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December 17, 2019

Advent Waiting: Waiting With Gladness

Advent WaitingwithGladness

Advent is a waiting season. A time of waiting for Jesus.

Two thousand years ago, the nation of Israel was waiting for the fulfillment of the promises for a Savior. They had been waiting for thousands of years. But there was one man who probably was waiting more expectantly than anyone else:

Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. (Luke 2:25-26)

We assume Simeon was old because death was on his mind. But God had made a very specific promise to him–he would not die before he had seen the Messiah. Perhaps every day, he woke up thinking, “Is today the day?”

Then one day the Holy Spirit moved him to go to the temple courts. It “happened” to be the day that Mary and Joseph were bringing the baby Jesus to the temple to be circumcised.

Advent WaitingwithGladnessPIN

When Simeon saw this humble couple, he (like the prophetess Anna) recognized their young son as the Messiah. He went up to them, took the baby Jesus in his arms and said,

Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
    according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation
    that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
    and for glory to your people Israel.

(Luke 2:29-32)

Simeon’s wait was over. he had seen the Savior.

When we are waiting–waiting for a husband, a child, a job–let’s remember that our most excruciating wait is over. God has sent the Savior! We no longer have to feel the burden of sin. We no longer have to drown in guilt and shame. Jesus came to the world, died in our place, and rose in victory.

When we are waiting, let's remember that our most excruciating wait is over. God has sent the Savior! Share on X

Yes, I might still complain when I’m waiting for healing, waiting to see my grandchildren, waiting for my coffee order at Starbucks. But even while I’m waiting, I can rejoice that the worst wait is over.

The Light of the world has come. He has entered the world and my heart. And no matter what else happens in this crazy world, I know that I, like Simeon, can depart in peace. And because of that I can rejoice.

Next step: If you do not know for sure that you are going to heaven, I assure you that Christ died and rose for you too. If you would like to experience God’s love and forgiveness, simply pray this prayer:

Father in heaven, I realize that I am a sinner and fall short of what You want for my life. I know that I cannot save myself or earn eternal life. Thank You for sending Jesus to die for me. Because of His death and resurrection, You have made me alive for eternity. Help me to turn from my sins and follow You. Thank You for the gift of faith in Your Son, Jesus, my Savior and for the assurance of eternal life with You. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Cover of 7 Words

If you would like to learn more about waiting well, check out my new eBook: 7 Words Your Soul Needs in a Waiting Season. 

In it, you will discover seven words that can mean wait. Seven words that can give hope and purpose in the middle of delay. Seven words your soul needs in a waiting season.

It’s FREE! Just sign up for my encouraging Soul Rest newsletter and you will receive this devotional eBook with seven lessons on waiting, plus beautiful graphics of my favorite waiting Scriptures that you can print and frame.

Sign up below!


Filed Under: Waiting on God Tagged With: ,
December 10, 2019

Advent Waiting: Waiting in God’s Grace

Advent WaitinginGod'sGrace

Advent is a season of waiting. We remember the world’s long wait for a Savior and we anticipate Jesus’ second return.

Often we focus more on the remembering part. Advent means setting up manger scenes, sending out Christmas cards with pictures of Baby Jesus, and singing carols about Christ’s birth. But let’s not forget to prepare for Jesus’ second coming.

The Story of the Ten Bridesmaids

Jesus told a story to encourage His disciples to be prepared and ready for His return.

The characters in the story are ten bridesmaids who are waiting for the bridegroom to take them to the wedding feast. It’s evening and they all have brought lamps to light their procession through the dark city streets. The bridegroom is delayed. All ten of the bridesmaids get drowsy and fall asleep. In the middle of the night, the bridegroom finally comes. His delay was so long that all of their lamps have gone out.

Five of the bridesmaids are prepared for this problem. They have brought extra oil. In a moment, their lamps are relit. The other bridesmaids are forced to go to the oil sellers and cannot go with the bridegroom. Later, when they arrive at the feast, they are not allowed in. (Matthew 25:1-13)

Through the story, Jesus reminds us all that we need to rely on the oil of His grace as we wait for His return.

