith. You’re going to learn to walk by patience, by My promise.” The Word is dependable. That lamp of the Word will not go out, and it will not lead us astray. When you read your Bible and let its truth shine on your path, God will show you what He wants you to do.

Warren W. Wiersbe, Prayer, Praise & Promises: A Daily Walk Through the Psalms

Why does God permit difficulties to come to our lives? Sometimes He has to break us before He can make us. Sometimes He has to reveal to us what we’re really like before He can make us into what He wants us to be.

Warren W. Wiersbe, Prayer, Praise & Promises: A Daily Walk Through the Psalms

End of me

 

It’s not too late, and it never has been. And there’s never been a better time, a more perfect time, than the present moment. That’s always the one in which he wants to meet you. The life you have is not the life you must accept. You need only to ask for help. The more helpless you are, the better—the more open you will be to the help that only he can offer. He meets you right there at the end of yourself.

Kyle Idleman, The End of Me: Where Real Life in the Upside-Down Ways of Jesus Begins

When disaster comes, we can’t see anything bigger than what we’ve lost. But the truth is, God more than fills that space. We begin to see that he’s not just filling that space, but spaces we didn’t even know we had.

Kyle Idleman, The End of Me: Where Real Life in the Upside-Down Ways of Jesus Begins

You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

Kyle Idleman, The End of Me: Where Real Life in the Upside-Down Ways of Jesus Begins

It works like this. In surprising ways, suffering makes room in our spirit for us to know and experience the blessing of God’s peace and presence. Without suffering, we simply can’t know his comfort. In mourning, we experience the blessing of God’s presence.

Kyle Idleman, The End of Me: Where Real Life in the Upside-Down Ways of Jesus Begins

Life has a way of waking everybody up at some point. Everybody has that sudden, painful longing for yesterday, when they didn’t know how good they had it, just before the world fell in.

Kyle Idleman, The End of Me: Where Real Life in the Upside-Down Ways of Jesus Begins

We are “those people.” The truth is … we are the others. Most of us are one paycheck, one divorce, one drug-addicted kid, one mental health diagnosis, one serious illness, one sexual assault, one drinking binge, one night of unprotected sex, or one affair away from being “those people”—the ones we don’t trust, the ones we pity, the ones we don’t let our children play with, the ones bad things happen to, the ones we don’t want living next door.3

Kyle Idleman, The End of Me: Where Real Life in the Upside-Down Ways of Jesus Begins

 

If you’re most interested in what other people think, then their applause or attention is your reward.

Kyle Idleman, The End of Me: Where Real Life in the Upside-Down Ways of Jesus Begins

There’s nothing life can throw at us that God can’t use to draw us nearer to him.

Kyle Idleman, The End of Me: Where Real Life in the Upside-Down Ways of Jesus Begins

Waiting on God doesn’t mean sitting around and hoping. Waiting means believing he will do what he’s promised and then acting with confidence. Waiting on God is not at all like the meaningless waiting that you do at the dentist’s office. You know, he’s overbooked, so you’re still sitting there more than an hour past your scheduled appointment. You’re a man, but you’re now reading Family Circle magazine. You’ve begun to read the article titled “The 7 Best Chicken Recipes in the World.” When you’re a man and you’re getting ready to tear a chicken recipe out of Family Circle magazine because the recipe sounds so good, you know that you have been waiting too long! But waiting on God is not like that. Waiting on God is an active life based on confidence in his presence and promises, not a passive existence haunted by occasional doubt. Waiting on God isn’t internal torment that results in paralysis. No, waiting on God is internal rest that results in courageous action. Waiting is your calling. Waiting is your blessing. Every one of God’s children has been chosen to wait, because every one of God’s children lives between the “already” and the “not yet.” Already this world has been broken by sin, but not yet has it been made new again. Already Jesus has come, but not yet has he returned to take you home with him forever. Already your sin has been forgiven, but not yet have you been fully delivered from it. Already Jesus reigns, but not yet has his final kingdom come. Already sin has been defeated, but not yet has it been completely destroyed. Already the Holy Spirit has been given, but not yet have you been perfectly formed into the likeness of Jesus. Already God has given you his Word, but not yet has it totally transformed your life. Already you have been given grace, but not yet has that grace finished its work. You see, we’re all called to wait because we all live right smack dab in the middle of God’s grand redemptive story. We all wait for the final end of the work that God has begun in and for us. We don’t just wait—we wait in hope. And what does hope in God look like? It is a confident expectation of a guaranteed result. We wait believing that what God has begun he will complete, so we live with confidence and courage. We get up every morning and act upon what is to come, and because what is to come is sure, we know that our labor in God’s name is never in vain. So we wait and act. We wait and work. We wait and fight. We wait and conquer. We wait and proclaim. We wait and run. We wait and sacrifice. We wait and give. We wait and worship. Waiting on God is an action based on confident assurance of grace to come.

Paul David Tripp, New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional

It is dangerous to live without your heart being captured by awe of God, because awe of God is quickly replaced by awe of you.

Paul David Tripp, New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional

If you put yourself in the center of your world, you will find plenty of things to complain about.

Paul David Tripp, New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional

One of the most important questions you could ask is: “What is God doing in the here and now?

Paul David Tripp, New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional

Masterpiece 18

 

Rick Warren states: “ You’re not just wanted; you’re needed!“ There have been plenty of times I’ve felt unneeded and unwanted, especially within the church walls. I think it’s easy to wander away from feeling needed to thinking: “if church leaders would just listen to my view!” Striving to feel important and useful is part of living in this world that is not ruled by God’s grace as originally intended in the Garden. 

“For it was you who created my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wondrously made. Your works are wondrous, and I know this very well. My bones were not hidden from you when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭139:13-15‬ ‭CSB‬‬ 

 “We can’t depend upon our own rule, because we are weak and ignorant. And we can’t depend too much on the rule of others, because they are as weak and ignorant as we are. The only thing we can depend on is the rule and reign of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. If He is on the throne of our lives, then we can face tomorrow with courage and confidence.” - Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bumps Are What You Climb on: Encouragement for Difficult Days