Day 21 – Formulas

"Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes."
Psalm 37:3-7

I don’t know about you, but I often find myself wishing that life had a formula. It seems like everything else in life has a formula. If you eat right and exercise, you will be healthy. If you study hard and apply yourself, you will do well in school. If you follow the map precisely, then you will get to your destination. If you do a, then b will happen. Formulas.

But when it comes to life, there doesn’t seem to be any formulas. You can do good every chance you get and still have bad things happen to you. You can be kind and still have people not treat you well. You can try to raise your kids the best way you know how and still they can walk away from what is right. Just because you do a doesn’t guarantee that you will get b. Life is simply unpredictable.

And when it comes to relationship with God, it doesn’t seem to get better. But perhaps it’s because we are looking for formulas when God is wanting us to look for Him. We like formulas because they give us some predictability in life. If I obey God, He will bless me. If I don’t obey God, He will not bless me. But there is a subtle flaw in this logic. The focus in this situation is not God…it’s me. Perhaps God doesn’t give us formulas because He knows that we have a tendency to make them all about us rather than making them all about Him. Let’s look at the passage above as an example.

At first glance, we would say that this is a formula: if we trust in the Lord and do good then we will dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture; if we delight ourselves in the Lord then He will give us the desires of our heart; etc. But again, that would make this passage about us. When we come to prayer and to the Scriptures, we must realize that everything is about Him, not us. The goal of the passage above is not to dwell in the land, or get the desires of our heart, or to get our righteousness to shine like the dawn. The goal of the passage above is for us to trust in the Lord, to delight in Him, to commit our ways to Him, and to be still before Him. When these things are true about us, we won’t be worried about whether or not the other things come. When we make that our a, we won’t need a b to make us happy. Because the a is the goal for us, not a means to get to b. God is our goal, not His benefits.

So as we come to the end of this 21-day journey, let’s always remember that God is the goal of our prayers, of our devotion, of our passion, of our lives. Hebrews 11:6 says “without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” And what is that reward? Him! He is our very great reward! He is our joy, our hope and our life! He is all we need! When God is our goal, we become satisfied even when the circumstances of life are not what we had hoped. Life does have a formula – Seek God first and foremost and He will reveal Himself to you. He may not bring you the answers to all your questions and He may not fix all of your problems. But that’s okay. He will reveal Himself to you! And that, my friend, is all you will ever need.

As you pray, allow these thoughts to prompt your conversation with God.

• Thank God that He is always looking for someone who’s heart is completely His (2 Chronicles 16:9).
• Thank God that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
• Ask God to give you a heart to seek Him above all the other things in your life.
• Ask God to help you to continue on in your prayer journey with Him and to continue seeking Him in His Word.
• Ask God for the strength and commitment to make praying to Him a daily discipline in your life.
• Ask God to bring someone to your heart who can keep you accountable to consistency in your prayer life.

Day 20 – Shine

“Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.”
Philippians 2:12-15

Yesterday we started a story about a Hindu student named Chethan who came to faith in Jesus Christ. If you didn’t read yesterday’s story, then go back real quick and at least read Chethan’s story. I’ll wait here for you.

Okay, so here’s the rest of the story. After coming to faith in Christ, Chethan began to devour the Bible. He memorized Scripture like no one I ever saw. He also became extremely consistent in his prayer life and in his involvement with our college ministry. He wanted to serve in any way that we needed and demonstrated time and time again that God had made a tremendous difference in his life. Every once and a while, Chethan and I would go grab lunch or coffee and he would confide in me that he couldn’t understand why the other Christians around him, including those who contributed to his coming to faith, didn’t live out their faith consistently. Over time, this began to gnaw on him; he became frustrated that faith is something that is supposed to consume you, not just an add-on for the rest of your life. In the end, Chethan walked away from Christianity due to the fact that he couldn’t find anyone who was truly living it out in their lives. He assumed it must not be true. Chethan formally renounced his Christian faith and ultimately became a devout Hindu again.

It was one of the saddest days in my life.

That’s why Paul’s exhortation to the Philippian church is so crucial for the church in our day and age. It is so easy for us who have been believers in Christ for a while to forget that a relationship with Jesus is supposed to change everything about our lives. The world needs to see that Jesus makes a difference in the way we drive, the way we work, what kind of students we are, the things we value and the way we love without labels. For a long time, the world looked on to see if the church is relevant for life, to see if God really does change people. They’re not looking on any more because they assume that it doesn’t.

But we can change that.

We can be the people who demonstrate that faith is real and that God has changed us. We can work out our faith out of love and devotion to God. We get to shine and show the world that their labels don’t stick to us. Call us weird, call us weak, call us helpless...it doesn’t stick. We are the children of God. Everything we have is a gift. Every breath we take is a miracle. We will not complain about petty little inconveniences in life when we have a God who endured a cross for us. We won’t be caught up with minor squabbles when there is a world to be loved and shown that a God become man to redeem His creation. Let us be people who not only talk about faith, but who also live out faith in every area of our lives. This way when the people around us are faced with the choice of following Christ, they will be able to see at least one example of what that decision means.

Be the one.

As you pray today, allow the following ideas to foster your conversation with God.

• Thank God that He has come to make a difference in our lives and to make us into the people He created us to be.
• Thank God that Jesus Christ provides us with everything we need to live a fully devoted life, setting us free from the sin that once enslaved us.
• Ask God to keep you sensitive to the way you live your life, keeping you focused on the Kingdom and not just on getting through this life.
• Ask God to help you to be sensitive to those around you and to help you make sure that you are being a faithful witness to the awesome power of God to change people’s lives.
• Ask God to fill you with His Spirit and to help you to become a student of His Word.
• Ask God to give you the opportunity to tell someone in your life about the difference God has made in you.

Day 19 – Relate

“Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn't take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I've become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn't just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!”
1 Corinthians 9:19-21

His name was Chethan. He was a college student at Louisiana Tech University while I was a college pastor at a church nearby. Chethan was a Hindu student from Bangalore, India and was getting a Master’s in Electrical Engineering. For one of his seminars, He and his team converted a ’66 Mustang into a full-blown Electric Car. He was doing some side work for NASA. Needless to say, Chethan was pretty smart. Some of our students invited Chethan to be a part of our on-campus organization. As our relationship developed, we would often talk about the differences between America and India, Christianity and Hinduism, dating and arranged marriages.

Over a long period of time, with a lot of prayer and with students embracing him as their own, Chethan came to faith in Christ. I can still remember the day we baptized him. He gave personal testimony as to how he believed that Jesus was the Son of God and that He died for our sins. He also spoke of how this decision will cost him everything: family, friends, his homeland – everything. As Chethan went under the water and came out, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house as we cheered his commitment and his new life in Christ.