Advent WaitingInGod'sGracePIN

Waiting is Not a Waste of Time

When I put myself in the story, I think my reaction as one of the bridesmaids would have been, “What is taking this guy so long? Doesn’t he realize my time is important? I could be doing something significant. Instead, I’m just sitting here!”

But maybe, a wiser bridesmaid would have gently reminded me, “But waiting here is exactly what we are supposed to be doing. Waiting for the bridegroom is our role. It is an honor to be chosen as a member of the bridal party. When we get to the amazing feast the Bridegroom is preparing, we won’t even remember the agony of the wait. The love of the Bridegroom is worth waiting for.”

If you are in a waiting season–waiting for healing, waiting for a solution to a problem, waiting for an answer to prayer–remember that even when waiting seems like a waste of time, waiting is often our role as God’s chosen people. During that delay, the Holy Spirit teaches us patience, hope, and trust. 

When waiting seems like a waste of time, remember that during the delay, the Holy Spirit teaches us patience, hope, and trust. Share on X

So while you are waiting–waiting for help, healing, and Christ’s return–wait in the strength of God’s grace. Don’t let your lamp go out. Find a fresh supply of the oil that fuels your faith in the means of grace: God’s Word and the Lord’s Supper.

Next step: Find encouragement in the words of Psalm 27:14, “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” Post those words somewhere you’ll notice them often today and when you read them, remember that waiting is the privilege of the chosen bridesmaid! 

If you would like to learn more about waiting well, check out my book: Waiting: A Bible Study on Patience, Hope, and Trust.

Waiting Cover002 - Copy (2)The book studies the lives of:

  • Sarah
  • Hannah
  • The Widow of Zarapheth
  • Esther
  • Anna
  • The Woman with a 12-year Hemorrhage
  • Martha
  • Ten Virgins

Through their examples, we find hope for the delays in our lives. We learn how to wait well.

Find the book on Amazon or CPH.org

Filed Under: Waiting on God Tagged With: ,
December 3, 2019

Advent Waiting: Waiting Without Preconceptions

Advent WaitingwithoutPreconceptions

Advent is a season of waiting. A time of anticipation. A period of preparation.

For many in our culture, the preparation for Christmas is limited to planning get-togethers and buying gifts. Children anticipate opening those gifts. Everyone is waiting for holiday programs, plays, and parties.

But for believers in Christ, Advent also means waiting for His coming. It is a season of remembering the long wait of the world for the coming of a Savior and a time of anticipating His second return.

In Scripture, we read many stories of waiting. Sarah, Hannah, and Rachel were among the women who experienced long periods of delay before they were blessed with babies. Joseph waited years in a lonely prison. The Children of Israel waiting 400 years to be released from Egyptian slavery.

Anna’s Waiting Story

In the New Testament, we read another story of waiting. Anna was waiting for the Savior:

And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. (Luke 2:36-38)

This dedicated woman of God only gets three verses in the Bible, but her story gives us so much wisdom for our seasons of waiting.

Advent WaitingwithoutPreconceptionsPIN

Even though Anna was “advanced in years” she was one of only two people who recognized that the infant son of two Galilean peasants was the Messiah. During Anna’s lifetime, most of the nation of Israel was waiting for a savior, but they were expecting one that would save them from the tyranny of Rome. A powerful political leader. Not a helpless baby.

Perhaps Anna recognized the infant as the Son of God because she didn’t have preconceived expectations. Instead, she was open to God’s ideas. She didn’t insist on her own vision or plan. She knew God often works in mysterious ways.

Waiting Without Expectations

God invites me to be like Anna when I’m in a waiting season. To let go of my own expectations. To stop insisting on my own way. 

When I let go of my preconceived, self-made plans that I am more able to recognize God design for my life. It’s then I’m able to wait with a bit more patience because I realize that the delay might be part of the plan.

Anna was waiting for the Savior. You, also, may be waiting for rescue. Rescue from a desperate financial situation or from an impossible-looking health crisis.

