Daily Life

True Joy

December 10, 2018 by Tim Sherfy

There are times in life when joy is elusive. Note I said, joy, not happiness. Happiness is ever fleeting and, at least in my mind, not worth the pursuit. After all, we are called to be faithful, not happy. We are called to be obedient, not happy. But it is in obedience and faithfulness we will find true joy. So, when we find ourselves less than joyful, we should first check our obedience and faithfulness.

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Put another way, we should determine where we have our focus. Joy should be inherent in the life of a disciple. Jesus, the source of all joy, lives within us. The closer we draw to Christ, the more joy we will have.

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Eliminate Hurry

December 6, 2018 by Tim Sherfy

Dallas Willard once wrote, “You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.” This is difficult for me to hear. I struggle slowing down. I have a need to always be accomplishing something. I admit to having difficulty enjoying vacations because I’m always focusing on what’s next instead of taking time to enjoy the moment. Perhaps you can relate. The issue is if we never slow down, we will miss what God has intended for us to notice along the way.

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Did you notice Jesus was never in a hurry? He seemed to always have time to stop and have a conversation or to touch someone in need. While others were busy trying to fill His agenda, Jesus went off by Himself to pray (Mark 1:35–37). He understood the value of eliminating hurry from His life.

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Building God’s Kingdom

December 3, 2018 by Tim Sherfy

I think we sometimes get so busy trying to create heaven on earth we forget to build God’s Kingdom on earth. There is a difference between building a life full of comfort, security, and excess and building the Kingdom of God. When I look around my country and see the lives of Christians looking no different from those who have rejected Jesus, I can’t help but feel we’ve misunderstood the point.

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Building God’s Kingdom has nothing to do with Kingdom building in the traditional sense. We build the Kingdom of God by sacrificing the very things we would use to build our own kingdoms. When you look at your own life, does the evidence point to building the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of you?

God Calls You by Name

November 29, 2018 by Tim Sherfy

I’ve seen a quote sprinkled around the internet, not sure of its original source, but it says, “The devil knows your name but calls you by your sin. God knows your sin but calls you by your name.” This is an astute and accurate description of the difference between the way we are seen by God and the adversary. God loves everything about you.

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He created you to look like Him and is so intimately familiar with you He knows the number of hairs on your head (Luke 12:6-7). Satan, on the other hand, only knows who you are. In fact, the closer you draw to God, the more aware of you the devil becomes. He knows who you are, but he hates you because of whose you are.

Live a Countercultural Life

November 26, 2018 by Tim Sherfy

Where is the passion among followers of Jesus today? Where is the urgency of knowing the scores of people we associate with daily are doomed to spend eternity in Hell, forever separated from their Creator? We say we love Jesus and claim He is Lord of our life, but where is the evidence? By my observation, most Christians today are focused more on their own success and retirement plans than they are on the starving masses, enslaved children, and desperate lost souls in the world.

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Everything is assumed to be someone else’s problem. We’ll leave those things to the professionals and their organizations. All the while, it is we who are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus, a directive we conveniently ignore.