And it all began with a simple conversation.

Nowadays, it seems as though followers of Christ are overwhelmed with the idea of sharing their faith. Most people I talk with seem to feel as though they aren’t qualified, they don’t know enough scripture, or they don’t want to “push” their ideas on someone else. My general response to this is that we need to get a new perspective on what it means to share your faith. Sharing your faith is more than just sharing a Gospel presentation. It begins with a life that seeks to genuinely relate to those we come into contact with everyday. A simple smile; a friendly conversation; a listening ear; and most importantly, a heart that really cares about who this person is and what they are going through. While we may not be able to relate entirely with their experiences, we can easily relate to who they are as people and their need for unconditional love, unfettered friendship and unending commitment to their wellbeing.

As Paul encouraged the Corinthian church, he reminded them that his goal in life was to be a person who was able to relate to the basic needs of those far away from God. He didn’t do the things they did, but he sought to understand who they really were deep down inside and to discover how their story could possibly be intersecting with God’s story. It begins with genuinely caring for people and loving them right where they are, no matter where they are. God is the one who changes their hearts. Our role is to simply be there for them and to demonstrate to them the unconditional love of Jesus.

As you pray today, allow these prompters to fuel your time with God.

• Thank God for the people in your life who loved you when you were far away from God and who demonstrated Christ’s love to you.
• Thank God that He loves you just the way you are and loves you too much to leave you the way you are.
• Ask God for a renewed commitment to His mission of reaching a lost and dying world through His followers.
• Ask God to give you a genuine ability to come alongside those who are far away from Him.
• Ask God to open your eyes to the people in your circles of influence who need someone to relate to their lives, their hopes and their struggles.
• Ask God to place on your heart specific names of people far from Him with whom you can begin developing a genuine friendship with, and ask Him to provide you with opportunity to begin that process in the next couple of days.

Day 18 – Different

"And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect."
Romans 12:1-2

In the 1890s, a Russian psychologist named Alexander Pavlov discovered that if you rang a bell each time you fed a dog, over time that dog would begin to salivate each time the bell rang. The theory was that certain triggers in the brain could be conditioned to respond to just about any stimuli in a predictable manner simply by associating the stimulus with an event consistently over time. Ring a bell every time you feed a dog and soon the dog will salivate each time you ring the bell. The term Pavlov’s dog became associated with just about anything that seemed to suggest this kind of conditioned reflex.

It seems as though Pavlov’s theory remains true in our society today. Everywhere you look there are people who seem to be conditioned to respond to what the world views success to be. Even the basic premise behind commercials is that if you eat this food, or wear these clothes, or drive this car, or wear this cologne like these cool, trendy people do in the commercial, then your life will be better than it is right now. Can you believe it? It’s as though these agencies really believe that if they just make a slick, 30 second commercial and ring the right bells then, people will simply – salivate.

And we do. Pavlov’s dog.

In the first century church, Paul was well aware of this theory, though he didn’t name it and he didn’t use animals to prove it. Paul understood that over time, this world would condition a follower of Christ to believe that real living was to imitate the behaviors and customs of the world. Go for the shortcuts. Get your satisfaction now. Don’t abstain for tomorrow what you can enjoy today. Live for the moment. Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.

Paul urges us to reconsider. He says not to be conditioned and conformed to the image of this world. Instead, we should have our lives transformed into something different as we intentionally train our minds to respond to God’s stimuli – His Word. It’s only after we begin to retrain our minds to believe and respond to God’s Word that we begin to experience the different kind of life that God has prepared for us. It’s impossible to live a godly life with an ungodly mind. And yet there are so many Christians who find their sense of worth, satisfaction and inspiration in this world rather in God’s Word.

Imagine what your life would be like if you truly believed what God’s Word says about who you really are – loved, significant, accepted and secure. Imagine what the world would think about a people who truly lived out the commands of God to love the unlovely, to care for the uncared for, and to forgive the unforgivable. Imagine what the Church could be if the people who claimed to follow Christ stopped following Oprah, Dr. Phil, their hair dressers and their horoscopes and lived their lives according to the standards of God’s Word.

We would be…different. And the world would never be the same.

As you pray today, use the following thoughts to spur your conversation with God.

• Thank God that He has set you free from the bondage of this world’s values and beliefs.
• Thank God that He has given you the mind of Christ and that you have everything necessary for your mind to be renewed.
• Ask God to give you a passion for His Word like you have never had before so that it my shape your values, thoughts and actions.
• Ask God to make you aware of the stimuli in your life that cause you to respond contrary to the way God desires you to respond.
• Ask God to give you the strength to redefine “normal” for your life as you break from the things of this world that you tend to be drawn to.
• Ask God for the strength to be His hands and feet today to those around you, demonstrating that Christianity has relevance for both your life as well as theirs.

Day 17 – Real

"Each time Jesus said, 'My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.' So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 10 That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
2 Corinthians 12:9-10

One of the books we read to our children before bed occasionally is The Velveteen Rabbit. It’s a beautiful children’s story of a stuffed rabbit that belongs to a little boy. The other toys looked down on the toy rabbit due to the fact that they looked more real than the rabbit. They had gears and moving parts and made noises while the rabbit was simply stuffed and made of velveteen. The rabbit’s only friend was an old toy horse that was worn and tattered through years of play. His name was Skin Horse. One day in the closet the Velveteen Rabbit asked Skin Horse a very significant question:

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."
"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

For the follower of Christ who longs to make an impact in this world, there is nothing more important than receiving the gift of being REAL. You see, there is a common misconception regarding the faith that when someone chooses to follow Christ, all his or her problems will fade away. If a struggle comes your way then all you have to do is believe more, pray more, attend more, quote Scripture more – just do more. As the Scripture above indicates, maybe the answer isn’t trying to be more, but trying to be less.

As difficulties and struggles come our way, it would seem that Paul’s example is that our best plan of attack for these problems is to acknowledge our own frailty and weakness. This seems so counter to what we are taught in our culture that you make much of what you can do and don’t talk about what you can’t do. But Paul reminds us that the way of Christ is a different way. It’s when we begin to acknowledge that our hair has been loved off, that our eyes have dropped out, and that we’re loose in the joints and shabby that we become more REAL. And REAL is GOOD! It hurts. It’s time consuming. It isn’t fun sometimes. And it is there that we discover Jesus who is perfectly strong and loving and who longs to hold us, carry us and strengthen us. It’s when we are weak that we are strong. It’s when we are vulnerable that we are protected. It’s when we are transparent that we are REAL. And that’s exactly what the world is looking for.