One thing you can do in this waiting period is to let go of your expectations and preconceived ideas about how God should answer your prayers. Reaffirm your trust in a loving Father who always knows best.

Let go of your preconceived ideas about how God should answer your prayers. Reaffirm trust in His plans. Share on X

Next step: Write a prayer, giving God all of your self-made plans and preconceived ideas about what is best. Tell Him you trust His wisdom and His goodness. 

If you would like to learn more about waiting well, check out my book: Waiting: A Bible Study on Patience, Hope, and Trust.

Waiting Cover002 - Copy (2)The book studies the lives of:

  • Sarah
  • Hannah
  • The Widow of Zarapheth
  • Esther
  • Anna
  • The Woman with a 12-year Hemorrhage
  • Martha
  • Ten Virgins

Through their examples, we find hope for the delays in our lives. We learn how to wait well.

Find the book on Amazon or CPH.org

Filed Under: Waiting on God Tagged With: ,
November 19, 2019

Navigating Unmet Desires

How do you deal with unmet desires? Those longings you’ve held for years? Those empty places in your heart that never seem filled?

It turns out those unmet desires can be a key to spiritual growth. It’s a lesson I learned on a shopping trip.

I love to browse at the outlet mall near my house and sometimes find wonderful items within my budget. However, on one such browsing session I wandered into the Armani store. Now I knew Armani was an expensive name, but I thought this is the outlet store, right? Looking through the racks I found a beautiful blouse. “This would be perfect,” I thought–until I looked at the price tag! $221.00!

Now I should add that although I love to browse at the outlet mall, I normally buy my clothing at resale shops where I can get an Ann Taylor sweater set for $4.99, a Liz Claiborne trench coat for $5.50, and a Jones New York jacket for $4.00. I couldn’t quite fathom $221.00 for one item of clothing. 

In a resale shop I can usually buy anything I desire. But in the Armani store my desires would remain unmet.

Shortly after the trip to the Armani store, my daily quiet time led me to Deuteronomy 8:3 and as I read I felt God flip a switch in my brain.

“He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” Deuteronomy 8:3

I saw something in that verse I had not noticed before. Moses told the people of Israel that God humbled them, causing them to hunger. He did not immediately meet their needs. And when God did feed them, He gave them manna. This was a miraculous food to be sure and it kept them full, but it did not totally satisfy their appetites. They still longed for the taste of fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic (Numbers 11:5).

 

God purposely caused them to hunger, let their mouths water, their stomachs to growl. Why?

To teach them that “man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” God caused the hunger, gave them a desire that He didn’t immediately meet in order to show them that what they really wanted was not what they thought they wanted.

Let me say that again: What they really wanted was not what they thought they wanted. Their deepest need, their most intense desire and our deepest need, most intense desire is to hear God’s words to us. We need to recognize His voice and experience a real relationship with Him.

Looking back on my life, I see many times when I have had a deep longing, an intense desire, a pressing goal. I worked hard to get what I wanted and prayed with all my heart, yet what I longed for remained just beyond my reach. Now I see that it was during those times that God was withholding that desire, delaying the answer to the prayer long enough for me to see that what I really wanted was Him. To realize that Jesus is enough. The desires I had were to lead me to true satisfaction in the Lord–in His words of life to me.

What desires do you have? Does it seem that God is withholding a key ingredient to your happiness? Maybe He is trying to show you that what you really want is to hear His voice. Take time to do that today. Read His loving words to you. Be still and listen. He is the One who will give you what you really want.

And it isn’t something you can buy in the Armani outlet.

If you would like to learn more about finding enough, check out my new book Enough for Now: Unpacking God’s Sufficiency!

A study of the parable of the rich fool, it will help you discover:

  • enough money
  • enough stuff
  • enough food
  • enough relationships
  • enough time
  • enough of me

You can find out more about it here. And order it here and here!

Filed Under: Contentment
November 5, 2019

Book Review: Finding Holy in the Suburbs

Every once in a while, a book echos exactly what is rolling around in my head–Finding Holy in the Suburbs is that kind of book.

