I’d wager that most Christians pray a lot. I’d also be willing to bet that a large majority of our prayers are self-serving requests rather than being filled with thankfulness or praise. Many never pray until they are in some sort of a jam and in desperate need of being bailed out. There is a time to call on the name of the Lord to rescue you. There are definitely appropriate times to ask Him for strength, wisdom, and courage. Even more important are the prayers that thank Him for His love and blessings, prayers that praise Him for His holiness and overall awesomeness! We should daily be cultivating a strong relationship with Him in prayer, learning more about Who He is and what part He has equipped us to play in His mission. Yet most of our prayers are selfish, shallow, and quite probably worthless.
purpose
Acceptance and Honor
“Our great honor lies in being just what Jesus was and is. To be accepted by those who accept Him, rejected by all who reject Him, loved by those who love Him. What greater glory could come to any man?” Those words were written by A.W. Tozer over 50 years ago, but still ring just as true today. Our purpose and calling in life is to look like and glorify Jesus. Everything we do should point people to Him. Anything besides this in our lives is superfluous. When our entire aim is to be accepted by those who accept Him and rejected by those who don’t, our daily activities become much more focused.
The Best or Nothing
I recently saw a television commercial for Mercedes Benz automobiles which featured their slogan, “The best or nothing”. It made me think how fitting this saying would be for all who aspire to follow Jesus. No matter what we do, we should always give Him our best. That means no matter how tired we are, how inconvenient the circumstances might be, or how grueling the task, we will always give our best. If Jesus doesn’t deserve your very best on His behalf, then nobody does. As ambassadors of Christ we are commissioned to always be on mission and on target. Our focus must never wane.
Impact Your World
How can I serve God best today? It’s a question each of us should ask at the beginning of each day. The way we frame our days determines how we live our lives. If we wait for life to just happen to us, we will constantly be in a reactionary mode, and this is not the optimal way to live. Reacting results in circumstances dictating our own actions. A better way to live is to proactively and intentionally influence what circumstances will actually occur in our life. Remember the old saying that the best defense is a good offense? That sports analogy works well in life. We want to make our lives happen rather than wait for things to happen to us. As followers of Jesus, the absolute best way we can do this is to determine ahead of time how we will impact our world for Christ each day.
The Only Name that Matters to Me
My wife is a big fan of the band Big Daddy Weave. While they’re not exactly my cup of tea, as a writer I love a great lyric, and their song “The Only Name” certainly qualifies as that. The song begins with the following words:
“Yours will be/The only name that matters to me/ The Only One Whose favor I seek/The only name that matters to me“
The song is a huge hit, and thousands upon thousands of people are singing it all over the world. While attending a different concert recently, I looked out over the huge crowd of Christians gathered together singing in one voice. I thought of the Big Daddy Weave lyric and wondered, what if we all actually meant the words of that song?