As followers of Christ, we need to demonstrate to the world that there are some REAL Christians out there who are not afraid of their weaknesses and who find their strength in Christ. The reason is because the world is full of people who are weak. The world is full of people who are covering up their struggles with all their gears, moving parts and noises. How freeing it will be for them to know that there is a place they can come with their struggles and find strength. In order for that to happen, though, we are going to have to learn the discipline of being REAL. Not moping, not a doggie-downer, not depressing. Just REAL.

As you pray today, use the following as prompters in your thoughts with God.

• Thank God that He gives you the freedom to be yourself and to be weak in His presence.
• Thank God that He gives you strength through the Holy Spirit through your weaknesses.
• Ask God to help you be more aware of the weak areas of your life and to be open and honest about your need for Jesus’ strength.
• Ask God to help you be more transparent with fellow believers about who you really are, struggles and all.
• Ask God to help you be more authentic with those who don’t walk with Christ so that they may see Christ’s strength in you.
• Ask God for opportunities to get involved in the lives of other people and to be a source of support and hope through their struggles as you point them to Jesus.

Day 16 – In…Not Of

(Jesus praying for His disciples) "I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do. Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth."
John 17:14-19

My dad was in the Air Force, so we traveled around a lot when I was a child. By the time I entered Middle School, I had attended 4 different elementary schools. Looking back on the experience, one of the things that I remember is always being the new kid. I consistently seemed to struggle fitting in with the other kids in my classroom. Over time, I stopped trying. For years, I would just blend into the background. I would show up for class, do my schoolwork, and then go back to the safety of my home. In Middle School and High School, I decided to change my approach and do whatever it took to fit in. I compromised in a lot of areas along the way that I still regret to this day. Looking back, I can see a lot of opportunities I missed, simply because I was too insecure to just be myself.

It seems as though there are a lot of times in the Christian life that we can easily become like I was growing up. If we’re not careful, we will swing to one of two extremes: either we will seclude ourselves from the world, going through the motions of life, but quickly retreating to the safety of our Christian friends and family, or we’ll compromise our beliefs in an effort to do whatever it takes to fit in with the culture around us. All the while, we are missing amazing opportunities for God to use us, simply because we are too insecure to just be the people God has called us to be – in the world, but not of the world.

As Jesus was praying for His disciples and for us in this beautiful prayer found in the book of John, we discover that His desire is for His followers to become change agents in this world. Jesus sets His followers up with the news that the world is not going to be pleased about the path that followers of Christ have chosen. In fact, the more we try to adhere to the standards that Jesus has laid out with His life and His teaching, the more our different values will become obviously counter-cultural. The world will, in fact, begin to hate us. And if you look at the world’s perception of Christianity in general, it is fair to say that this world does hate Christians and the faith they represent. And, according to Jesus, that means that we must be doing something right.

Sure there are those who hate Christianity because of all of the hypocrites, the scandals, the fallen within our ranks. But beyond these black eyes to the faith, our world is becoming increasingly anti-Christian. So what do we do?

We press on. We continue to allow God’s Word to change our beliefs, our values and our actions. We intentionally and unapologetically live a life of no compromise. We seek to be pure in thought, in word and in deed. And we engage this world, insisting with our lives and with our words that Jesus is better than anything this world can offer us. We pray for our fallen and encourage our weak. We press on into this world, not avoiding it, not compromising with it, but rather being, living, breathing, working and playing in the world. All the while, we are consistently loving and displaying our great passion for God and reinforcing at every fork in the road that we are not of this world. Our values are different. Our passions are different. Our reactions to the instabilities in life are different. We are in this world, but we are not of this world. And we are willing to love anyone along the way into this amazingly beautiful paradox.

As you pray, allow these thoughts to prompt your conversation with God.

• Thank God that He has created you to live a life of distinction in this world.
• Thank God for His Word that enables you to understand your distinction and empowers you to live out this Christ-following life.
• Ask God to continually make you aware of the areas of your life where you seem to be withdrawing from the world.
• Ask God to also make you aware of the areas of your life where you may be compromising with the world.
• Ask God to give you a resolve to press on and to be a person who represents Him no matter what the consequences are.
• Ask God to give you a heart of compassion for those in your life who don’t understand and possibly even hate what it is you stand for. Ask for opportunities to love them in spite of the way they treat you as a way of demonstrating this beautiful life in Christ.

Day 15 – With Great Power

“So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, 'Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?' He replied, 'The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'
After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. 'Men of Galilee,' they said, 'why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!'"
Acts 1:6-11

Long before the movie came out in 2002, Spiderman has been one of my all time favorite super heroes. I guess it’s because you have this ordinary guy named Peter Parker who is just trying to make it through life until he has this extraordinary experience that changes him forever. A radioactive spider bites Peter and that one bite slowly changes his DNA and begins to empower him with amazing abilities. Now Peter has super-human strength, the ability to climb walls, a heightened sensory awareness and, of course, the ability to shoot webs from his wrists – something I’ve always thought was very cool. As Peter begins to control his new powers, he slowly realizes that his powers aren’t just for him. He begins to feel an obligation to help those who can’t help themselves. Peter understands this one concept that shapes everything else he does in life:

With great power comes great responsibility.

Essentially, that is the same message that Jesus leaves with His first century followers and, ultimately, with us. In the passage above, Jesus has experienced the cross, the burial and the resurrection, and He is now preparing His followers for what their next phase of the journey will be. They ask Him if He is about to restore the nation of Israel to its autonomous power and rid them from their Roman oppressors. After telling them “no,” Jesus tells them that they will have an extraordinary experience that will change them forever. The Holy Spirit is going to “bite” them and that one bite is going to change them and empower them with amazing abilities.

Power. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit was going to come upon those who follow Christ and give them power. Power to overcome the enemy. Power to overcome sin. Power to be victorious in life. Power to forgive. Power to withstand temptation. Power to display the fruit of the Spirit. Power to move mountains. God-sized, Jesus-bought, Spirit-endowed power. “But”, Jesus said, “with great power comes great responsibility.”

Jesus’ whole message to these guys is that His followers will receive power and His followers will be His witnesses everywhere they go. All too often, we who follow Christ get consumed with the idea of the Spirit’s power to change us. We obsess about the areas that we still need to grow in, and we get frustrated when we have areas that aren’t changing. We wonder why God isn’t keeping up His end of the bargain when we are trying to do our part by following Him the best we can. The answer is simple – that was never the bargain. While it is true that God desires to help us to become better people who love Him more and who learn to overcome sin and temptation, that is not the primary purpose of the Spirit coming upon His people and giving them power. The power is given to fulfill the purpose of being Christ’s witnesses everywhere we go.