In 2018, I chose the word enough as my word of the year. I wanted to challenge myself to find enough in God–not in having enough money, shoes, or even dark chocolate. Throughout that year, I limited my shopping and practiced gratitude for what God has already given. I steeped myself in God’s Word and learned a little more about contentment.

And that is why I love Finding Holy in the Suburbs.

Author Ashley Hales tells of a similar journey. She thought she wanted to live in a big city or maybe in the country, but she ended up in the suburbs and somehow that didn’t seem like enough.

Although the suburbs appear as lands of plenty, they can become deserts of wanting more. Even though they may seem lands of excess, what they have plenty of doesn’t actually fill our hearts.

In Finding Holy in the Suburbs, author Ashley Hales challenges readers to examine their hungers–big and small–and how they are seeking to satisfy them. Her book shows that many of us try to satiate our desires through the suburban gods of consumerism, individualism, busyness, and safety. Yet we often end up unsatisfied and empty.

Instead of using these suburban gods, Hales encourages us to go the true God–the only One who can fill our empty souls. She points out the need for repentance and the truth of our position as God’s beloved. Then she asks us to risk practicing hospitality, generosity, and vulnerability.

I especially loved the Counterliturgies Hales included at the end of each chapter. These practices became ways to evaluate my current attitudes, meditate on God’s Word, and put my faith into practice. For instance, one Counterliturgy she suggests is:

Pray through your calendar. As you start a new season or new month, pray through your calendar with your family. Prayerfully consider your commitments and what furthers a life of generosity and other-centeredness versus what satisfies your whims.

I encourage you to grab a copy of Finding Holy in the Suburbs. Inside the pages, you will find hope for your thirsty soul.

Filed Under: Contentment
October 31, 2019

Why the Reformation Matters

WhyTheReformationMatters

More than 500 years ago Martin Luther nailed 95 Thesis to a church door in Wittenberg, Germany. And we might be thinking, “So what?” 

Luther himself probably did not realize the importance of this simple act. The church door in a German town was like a public bulletin board. Along with Luther’s document outlining the corruption of the church in his day, the church door might have also held an announcement for a lecture series at the university or a posting of the times for confession in the upcoming week.

But Luther’s act of nailing the 95 Thesis was the beginning of the Reformation of the church–a church that had added man’s rules and customs onto the Word of God. A church that had misled the people. A church that told the masses they needed more than faith, more than grace to get to heaven.

The three cornerstones of the Reformation were Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia, and Sola Fide–Word Alone, Grace Alone, Faith Alone. These cornerstones are still important to us today.

Sola Scriptura–Word Alone

In the years leading up to the Reformation, the church had begun to add onto the Word of God. The edicts of the church and of the pope were considered equal to the Bible. Martin Luther and other reformers reminded the people that God’s Word has all the truth necessary for our salvation and that no words added by men–even important men–are on the same level as the Bible.

In our modern world, we are also tempted to look for the answers to our problems everywhere but the Bible. Certainly, Scripture does not tell us how to bake a red velvet cake or give directions to Minneapolis. But it does tell us how to have a relationship with God, how to obtain peace and joy,  how to love and live in a broken world.

Why theReformationMatters

Sola Gratia–Grace Alone

In Luther’s time, people were told that God’s grace was not enough to get to heaven. Good works were a prerequisite. Luther himself agonized over this teaching, totally despairing because he knew he could never be good enough. He could never be perfect.

But through Scripture, Luther realized that none of us can measure up to God’s standard of perfection and that the only way to heaven is by the Lord’s mercy and grace. None of us deserve God’s forgiveness, it is only available to us through Christ’s death and resurrection.

This truth matters today because we often try to fix our problems on our own. We rely on self-help books. We work hard to improve our financial situation. We live like it all depends on us.

Grace alone allows us to let go of the try-hard life and rest in God’s mercy. It is only through His love and acceptance that we can come to Him. His grace gives us the strength to live day by day.

