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Jesus replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.” Matthew 22:37 (NLT)
It’s the driving force behind the athlete who spends hours perfecting his/her skills; or the parent who spends every waking moment working to give their children every physical thing they can possible give them; or the professional who thinks nothing of working 70-80 hours a week making sure the business succeeds; or the lover who compromises their values in order to stay in a relationship; some even devote their entire lives to religion and spirituality in hopes of gaining it.
That driving force is passion and its intended goal is to give us the one thing we cherish more than anything else, the feeling we belong and are loved. Many a family has been destroyed or lives lost in pursuit of the goal passion drives us towards.
The problem with passion is it often misguides our thinking about what is important and how to get there. Medals and trophies only give you satisfaction for so long and then they become empty. How many athletes’ lives have been destroyed because even though they were at the top of their game, it wasn’t enough to satisfy the longing in their heart?
It’s not just athletics or business or family relationships that bring us emptiness though. Religion and spirituality have the same effect.
Passion misguides us into thinking that in order to become more spiritual and closer to God we need to do more things, gain more experiences, give up the things we enjoy and speak out against the evil of the world. There’s a misconception that the louder our voices of protest, the stronger our passion for ‘what’s right’, the more spiritual we become and the more God will be pleased with our actions.
One day Jesus is confronted by experts in spirituality. The Pharisees knew better than anyone how to load up the guilt and increase the conditions for ‘spirituality’. But all their rules and regulations couldn’t bring happiness, peace or closeness to God. It’s the same way today. Religion never has and never will bring satisfaction to the driving force of passion in our souls.
Jesus Christ offers us a better way. God doesn’t want your protection, he wants your passion. He’s not impressed with your voices of protest or songs of praise or your pious lifestyle. He wants your heart. Religion measures your worth by your actions. God measures your worth by your heart, your inner being, and your strongest desires.
But he also understands the battle going in inside for your soul. Do you really want to satisfy the hungry beast within that we call passion? Jesus says it’s all about loving God.
PRAYER: Father God, I’ve been duped into believing that my actions will gain happiness, even my actions for you. I’m finding that actions only bring temporary relief at best from the emptiness of my soul. Forgive me for the futile attempts to draw close to you. Empower me to rest in the fact that my life is fulfilled by simply loving you. In Jesus name, Amen.
“For it is: Do this, do that, a rule for this, a rule for that; a little here, a little there.” Isaiah 28:10
Nobody likes rules. When we are young we yearn to be free of rules and then we get older and find ourselves making more and more rules! Rules tend to confine and control us. Rules take away our freedom. Yet, in our more mature moments we have to admit that the world would be in big trouble if it weren’t for rules. Although rules control us, they can also guide us and protect us from…well, rule breakers!
When the Prophet Isaiah was ministering to the Israelites one of the complaints he and the other prophets heard was that they said the same things over and over again. The Prophets constantly stressed the basics. Later, in Jesus day, the Pharisees took rulemaking to new heights by burdening the people with rules to help them obey the rules. The problem was, those rules eventually, and I think unintentionally, replaced the real rules!
One of the reasons the Prophet Isaiah and his cohorts continued to stress the basics of the Godly life and didn’t move on to deeper things is that the people weren’t following the things God had already required of them.
The same is true today. We have conferences on seeing God’s power. We have books about seeing God’s power. There are some who make money off the ministry of telling people how to see God’s power. But nothing seems to help. For many of us we go through life hearing about God working in magnificent ways overseas or in the lives of others, but fail to see his power evident in our own life?
The thing each of us needs to realize is that our Heavenly Father is desperate to do things in our lives, but he can’t give us the deep things he has for us until we get the basics down. Other religions say you have to follow a multitude of rules to gain ‘divine power’. Not so with as Christ-followers. From the moment you accept Jesus you have all the power of God at your fingertips. His rules are simple. Get into a love relationship that holds him as number on and you will see mighty things.