God is on mission to reach this world and to give people everywhere who are living ordinary lives, just trying to make it through another day, an opportunity to experience an extraordinary life filled with power and purpose. And we are the messengers. We are the ones He has called to tell them that there is more. We have been given the power, the authority, the ability and the responsibility to let people everywhere we go know that Jesus can change them too.

So be a Christ-follower with power. But recognize that with great power comes great responsibility. With great power comes a great purpose: to be Christ’s witnesses everywhere we go.

As you pray today, let the following ideas prompt your conversation with God.

• Thank God that He is a God who is on mission to reach this world.
• Thank God that He reached you and changed you and filled you with His Spirit.
• Ask God to empower you to live each day for Him and for His glory.
• Ask God to help you redefine the purpose of your life so that everywhere you go, you will be a witness for Christ.
• Ask God to give you courage and boldness to tell people what He has done for you.
• Thank God that He has given you a church that is on mission with Him and ask Him to help you find where you can best serve the cause of that mission in your church.

Day 14 – Drawing Lines

"Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name. And don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God. Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit. Pray for us, for our conscience is clear and we want to live honorably in everything we do."
Hebrews 13:15-18

Isn’t it peculiar how there is something inside each of us that seems to resist authority. It could be something as simple as ignoring the “Keep Off the Grass” sign. It could be ignoring the posted speed limit and then being put out with the police officer when you get pulled over. It could be talking about and making fun of a supervisor behind his back. I mean we really do believe that the world is a better place when there are boundaries and authority – just so long as it doesn’t get in our way. After all, the rules are for the bad people, not for good people like us.

It gets even more difficult when we start talking about spiritual leaders. Our boss at work pays us, so there is some incentive to obey him. But spiritual leaders? Pastors? Church guys? After all, don’t we pay them? And given the amount of scandals that have rocked church leadership around the country over the last several years, do these guys really expect us to submit to them?

And these are all valid concerns – unless you take the Bible seriously. In which case we have to seriously give attention to this idea of submitting to the authority of spiritual leaders commanded in Scripture.

When you look at the passage above, you discover that “obeying your spiritual leaders” is closely tied in to “doing good and sharing with those in need” and “offering to Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise.” It’s as though the writer is leading us into a whole new way of looking at the world. Instead of giving allegiance to a political system or a nation or a person, the writer says for us to give allegiance to God. The result of that commitment will be that we view our world from His perspective – that we have a God-centered view of the world rather than a self-centered view of the world.

As we view the world through God’s eyes, we begin to see the plight of those around us who are needy and desperate. Because we bear the Spirit of God within us, we feel compelled to help those who are broken and lost, the hungry and the homeless, and all those who are like sheep without a shepherd.

We also begin to see that authority is good. God gives each of us gifts and tasks that bring meaning and fulfillment to our lives as well as extend His Kingdom throughout this world. For some of us, the gifts and tasks are designed to help lead the Church and to equip the followers of Jesus to do the works of the ministry. This way, the church can accomplish her task of spreading the message of reconciliation to a world without hope.

Which is why the writer of Hebrews makes such a big deal about this issue of authority. If those who lead God’s people are to endure not only the attacks of the Enemy, but the day in and day out struggle with the frailty of their own humanity, doesn’t it seem better for we who make up the Church to add to their blessings rather than to their frustrations? Wouldn’t it make sense if we were going to see God do amazing things in our area that we would need to not only submit to, but also encourage and pray for, those in spiritual authority over us? It’s difficult enough to be bringing people into God’s eternal Kingdom, preaching God’s eternal Word and organizing God’s revolutionary movement in this world. When you add that they are also watching over our souls and are accountable to God for not just their own lives, but also the lives of those He has entrusted to their care, it becomes an enormous amount of responsibility – even without conflict.

Let’s add to their joy and not their sorrow. Let’s be an encouragement to their families and not a discouragement. Let’s be burden-bearers and not burden-givers. In this way, we demonstrate that we have an eternal perspective on our role in the Church. In this way we demonstrate that we believe that the rules are for us, that they are good, and that by our submission to them we will experience the best possible life God has prepared for us.

As you pray, be thinking through the following statements and allow them to prompt your thoughts with God.

• Thank God that He is the Ruler over every authority and power and that He is good, just, kind and righteous in His rule.
• Thank God that He has established spiritual leaders who help guide the Church and equip the followers of Jesus for the work of the Kingdom.
• Ask God to give these leaders wisdom and insight into His Word and His Church.
• Ask God to help you to be a joy and support for those He has placed in authority over you.
• Ask God to give you opportunity to demonstrate this support through yielding to the authority of those He has placed over you.
• Commit to praying for your spiritual leaders that they might live an honorable life and be protected from the Enemy who would seek to destroy them. Pray for God’s protection over their families and that God would fill them with wisdom and discernment that they may lead well.

Day 13 – Gift

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity."
Colossians 3:12-14

I’ve got 2 kids. My son is 8 and my daughter is 6. Generally, they are the best of friends and get along wonderfully. Every once in a while, though, they cross that proverbial line and get on each other’s nerves. Given enough time and not enough parental intervention, they can get just mean to each other. At this point my wife or I will step in. Usually we’ll try to track down what the problem is, who started it and who, if anyone, needs a consequence. Once we lay down the house rules again and remind them how we treat each other as a family, we will then ask the offender to apologize for the crime. The other child’s response, which by now is driven into both our children’s psyche, comes out automatically – “I forgive you.” Because one of our fundamental house rules is that you always make it right and you always forgive the other person.

Wouldn’t the world be a better place if we all followed that rule?

Imagine what it would be like if we functioned with that kind of attitude. Whenever someone offended us, they would come and make it right and our natural response would be, “I forgive you.” Or if we said or did something to someone, we would go make it right and their natural response would be, “I forgive you.” Wouldn’t the world just be…better?

But it seems like in real life there is a disconnect somewhere along the way. Someone offends us and our natural reaction is to hold a grudge. Or we offend someone else and our natural reaction is to not make it right – after all, they probably deserved it. Feelings get hurt; things go left unsaid; things not only don’t get better…they get worse. We end up in a cycle of trying to figure out who should be the one making it right and who should be the one forgiving. And round and round it goes. To quote the great theologian, George Jetson, “Jane! Get me off this crazy thing!”

Paul reminds the Church that while the world acts like this, followers of Jesus don’t. He says that the children of God should be people of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. That we should be the first to forgive, even when they don’t ask for it. And when the measure is drawn out as to how much we should forgive, it is always measured against how much Jesus has forgiven us. No grudges. No make ups. Just forgiveness.