The truth of Grace Alone allows us to let go of the try-hard life and rest in God's mercy. Share on X

Sola Fide–Faith Alone

Another falsehood the church of Luther’s day promoted was that faith in Christ was not enough to get to heaven. A man named Johann Tetzel and others were selling indulgences–little pieces of paper that “guaranteed” a quicker path to heaven. Most of Luther’s 95 Thesis dealt with this practice.

Romans 1:16-17 tells us:

 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.

These verses were the turning point for Luther’s relationship with God. Once he realized that salvation was not dependent on good works or expensive little pieces of paper, but on faith in Christ, he felt the burden of his sin lift. Righteousness can only come from faith in what Jesus has already accomplished on the cross. I do good things out of gratitude for what He has done, but I do not have to be “good enough” to get to heaven. What a relief!

Even today, listening to preachers on radio and TV today may leave listeners with the feeling that there is so much they need to do to be a good person. So much to do to earn a ticket to heaven. But God’s message is faith alone–faith given to us through God’s grace. We accept this faith as a life-changing gift.

Faith alone in Christ’s death and resurrection gives us access to God and His power and love.

Faith alone in Christ's death and resurrection gives us access to God and His power and love. Share on X

What happened 500 years ago in a little town in Germany changed the world. A list nailed to a church door still matters today.

Next step: Take a moment to contemplate the three tenets of the Reformation: Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia, Sola Fide. Which of these truths is hardest for you to put into practice in your everyday life? Ask the Father to help you in this area.

Filed Under: Bible Study Tagged With:
October 29, 2019

Book Review: A Louder Song

Are you in a period of suffering? A time of questions without answers? The book The Louder Song meets readers in the pain and ache of life. It answers the question of what to do when you’re in a period of Suffering and Not Yet. No cliches or easy answers here. Instead, author Aubrey Sampson leads readers to learn the concept of lament–the rope that keeps us tethered to God’s presence.

Written in a time when she experienced a debilitating illness and a loss of a family member, Aubrey admits she wanted to handle suffering well. She wanted to learn whatever lesson God was teaching and move on. But things didn’t happen that way. So when her life crises didn’t neatly resolve, she went to God’s Word and discovered the power of lament.

God knows life is often hard and so He included songs of lament in Scripture. Aubrey writes:

Laments minds the gap between current hopelessness and coming hope. Lament anticipates new creation but also acknowledges the painful reality of now.

God gives us the laments of those who have gone before us as a way to talk honestly with him, as a way to enter into the biblical story, as a way to connect with the suffering people of God, and as a tool for thrusting our anger and our mysteries and our losses at him.

The title of the book comes from an experience that Aubrey had at a concert where a choir walked onto a stage and sang a slow funeral dirge. The atmosphere in the theater grew dark and heavy. Then slowly another choir slowly filled the room and surrounded the audience singing a much more hopeful song. The second song gradually drowned out the dirge and Aubrey realized that the experienced mirrored spiritual life. Our existence often appears dark and plays in a minor key, but God sings to us a louder song of hope, of love, of His presence with us.


Throughout the book, Sampson weaves stories of her own sufferings with an examination of lament songs in Scripture. She reminds us that it’s OK to be honest with God and that authenticity can open our hearts to an awareness of God’s presence in the midst of our pain.

In the middle of your bleakest times, discover that lament can lead you back to hope because God sings a louder song than suffering ever could. Listen to His song of love for you. Hear His melody of promise.

I encourage you to grab a copy of The Louder Song. If you’re in a period of suffering, waiting, or illness, this is the book for you.

Filed Under: Spiritual Disciplines
October 22, 2019

Book Review: All Shall Be Well

The book All Shall Be Well serves as a perfect companion to my year of aiming to notice God. At the beginning of 2019, I chose the word “notice” as my word of the year, hoping against hope that focusing on this act of noticing would help me discover God in the big and small moments of every day. One spiritual practice I use to accomplish this is the spiritual discipline of Examen, but this year I’ve been reading about new ways to remind myself of God’s omnipresence.