So why don’t we see mighty God-power in our lives? God doesn’t expect big things from us until we master the little things in life. What are those ‘little things’? It starts with getting rid of all the stuff that keeps you from God. Anything that keeps you from holding God as number one in your life hinders your love relationship with him.
A love relationship with God means we take time out of our busy schedules to pray, read his word and fellowship with him. Those seem like little things but those little things are all God expects from us in order to show his power. It’s not about all sorts of rules like religion will tell you. Following God’s rules is all about freedom to be you.
PRAYER: Father God. I want to be desperate for you. There are so many things that keep me from seeing your power in my life. Empower me with your spirit to focus on the simple things of prayer, Bible reading and fellowship. Let your life shine powerfully through me to others, in Jesus name, Amen.
I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. Psalm 34:1
I received a phone call one day from the wife of a friend of mine. ‘Jerry’ had gone into the hospital the day before for tests. He was already considered disabled as a result of an illness that kept him from working. He’d lost his job, was forced to sell all of his ‘toys’ and now his wife was back in the workplace. The doctor’s report wasn’t good. It was determined that the disease had progressed to the point where he wouldn’t be able to take care of the kids while his wife was at work.
After talking with Jerry’s wife for a bit I decided to make the trip down to the hospital. On the way down I was praying for Jerry and his family, wondering what it would be like to have lost everything, thinking of how lucky I was to not be in his position. I also prayed for wisdom to be able to say the right things to lift my dear friend’s spirits during this most trying of times.
The walk down the hallway to his room was excruciating. I looked inside and saw him still connected to all sorts of tubes and wires and my heart sank. “Lord, help me know what to say,” I whispered under my breath as I entered the room.
Everything changed once Jerry I entered that hospital room…everything in my attitude that is. We sat and talked for nearly 45 minutes. During that time Jerry did most of the talking. He talked about how fortunate he was to have Jesus in his life. He talked about how wonderful his wife was. He bragged about how well his kids were doing in school. With my help he showed me a verse he’d read the day before and how it had blessed him. There was little said about the doctors, the tubes, the disease or his future. None of that mattered to Jerry. Jesus would take care of that.
I left the room wondering what had just happened! I was supposed to be the one to encourage, yet I was encouraged by the very person who should have been down. I was spoken to in a real way that day. The passage Jerry had shown me was Psalm 34. Psalm 34 was written by someone else who was in dire circumstances: King David.
When David wrote this Psalm he was running for his life from King Saul. He’d taken refuge in enemy territory and acted insane to save his life. He was humiliated, homeless; he’d been betrayed and felt completely alone. Still, in the midst of his despair he was able to praise his God.
The reason David was able to sing praises in his despair is because he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that no matter where he was, no matter what had happened in his life, no matter what lay ahead of him, God was with him to guide, provide and protect.
What struggles are you facing today? Is your past haunting you? Have you been betrayed or rejected? Do you have health, relational or financial concerns? Remember what Jerry and David remembered. In our times of deepest need we need only look to Jesus for comfort and strength. Trusting in Jesus doesn’t take away the pain of life, but it does give us strength and wisdom to move on.
PRAYER: Holy God. I thank You for the promise that you will be with me in every situation. I praise you because you know better than anyone else my pain, sorrow, frustration and fears. I ask that you would strengthen me to move on in life. Help me to put life in perspective so that I can be an encouragement to others regardless of my own circumstances. Amen.
We live by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7
Faith is believing in something even though we can’t see it. Some say they have no faith but we all have faith so some extent.
In the physical life:
- We believe in wind because we see the leaves moving for no apparent reason. But we know about wind. We can’t see it. We can feel it on our faces and see its results. Therefore, I have faith that wind exists.
- We believe in ‘chair-ability’. We see a chair. We’ve experienced chairs before. We know by faith from our previous experience that when we sit we will be upheld.
- We believe in wet. We can’t see wet. But we know when we touch water that wetness happens.
To say we have no faith implies we have had no experiences because faith is often learned by experiences.