Over the last several years, I have adopted a saying that has become my motto in life: Own what’s mine and forgive what’s their’s. We should recognize that some of the problem in the relationship is probably ours, and we should own it. And then we should realize that they are just as human and fallen and frail as we are, and we should forgive their part…without them asking for it. Since I have adopted that motto, I find that I am living my life more content and more free than ever before. I don’t get as frustrated with people when they fail me, knowing that at some point I fail people. I don’t hold grudges against people, knowing that at some point I will need grace and forgiveness. So when we choose to do this, we give them a gift. The gift of forgiveness. We don’t hold their sin over them anymore. We release them of our need for them to make it right. That way if they choose to make it right…great. If they choose not to…great. We win both ways. And in this one small way, we demonstrate that we understand how much Jesus has forgiven us.

Own what’s yours. Forgive what’s their’s. It’s the greatest gift you can give…and receive.

As you pray today, let these thoughts spur you into deeper communion with God.

• Thank God that through Jesus, He has provided you with complete and total forgiveness for all of your sin; past, present and future.
• Thank God that He not only has forgiven you, but He has also given you the power to forgive others.
• Ask God to give you the strength and power to own what’s yours and to forgive what’s their’s.
• Ask God if there is any relationship that you need to make right and to give you the opportunity to go make it right.
• Ask God to reveal to you anyone in your life that you have not forgiven and to give you the opportunity to forgive them…even if they don’t ask for it.
• Thank God for the gift of forgiveness He has given you and ask Him to help you consistently give that gift to other people.

Day 12 – Connecting

"Let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near."
Hebrews 10:22-25

Hi, my name is Chris, and I’m addicted to Heroes.

If you haven’t caught this show, you need to. It is one of the most original, fun, and addictive shows on television. The show tells the story of several people who thought they were like everyone else until they realized they have incredible abilities such as telepathy, time travel, flight and spontaneous regeneration. At first, they can’t control their powers very well, with some doing better than others. One by one they learn how to control these abilities and have to choose whether to use their powers for personal gain or for something bigger than themselves. Each of these people have a unique story, but feel as though they are supposed to do more than just get through this life without anyone catching on to their secret. Over time, they realize they have a role in preventing a major catastrophe and saving mankind from certain doom. They begin to find each other and eventually discover that they are most effective when they work together.

And that’s the church.

Because of what Jesus did for us, every single one of us have something amazing that has taken place within us, changing us into something else. If we have a relationship with Jesus, the Bible says that we have been raised from spiritual death to spiritual life. Also, God places His Spirit inside us as a seal of His promise not only to come for us one day, but also to empower us to live this life filled with joy, peace and faith in God. On top of all that, God has given each Christ follower spiritual gifts that enable to carry out their unique mission in this life. And if this is true about those who follow Jesus, then why are there so many Christians who don’t experience that power? Why are there so many Christians who have these incredible abilities and yet they choose to act like everybody else?

The answer is simple. Most Christians don’t realize that they are more effective when they are together.

In the passage above, the writer of Hebrews is imploring the followers of Christ to recognize the immense power found in community. “Let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do” the writer says. But not just to say that we put in our time in the church house this week. He wants us to “think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.” Attending church is not about checking off a box to say that you go to church. It is about connecting with other followers who have the same Spirit living inside them, who are going through the same struggles you are going through and who need someone encouraging them to continue forward just as we need that same encouragement. In Christ, we are heroes! But our power and joy and peace in this life are only realized in full when we come together.

Let’s admit. Time is precious. But with so many “important” things that steal our time, and so many “priorities” that don’t really satisfy the deepest needs of our souls, shouldn’t we be most committed to the one entity on earth that God has set up to bring out the best of who we are?

Hi, my name is Chris, and I’m addicted to the Church!

As you pray, let these thoughts prompt your discussion with God.
Thank God for placing His Spirit inside you and ask Him to make you more aware of the Holy Spirit’s activity in your life.
Thank God that He has placed you in a church where you can be encouraged to become the person you were meant to be.
Ask God to help you understand how important the church really is in your life and in this world.
Commit to God that you will not give up meeting together, as so many are in the habit of doing.
Think about one person in your life who needs the community of faith and ask God for an opportunity to invite them to church with you on Sunday.
Think of someone in your life who needs you to motivate them to acts of love and good works and ask God to help you encourage them through a note, email or phone call.

Day 11 – Unification Theory

"The people devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."
Acts 2:42-47

I can remember serving on staff at a church in Gatesville, Texas. I was the youth pastor at the time and it was my first full time staff position since going into ministry, so I was very excited, naïve and full of hope for what God would do there. I remember talking with the people who attended the church and developing some great friendships with those people. There really wasn’t anyone in the church I didn’t like. Good, hard working people.

That’s why it surprised me a little – well, a lot – when the fighting began. It seemed subtle at first, but over time it became just downright mean. People began arguing over so many small and petty things. Then the name calling, bickering and backstabbing began. A lot of the conversation became focused around worship styles - hymns versus choruses - and eventually a faction of the church split off from the congregation and started their own church so they could “truly worship God.”

After a couple of years, I left that church to go attend seminary in Fort Worth. Over time, I discovered that a lot of churches fight over a lot of different things. Not every church, mind you. But more than one would think. It's kind of a sad irony when you think about it; the Church is the singular agent that God has sent to declare to the world that there is peace between God and man and the message keeps getting blurred by the lack of peace between the messengers.

I wish these unity challenged churches understood the principles in the passage above. The first thing that happened in the first century church after 3000 people committed their lives to Christ was these same people committing their lives to each other. They studied God’s Word together. They ate together. They prayed together. They took care of each other’s needs. And, as a result of their commitment to each other, they truly worshipped God and everyone around them couldn’t wait to be a part of their community.

I wonder what the world thinks about our churches today. Do they see a place where people are committed to each other – even the difficult people among us? Do they see an environment where people are sensitive to each others’ needs and aren’t just focused on their own needs? Do they have a sense that these people would do anything for each other and that they just love being around each other? If they did, it seems as though we would see a lot more people wanting to be a part of the church. It would make sense that there would be more people being added to the church’s numbers who were committing their lives to Christ because they had to be a part of this community of givers and servants.

We can do something about it. We can revolutionize how the world defines “church.” We can be a part of the movement that restores this sense of Biblical community to the world’s eyes – at least to Austin’s eyes. So much so that they cannot fathom not getting involved in this amazing group of Christ followers. We can be the most loving, giving, caring community of people they have ever seen.

Not only can we do this, we must do this. Not just for the world’s sake, but for our own.

Scripture is filled with admonitions and commands for God’s people to be unified at all costs. We can’t allow even a hint of disunity to exist among us. It begins with you and me. We must set the bar of unity high and guard that bar with everything we have. Together we can redefine “church” for the city of Austin and beyond.

Together.

As you pray, allow these prompters to facilitate your interaction with God.