Fortunately, my writer friend Catherine McNiel wrote a book that guides my journey. In All Shall Be Well she shares how we can notice God’s presence in nature when we slow down enough to look. Of course, I have always appreciated the Creator’s majesty and power when I view magnificent mountains and seemingly endless oceans. But Catherine helped me see God in the smaller details of rich earth, thawing ice, and falling leaves.

All Shall Be Well led me on a journey to meet God–not in the miraculous or supernatural–but in the everyday and ordinary. Through it I’m learning to slow down enough to see God in the messy thawing of springtime, the abundance of summer, the letting go of autumn, and even the wilderness of winter. Her beautiful, poetic prose helped open my eyes to notice God in my ordinary moments and humdrum days.

One of my favorite chapters of the book, “Leaves,” recounts a time when the enormous walnut tree in her front yard released all of its leaves at one time. In a few minutes, the tree went from full to empty, leaving a thick carpet of gold on the ground. She uses this story to remind us that even as part of our spiritual journey is receiving grace from God, we also must empty ourselves. Catherine writes:

We let go of what has been, with an eye on what is to come. Mastering this lesson takes a lifetime of practice. Embedded within are so many additional lessons–humility, surrender, courage, contentment, acceptance, and above all, wisdom. (p. 107).

I encourage you to grab a copy of All Shall Be Well. If you’re longing to discover God right where you are, this is the book for you.

Filed Under: Spiritual Disciplines
September 3, 2019

5 Ways to Ignore Cravings and Live By the Spirit

“Don’t do it,” I told myself as I started down the basement stairs.

“Don’t do it,” I repeated as I walked toward the shelf where my secret stash sat.

“Don’t do it,” I said again, as I opened the container.

But I did it. I grabbed a piece of mint-chocolatey goodness and popped it in my mouth. The shouts of the chocolate calling my name were louder than my own voice urging me not to give in to temptation.

I keep my stash of dark chocolate in a tin in the basement. My rationale is: out of sight, out of mind. And if the chocolate calls so loud that I can’t ignore it, at least I burn a few calories going down to the basement to get it. (Surely, going up and down one flight of stairs burns two hundred calories, right?)

Sometimes I’m able to ignore the voice of the chocolate, but sometimes, no matter how many times I tell myself, “Don’t do it,” I go down and raid my secret stash.

Chocolate Cravings and Human Desires

Chocolate cravings aren’t the most heinous of desires, but they certainly provide a good illustration of how our sinful nature does not always want what is best for us.

This week I’ve been reading through Galatians and this verse struck me:

So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. (Galatians 5:16-17)

The whole discussion of desires is what motivated me to study the concept of enough. I spent a year exploring what the Bible said about finding enough, about finding contentment. (Click here for more of my posts on this topic.) Just like I sometimes ignore my own inner pleadings to ignore the shouts of the chocolate in the basement, sometimes I go against the Spirit’s nudgings and seek to satisfy more serious cravings of my sinful nature even though, deep down, I know they aren’t good for me.

As long as we live in this human body, we will have this struggle.

When Paul wrote “live by the spirit,” he used the present tense of the imperative mood in Greek. In layman’s terms, this indicates habitual conduct. We must continually listen to the prompting of the Spirit. We must always work in the power of the Spirit. Otherwise, we will constantly go back to our default mode of gratifying our sinful, human desires.

Live By the Spirit

As I thought about this, I wondered what it would mean to continually live by the Spirit. Here are a few ideas of what it looks like in my life.

  • Spend time in God’s Word. God speaks to me through Scripture. As I read, the Holy Spirit gives me guidance, teaches me about God’s kingdom, and reassures me of the Father’s love.
  • Incorporate times of silence. I find I usually need silence in order to hear God’s voice more clearly. I’m trying to start my Bible reading each day with a couple of minutes of silence to quiet my mind. Also, every month, I try to take a personal retreat–a morning to read, journal, and purposefully listen to what God wants to say to me. (If you would like to try this, read my post about taking your own personal retreat.)
  • Pay attention to feelings of dread or anxiety. These feelings may be signs that I am following the desires of my sinful nature. I take these emotions to God in prayer and ask Him to help me sort them out.
  • Memorize God’s Word. When I have Scripture stored in my heart, the Holy Spirit can pull up the appropriate verse to speak to me in His language.
  • Limit time exposed to social media, advertising, and shopping. All of these things can feed my human nature, spurring on discontent, envy, and false desires.

