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.
Romans
Your Life Script
Whose life are you living? Are you engaged in the things that allow you to utilize the gifts God has given to you? Do you seek to glorify Him even when it means looking foolish in the eyes of your family and friends? Too few of us live like this. Instead we live out our days blending in with the culture while looking for any opening we can find to get ahead. Rather than living as God planned for us to live, we cave to the pressures of life and seek comfort in alternative solutions. As a result, we end up living from a script written by someone other than our Creator.
Comfort in the Storms
My parents have a German Shepherd named Gabe that is absolutely petrified of thunderstorms. Recently when dog-sitting for them, I found myself cradling him while lying on the floor of a closet. I’ve never seen a dog shake so badly in all my life. The fear is irrational of course. No matter how loud the thunder, it can never injure Gabe. No matter how hard it rains, the water cannot reach into the upstairs closet where Gabe is trying to seek comfort. Even if the winds begin to howl and rattle the house, my arms are wrapped around him, protecting him against whatever will come. Despite all of this Gabe still shakes uncontrollably. It reminded me of how fearful we tend to be despite having the arms of the all powerful God wrapped around us.
On Following Jesus
Sometimes I feel like I’m banging my head against the wall. I hang out with people who profess to be followers of Jesus, only to find out they are merely Christians. Christ -followers in the first century did not refer to themselves as Christians; they called each other disciples. There’s a huge gap between those two words. A Christian is someone who, to some degree or another, believes in Jesus. A disciple is one who doggedly pursues and obeys Christ, one who asserts He is the Lord of their life, and actually lives like they mean it. Which word better describes you?
Jesus is Everything
Some day I’m going to figure out why we go looking for things to satisfy the longings of our heart. We have devoted our lives to serving God, the One who created us, loved us, and died for us. He has been there for us our entire lives. Yet the moment something doesn’t go our way, we react like spoiled children and immediately begin seeking comfort and enjoyment in the things of this world. We consume our time with endeavors that bring at best a fleeting distraction that brings no long term joy or fulfillment. Meanwhile our King waits patiently on the sidelines.