• Thank God that He did everything necessary for you to be united with Him through Jesus’ death on the cross.
• Thank God that He does nothing that would lead people towards disunity.
• Ask God to give you wisdom as to whether or not you need to make any relationships right that may be fractured.
• Ask God to help you to be a unifying force in the Body of Christ, a guardian of the standard of unity, and a champion for your brothers and sisters in Christ.
• Ask God that our church would be a part of redefining “church” for the city of Austin and beyond.

Day 10 – Building

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
Matthew 16:13-18

My kids are into building things. Paper airplanes; forts in the living room; Lego tanks; and swords out of, well, just about anything. There are days they can sit for hours in their rooms, just building things using their over-active imaginations. It’s so much fun to watch and even more fun to discover what tie, belt, sock or shoe is missing out of my closet that has somehow become a necessary piece in their creative venture.

It seems as though all of us are in some way are building things - homes, families, friendships, careers, hopes and dreams. Some things that we build take a lot of time. Other things that we build happen quickly. Watch this story about a group of people who built an entire house in less than three hours.



Isn’t it amazing what people can do when they work together for a common purpose?

And when we come to this thing called The Church, isn’t it interesting that we rarely view it as something that Jesus is building. We often view the Church as something that is already built. And yet what Jesus began 2000 years ago, He is still building to this day.

The word “Church” literally means “called out ones” and began out of a conversation and then a confession. Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do you say I am?”. It was a simple question, but the response would determine the fate of these first century followers. Other people in the region were saying all kinds of things about Jesus - that He was a great teacher, a wise person, one of the old prophets of God risen from the dead. It seems like everyone had an opinion on this Jesus. But that’s not what Jesus really wanted to know. He wanted to know “Who do YOU say I am?”

Peter was the first to make the distinctive confession that Jesus is the Son of God and began what would become a long line of "called out one's". Jesus uses the analogy of a building. Jesus is the cornerstone upon which the "called out ones" would be built. Just like a large foundation is made up of many small stones, the Church is made up of many members all throughout the centuries who have made the confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

And Jesus is still building His Church today. Depending upon your answer to Jesus’ question, you might even be a part of this Church that Jesus is building. But while you are a very important part, you are not the last part. Because Jesus is still building. He is on mission. There are people all over this world who have yet to be invited to be a part of this “called out” community. And He invites us to be a part of the building process. His desire is for us to look around and see all the people in our lives who aren’t connected with this beautiful Church that Jesus is building – to let them know that Jesus is more than just a great teach or a wise person or even a prophet. Jesus is the Son of God who died on a cross for our sins, was buried and three days later rose from the dead. He now sits at God’s right hand. He has restored the relationship that was severed by Adam and now He continues to build His Church to this day. And He invites every person who calls on His name to be a part of the journey.

Join in the building process. Don’t just sit and watch “church” or simply go to “church”. Be the Church. Be the “called out ones” who represent Christ in this world, not focused on earthly things that will fade away, but focused on the task of building wherever we are. Jesus is going to be building His Church anyways. Why not be a part of the process. After all, it’s amazing what people can do when they work together for a common purpose.

As you pray, allow the following to guide your thoughts in your conversation with God.

• Thank Jesus that He is still building His Church.
• Thank Him for inviting you to be a part of the process.
• Ask God to make you aware of how pivotal your part is in His mission to reach this world.
• Ask God to give you the courage to live out the confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God – with all the implications that has for your life.
• Ask God to show you your role in the building process.
• Begin a list of people you know who aren’t followers of Jesus. Begin to pray for them by name and ask God to give you insight into how you can communicate to them who He is.

Day 9 – Rescue

"Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ."
Galatians 2:1-2

Several years ago, Hollywood released an action movie starring Chris O’ Donnell called Vertical Limit. The basic premise of the movie is that a brother (O’ Donnell) and his sister (Robin Tunney) become estranged because of a mountain climbing accident early in the movie that claims the life of their father. Years later, their relationship is put to the test when Tunney’s character is leading a party of climbers and they become trapped in a vertical cave at the top of the second highest mountain in the world, K2. If they are not rescued soon, they will die of dehydration and the dropping temperatures. O’ Donnell must fight through his own guilt and shame over the loss of his father and lead an expedition to save his sister’s life. One of the climactic scenes of the movie is where Chris O’ Donnell, after losing several members of his team, arrives at the edge of a large precipice. He is not far from where his sister is located, but the gap is too vast to cross and he is left with only one real logical choice – give up on his sister and go home. But he doesn’t choose logic. O’ Donnell marches back 50 feet, turns back to the cliff, situates his ice picks in his hands and runs as fast as he can towards the cliff.

He jumps!

In what feels like forever, he spans the gorge, descending along the way until he reaches the other cliff and digs his picks into the side of the icy mountain, barely keeping himself from falling to his death. He then climbs the face of the mountain and reaches his sister and her party just in time to save them from certain death.

Why would he do that? Everyone would understand if he just turned around and went home. The distance is too great. The potential cost is too high. What if he were die in the process of trying to rescue his sister?

But that’s not what family does. True family goes to the cliff and jumps.

And that’s what the body of Christ does!

Churches in America are literally filled with people who, for one reason or another, have found themselves in a cave of sin and rebellion against God and are on the verge of being spiritually dehydrated and cold towards their Creator. It could be that couple we know who are having problems in their marriage. Or the person we work with who is struggling with integrity issues. Or the friend who blatantly walks away from his commitment to Christ. And too many of us are standing on the precipice watching them slowly become cold and indifferent to spiritual things. As we think about it logically, we decide that it would be rude of us to interfere with their decisions. Surely they will contact us if they really need help. It would take too much time away from my schedule and my family. And after all, with all of our baggage, who are we to try to tell them what to do.

But in the passage above, Paul is urging us toward a different response. He is asking if there is a brother or sister in Christ standing at the edge of this cliff who is willing to jump across to save the souls of their wounded family members. Is there anyone spiritual, not perfect, who is willing to leap out into the gap, to climb the mountain of adversity and to gently restore those of our spiritual family who are hurting and broken? Cautious, so that we won’t fall into the same trap, but willing to do whatever it takes to save them. To bear their burdens and the issues and struggles that they are going through so that they do not have to bear them alone. And ultimately to do for someone else what Jesus has done for us – risk everything to bridge the gap.

There is someone around you who needs rescuing. Will you take the leap?

As you pray today, allow the following to stimulate your dialogue with God.
Thank God that He has sent His Son to bridge the gap that was between you and Him.
Thank God for the people in your life who were willing to step out of their comfort zones and help bring you into relationship with Christ.
Ask God for a heart for those who are falling away from Him either through their circumstances or their own conscious decisions.
Ask God to give you the courage to not just watch them walk away, but to take a leap of faith and go after them.
Ask God for words to say and, more importantly, for an ear to listen and a shoulder to help carry their burdens.
Ask God to help you guard your heart as you pursue those who are falling away so that you don’t fall into temptation along the way.