As I practice these things I am better able to follow the path God has for me. Romans 12:2 says, “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.” The world and Satan will always try to make us fear and doubt God’s will for us. But Paul reassures us that God’s plan for our lives is continually good. When I remind myself of that fact, I’m able to live by the Spirit and shut out the old desires that only lead to pain, anxiety, disappointment, and disillusionment.

And maybe I’ll also be able to ignore the calls of the dark chocolate stored in my basement.

Filed Under: Contentment, Spiritual Disciplines Tagged With: , ,
June 25, 2019

The One Thing Keeping You From The Life You Want

eyes of love

Once upon a time a rich young ruler comes to Jesus. This man had everything: money, power, youth. Maybe he was even not-too-bad looking.

But even though it seemed like he had everything anyone could want–he knew he was missing something.

He came to Jesus with a burning question

“Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17)

This young man knew that the things he had wouldn’t last forever. He needed eternal life.

Jesus gave the searching man a rather standard answer: Follow the commandments. Don’t murder. Don’t commit adultery. Don’t steal. Don’t lie. Honor your father and mother.

The young man thought: Good. I’ve got this. He told Jesus, “I’ve done all those things since I was a boy.”

But Jesus knew there was one thing that was holding the man back from the life he really wanted. There was one thing that was distracting him from his real life. So Jesus looked at the young man and said:

“You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” (Mark 10:21)

The rich young ruler went away despondent. Because this was the one thing he could not do.

I totally get that young man. Not that I’m rich. Or powerful. Even youth has pretty much passed me by. But there have often been things in my life that have distracted me from my real life–the amazing, beautiful life that Jesus wants me to have. Sometimes Jesus has asked me to surrender things I held tightly–in order to wholeheartedly follow Him.

And often I have been exactly like that man that met Jesus. I have said no. I’ve hung onto whatever I thought it was I couldn’t live without. Music career. Pursuit of dream house. Wanting family close.

But when I’ve hung onto those dreams, those desires–I discovered that didn’t actually make me happier. They only pulled me away from Christ. I couldn’t follow Jesus closely because I was dragging around the weight of my own will, my own expectations.

Usually I come to my senses and realize that a life of following Jesus is better than any other path. I eventually release that one thing that is holding me back from the life I really want–the life God has planned for me.

What are holding onto? If Jesus spoke to you and said, “You lack one thing. Go and surrender _________” What would that one thing be?

If Jesus spoke to you and said, 'You lack one thing. Go and surrender __________' What would that one thing be? Share on X

It’s always difficult to surrender things we hold dear. But there is one phrase in Mark’s account of the rich young ruler that makes it a bit easier.

Mark wrote “Jesus, looking at him, loved him” (Mark 10:21).

When I struggle to surrender whatever God is asking me to let go, I remember Jesus’ love. I picture Him–looking at me with eyes of love–holding out His hands to take whatever burdens He has asked me to relinquish.

Jesus doesn’t ask me to release my desires or my possessions because He wants to make me miserable. He asks me to release them because, in His love, He knows the one thing that is keeping me from the life I really want.

Next step: If Jesus spoke to you and said, “You lack one thing. Go and surrender _________” What would that one thing be? Spend a few minutes basking in Jesus’ love for you. Then write a prayer surrendering that one thing–the one thing that is keeping you from the life you really want.

In this world we struggle and strive, convinced that we can only be content if we have more. But we can only find enough in the God of sufficiency.

If you would like to learn more about finding enough, check out my brand new book Enough for Now: Unpacking God’s Sufficiency! 

A study of the parable of the rich fool, it will help you discover:

  • enough money
  • enough stuff
  • enough food
  • enough relationships
  • enough time
  • enough of me

You can find out more about it here. And order it here and here!

Filed Under: Contentment
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