The same is true in the spiritual realm. We can’t see God. We have His word to show us His actions through history. Actions that can be verified by historians, scientists and other scholars. We see his actions in creation and when we look into the skies. Living by faith is a decision to accept what we know to be true and applying it to life even when we can’t see it.
I live by faith, not sight when finances are tight and God says He’ll provide. I take the necessary actions to make wise choices. I live to the level of my ability and realize that money and possessions aren’t what life is about.
I live by faith, not sight when the doctor’s report isn’t good. I believe that my God is Jehovah Rapha, the God who heals. I know that my health is in His hands and that He knows what is best for me. No matter what the doctor says, I know my spiritual health is more important than my physical health. I trust Him to take care of me.
I live by faith, not sight when the relationship I thought would last for my entire life ends. I know that in God’s eyes it’s not so important why it failed or how it failed. What’s really important is that I come to Him for healing, knowing I’m forgiven and that He can still use me no matter what.
I live by faith, not sight when the political scene contradicts God’s law. I know that my sovereign God is ultimately in control of all things. Because He is in control, when the political scene grows worrisome I will stand in the face of adversity and walk all the more closely to Him for protection, guidance and wisdom.
I live by faith, not sight when the justice system fails me. I know that the unfair things of life are here only to make me stronger. I will work within the system for change and accept, as God’s will, when things don’t go my way.
I live by faith, not sight when God says I’m forgiven. It doesn’t matter what others say. It doesn’t matter how others treat me. It doesn’t matter how many times others bring up the mistakes of my past. I know my Redeemer lives. I know that He has forgiven me and there is nothing anyone can do to change my relationship with Him.
PRAYER: Father, it’s so easy to think about faith and so hard to live it. There are so many things in my life that scare me right now. So many doubts; so many feelings of inadequacy; so many questions about what is right and what is wrong. Life is so confusing. I ask that today you would help me to grow in my faith as I experience Your presence in my life. Amen.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. Psalm 1:2
Normally we think of the word ‘law’ and our mind conjures up pictures of bondage and restrictions that make living a life of freedom difficult at best and impossible in some situations. No one likes rules. Rules limit our creativity, destroy our freedom and take the fun out of life.
Of course that isn’t true. In reality, if we think about it a life without rules of some sort is a life of chaos and danger. Rules, in and of themselves, are good. They give us guidance, protection and prepare us for what lies ahead.
In reality, it isn’t the rules that bring us down, it’s the rule giver. If we have faith in the one making the rules and know that those rules are given in love and in our best interest it makes following them easier. If we are in love with the rule giver then we hardly notice the rules because relationship trumps rules every time.
God’s law is sometimes looked on with contempt for two reasons. One reason is that the people who see God’s laws as restrictive and out of touch don’t know God. They may know Him on an intellectual basis or as the topic of some religious system, but they don’t know Him in the realm of relationship.
When we are in relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ, we see those rules as guidelines that will enable us to live in a way that allows us to use the natural gifts and abilities he has given us for His glory and our benefit.
If we are not in relationship with God we see His rules as harsh and out of touch with reality. The Bible says that the wisdom of God is foolishness to mankind because we are, in our human nature, unable to understand Him. Only when we are in relationship with Him and His Spirit is indwelling us, can we fully understand His ways.
A second reason we may think God’s laws are restrictive is because we don’t know what His word says. This is even true among those who are Christ-followers. Stagnant relationships die for lack of understanding and companionship. This is true in the spiritual realm as well as in the physical realm.
If we are not in His word daily and are not on a regular basis interacting with fellow believers we will lose sight of the meaning of His Word. The more we are in His word, the more we interact with Him through prayer, Bible Study and fellowship, the more we will grasp the beauty and reality of His ‘rules.’
The more we love God and commune with Jesus, the less God’s laws become burdensome. Take time each day to meditate on some part of the Bible. Talk to Jesus often and realize that no matter how often you fail Him, He will never let you down.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus. I ask that you would help me to grow in my relationship with you. Show me the wisdom of your rules so that I may live a free and profitable life in you. Bring people and words into my life that will empower me to live for you. Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 