Day 8 – Buddy System

“The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don't, the parts we see and the parts we don't. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance. You are Christ's body—that's who you are! You must never forget this.”
1 Corinthians 12:25-27

In late April of 2003 a young adrenaline junkie named Aaron Ralston went out for a weekend rock-climbing trip. On Saturday, Aaron found himself climbing in a narrow canyon when the 800-pound rock he was clinging to shifted and Aaron slipped. The heavy boulder rolled over and pinned his arm to the canyon wall. Aaron remained there for 5 days, waiting for someone to rescue him.

No one came.

By Tuesday, he ran out of water. On Thursday morning, he decided that his survival required drastic action. Using the dull knife from his multi-tool, Aaron applied a tourniquet to his now lifeless arm, amputated his arm just below the elbow, and then administered first aid. As if that wasn’t enough for one day, he then rigged anchors, fixed a rope and rappelled 75 feet to the canyon floor. But wait…the story is not over. Aaron then hiked downstream and was spotted about 3 p.m. by a Utah Public Safety Helicopter. The search for Ralston had begun the same morning, after authorities were notified he was four days overdue reporting for work.

Imagine what went through Aaron’s mind as he made that fateful decision to cut off his own arm. Life and death hanging on this one decision. It was courageous. It was daring. It was extreme discipline at its best.

And it was completely unnecessary.

You see Aaron broke the most important rule in mountain climbing: Never Climb Alone. If he had gone with someone else or at least told someone where he was going, he would still have his arm today.

It seems like I meet people every week that have a story similar to Aaron’s. At some point and time in the past, they have made a commitment to follow Jesus and have spent the majority of their Christian lives climbing alone. Every time they find themselves between a rock and a hard place, they try to figure out what courageous, daring, disciplined decision they need to make in order to pull themselves out of it. They decide to read the Bible more, go to Church more, serve more, do more! And the majority of them are wounded, battered and bloody with what feels like a part of their soul amputated.

Do you ever feel like that? Do you ever feel like you’re alone in this thing called faith, trying your best, but just not able to make it?

There’s good news. You were never meant to climb alone.

Everywhere you look in the Scriptures, you find this concept called community where men and women are identified, not as individuals, but as a people. The people of God. The people of Egypt. The people of Ninevah. And while the community is filled with individuals, each person in the community recognized that they were a part of something larger than themselves.

In the New Testament, through faith in Jesus Christ, the idea of community expands beyond nationality and includes both Jews and Greeks, men and women, kings and paupers, somebodys and nobodys, red carpets and back alleyways – people from a myriad of backgrounds calling on the name of Jesus to set them free from the boulders that pin them to their destinies of solitude. Take joy! You were never meant to climb alone! You are a part of a people; a community; a body!

You are not alone!

Over the next several days, we’ll spend more time on this idea. For now, allow our conversation and these prompters to spur you in community with God through prayer.

• Thank God that the burden of following Jesus alone has been lifted from your life.
• Thank God for Jesus who has brought you into His family and His body.
• Ask God to make you more aware of your need for community.
• Ask God to give you an increasing desire to connect with others in the Body of Christ.
• Ask God to help you to reach out to others and invite them into this community of faith.
• Spend a few moments and think through the people who have helped shape your faith. Thank God for them and ask Him to give you the courage to be that for someone else this week.

Day 7 – Springboard

“Happy is the man who does not walk in the way sinful men tell him to, or stand in the path of sinners, or sit with those who laugh at the truth. But he finds joy in the Law of the Lord and thinks about His Law day and night. This man is like a tree planted by rivers of water, which gives its fruit at the right time and its leaf never dries up. Whatever he does will work out well for him.”
Psalm 1:1-3

Recently, I had been reading J. R. R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” to my eight-year-old son each night before he went to bed. It was fun to see the delight in his eyes as he became enthralled with the story, envisioning each step of the journey in his imagination, laughing in appropriate places, worrying about the well being of the characters, and ultimately hoping for the hero (Bilbo Baggins) to come through in the end. As we finished the last page, he said, “I can’t wait to read that to my kids! I’ll tell them, ‘my dad read it to me and I’m reading it to you’.” In that moment, I knew that something special had happened; a father and his son had made a meaningful connection through something as simple as reading a book together. Something in our relationship changed, if only slightly, by this shared experience.

The funny thing is, I knew that would happen. It’s partially why I read the book to him in the first place, knowing that this simple act between us would springboard us into a kind of relationship we didn’t have before.

I think that’s why we have God’s Word – to be a springboard.

Isn’t it odd how so many people claim to be followers of Christ and so few people spend any time reading His Word? It’s no wonder then that there are so many Christ-followers who are struggling with desire for God and with living for Him. I talk to so many people who are shallow in their faith, and invariably, to the person, they don’t read God’s Word.

In the Psalm above, David speaks of the person who not only reads God’s Word, but also finds joy in it. Reading the Scriptures for this person is not just a duty to be performed during a quiet time, or something done each week when the pastor says, “turn in your Bibles to….” Reading the Scriptures is something they anticipate and think about day and night. This person loves God’s Words. And do you want to know why? Because God’s Word is a springboard. It is designed to make a meaningful connection between a Father and His child, simply by reading His Book together. God knows that each time we come the Scriptures, and allow them to springboard us off the page into conversation with Him, then something in our relationship will change, if only slightly, by this shared experience.

So how do we use God’s Word as a springboard?

Let’s take the passage above. Using God’s Word as a springboard means to use the Scriptures to prompt us into conversation with God. So rather than simply reading the passage and moving on, we begin to make it relational. We read, “Happy is the man who does not walk in the way sinful men tell him to, or stand in the path of sinners, or sit with those who laugh at the truth.” And then we pray, “God, your Word says that I will be happy if I choose not to follow the ways of those around me who would lead me away from you. I confess that I am easily swayed by the crowd and ask you to help me to not give in to those moments where I would let my spiritual guard down, just to fit in with those around me.” Then we read, “But he finds joy in the Law of the Lord and thinks about His Law day and night.” And we pray, “God help me to find your Word to be a joy and not a burden. Help me to think about your Words and not just hear them and know them, but do them. Let your commands and your expectations of me be what I think of day and night.”

By allowing the Word of God to springboard us into conversation with God, we move beyond simple stories of right and wrong into meaningful interaction with the One who spoke these words in the first place. He made sure these words would remain all these years, so that He could sit down with you and read them together with you. He knew that this simple act between you would springboard you both into a kind of relationship you didn’t have before.

As you pray today, let the Psalm above springboard you into relationship with God.

• Thank God that His Word endures and that He has preserved it for us to read.
• Ask God to reveal the places where you give in to those around you who would lead you away from the Truth.
• Ask God to give you a love for and a delight in His Word. Ask Him to help you to think about the things that He says day and night.
• Thank Him that He is planting you besides streams that give you life.
• Thank Him that He will produce fruit in your life as you stay connected to the river of Life that is God.

Day 6 – Intimacy

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.
Philippians 3:7-9

The apostle Paul was a rockstar.

If you look at his life, you would quickly discover that he was a spiritual giant long before coming to Christ. He was a devout Jew who was raised to be passionate for God. He had grown up under the best teachers and actually memorized the laws that God had given His people. Not only did he memorize them, he obeyed them better than most. He was from a respectable Jewish tribe, the tribe of Benjamin. You couldn’t find anything wrong with the guy. In fact, he loved God so much that he was easily offended when people would belittle God or make Him out to be less than His character and Word suggested. And if someone said that they were on the same level as God, Paul would be the first to cry, “Heretic!”

Which is why Paul hated Christians so much. They actually claimed that Jesus was the Son of God – God in the flesh. Paul made it his mission to wipe these guys off the face of the earth in an effort to purify the Jewish people from those who would seek to draw attention to this supposed messiah.

It wasn’t until Jesus met Paul on the road to Damascus and changed his life that Paul realized his real purpose in this world. In Philippians 3, he lays it out for us. “My mission” said Paul “is to know Jesus.” Period. End of sentence. Thanks for coming. They’ll validate your parking stub at the front desk.

Isn’t it strange how far we’ve come since Paul wrote the words, “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” It seems nowadays it is so easy for us to determine our spiritual condition by how involved we are in spiritual things. We go to church regularly; we read our Bible; we give money to the church and to the needy; we’re kind, honest, moral people who are respected both at work and in the community. And all these are great things, but are they a true measure of how we are doing as followers of Christ? According to Paul, the true barometer for our spiritual condition is how intimate we are with God through Jesus Christ.

Paul said, “I had all the religious stuff to brag about and I want you to know that I consider all of that to be meaningless, even detestable, compared to what I consider to be the most important thing in this world – knowing Jesus intimately.” How intimate are you with Christ? Is He the distant stranger whom you fear discovering your secret weaknesses? Is He the guy they talk about in church who is really important and did that great thing on the cross a couple thousand years ago? Is He just a religious area of your life that you bring up every once in a while because you’re a “good, church going person”?

Or is He your friend who sticks closer than a brother. Your life companion. Your hopes. Your dreams. Your goal in life. The reason you live. Your God. Your Savior. Your everything.

The easy question you can ask yourself as a test of where you are is this: “How much of my day is focused on developing intimacy with God and how much of my day is focused on me, my family, my house, my friends, my job, my goals, my dreams, my problems, my past and my future?”

Paul teaches us that Jesus is supposed to be more than just a religious notion or a bumper sticker on the back of our car. He’s supposed to be more than something we do on Sundays. Knowing Jesus is to be our life’s passionate pursuit. The reason we live. Our purpose. Our mission. All of life comes down to this singular passion: to Know Jesus and to make Him known.

Make knowing Jesus your passionate pursuit today. Seek Him in His Word. Seek Him in the sunrise and the sunset. Seek Him in the laughter of your children. Everywhere you turn, whether it be at work, at the store, in the car, watching the news, engaging your family and friends – seek Him. He is always there. If only we would look for Him.

As you pray, allow these prompters to ignite a passion for knowing Him better today.

• Thank God for the fact that He is always near, even when we don’t notice.
• Thank Jesus for doing everything necessary to bridge the gap between God and man.
• Ask God to make knowing Jesus the passionate pursuit of your life.
• Ask God to give you renewed fervor for reading the Word of God, not just to read it, but to develop intimacy with God and His Son through it.
• Ask God to open your spiritual eyes to His activity all around you throughout your day.

Day 5 – Familiarity

“Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy.'"
1 Peter 1:13-16

Have you ever been driving down a familiar stretch of road and at some point along the way realize that you have been zoned out for the last several miles, completely unaware of the road, the countryside and the other cars around you? Or have you ever been driving that road and doing 18 other things at once – drinking your coffee, changing the radio station, talking (or even worse, texting) on your cell phone, finishing breakfast, grabbing the book out of the back seat – only to be reengaged with the task of driving by the bumping sound of the lane divider, or the horn of the guy next as you inadvertently ease into his lane.

Maybe the saying is true; Familiarity breeds contempt.

Sometimes I wonder if that’s part of our struggle with our relationship with God. When we first come to faith, we tend to be excited about this new relationship and can’t wait to get to know about this God who loves us so much. We tell our friends about what has happened in our life and love the church that helped us discover this loving God and His plan for us. A few years later and God becomes the distant friend that we run to whenever things are really bad. We don’t tell anyone about our faith “so as not to offend them” and we keep finding fault in the church and the leadership because they aren’t doing things exactly the way we think they should. We are comfortable in our Christian bubbles and have become nice, moral people with no passion for God, for His Word and for His Church.

Familiarity.

Peter understands this concept and encourages us to be proactive in our relationship with God. According to the passage above, proactivity begins by preparing our minds for what God will do today in and through us. Do we have the mental commitment to say to God that we are available for action today wherever and whenever He might call us, no matter how it affects our schedule?

If we are going to be ready for action, we must learn to become self-controlled so that we are not loose canons driven by our emotions or sinful tendencies. As Paul says in the Scriptures, we bring our bodies under the authority and rule of Christ and we recognize that we are not our own, that we have been bought with a price, therefore we will honor God with our bodies.

Proactivity means we make it our vocation to become a people who are holy and not holier-than-thou. The word "holy" literally means that we are "set apart" for God and for His purposes. We don't want to be like the people Jesus spoke about who honor Him with their lips, but whose hearts are far from Him. God doesn’t need lip service. In the Scriptures it says, “For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” God's looking for someone today who will say, "let me be that one who is fully committed to you."

Be that person today!

As you pray today, reread the verses in 1 Peter above and allow these thoughts to prompt you in your conversation with God.

Thank God that He is actively pursuing His creation to bring them into proper relationship with Himself.
Ask God to help you to be mentally, physically and spiritually set apart for Him today.
Ask God to help you to be ready for Him to use you for His Kingdom whenever or wherever He needs you.
Surrender your schedule to His and surrender your plans and dreams for your life to His plans and dreams for you.
Thank Him that He is God, that He is in control and willingly submit yourself to Him and His authority in your life today.