Enjoy

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:3-6

In this passage of scripture, Paul is writing to the church of Philippi. Notably, Philippi was Roman colony that was responsible for imprisoning and beating Paul and Silas on their second missionary journey. It was also, however, the place where Lydia became the first Christian convert in Europe, and where the very jailer watching over Paul became a follower of Jesus (Acts 16).

While Paul was treated very unjustly in Philippi, his message in Philippians seems to suggest that he wasn’t weighed down by the bad things that happened. Rather, he remembered the Philippians with fondness and THANKED God every time he thought of them.

I find Paul’s example in this passage of scripture to be quite remarkable. In my own life, I have a hard time thinking positively about people who have simply said something bad about me. It’s hard for me to imagine joyfully remembering people who have done something as extreme as Paul’s imprisonment.

Paul had an ability to look past the negative. He saw people in a way that was deeper than the surface, human perception. He likely reflected on moments like Lydia and the jailer’s conversion, and thought about the great potential that Philippi possessed.

Personally, Paul’s example really challenges me to try to love people better. I want to see people in the way that God does (like Paul did), not focusing on what they have done wrong, but feeling grateful for their good qualities. I want to notice the beginning of a “good work” that God is doing in people, and be able to pray for continued blessing upon them.

In the same way, I hope you are challenged to enjoy people more. While it is certainly easier sometimes to just point out what is wrong in others, we must remember that God’s creation is always beautiful. Likewise, let us always seek to see people in a way that gives credit and honor to the Creator.   

Written by: Tamara Sturdivant

Edited by: Brigit Edwards

God > Your Wildest Dreams

On Monday, I had the opportunity to spend a large chunk of time alone in the car with my oldest daughter after a dentist appointment. During this time, she told me all about a friend of hers from school that is currently obsessing about the classes she’ll take in college (mind you, these girls are winding down their seventh grade school year). This friend wants to be a lawyer/neuroscientist so that she can have a lot of money and power in order to address and dismantle a particular hot-button issue.

Hey, it’s good to have dreams. But my daughter and I were both a little overwhelmed by her friend’s particular dream. Nonetheless, it served as a great launching point to revisit the message we’d heard the day before: God > Your Wildest Dreams.

A pang of wistfulness jabs at my heart every time I hear a message on “dreams.” I wouldn’t categorize myself as a dreamer – and that bums me out. Whenever, I sit with a dreamer (which is pretty much every night because I’m married to one) and hear the passion in their voice as they talk about “all the things,” I’m amazed. And exhausted. And frustrated.

Exhausted because “all the things” will take so much time and effort to do! Frustrated because I just can’t make myself think and dream like that! It’s been a point of defeat for the bulk of my adult journey.

Here’s the thing: while I’m not much of a dreamer, I am an excellent planner. Tell me your dream and I will generate lists, spreadsheets, timelines, and files – and then compile it all nicely into a binder. However, I will express to you how many rules have been broken, which timeframes are ridiculous, how costs are exorbitant, and that manpower is non-existent. And I’m pretty sure that’s where my exhaustion comes in.

And yet, Sunday’s message about dreams didn’t bum me out. I came away extremely encouraged and excited because for the first time the idea of “dreams” didn’t feel exhausting and overwhelming. My desperate striving and planning can sit in the passenger seat while “trust” drives the car.

Being a dreamer is possible if I trust God. Because NEWSFLASH: I don’t have to make it all happen! The key is trust. Trusting Him is greater than any dream I could imagine – or dash, for that matter.

Amy presented four key points of trust (for more on this, I would highly recommend listening to the podcast if you missed it):

• Trust God with your dream
• Trust Him with your treasure
• Trust His promptings
• Trust Him with your balance

Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of Romans 12:1-2 from The Message encapsulates this so much better than anything I could write. So I’ll leave you with this, and I hope that it’s as liberating for you as it was for me:

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” Romans 12:1-2 (The Message)

Written by: Jaime Hlavin

This Is Us

While I was going through a rough patch at work a few years ago, I tried a different approach to prayer on my regular runs at the city park.  My life group at the time was facing various personal challenges, so I decided to devote the run time to interceding for those people (and a few others in the church). My regular prayer time could be about me, my family, worship, or ministries where I felt called to serve, but the time on the track had to be just for those other people. 

I figured this would yield two results: first I would be too preoccupied to consider my fatigue or how much farther I had to go, and then I would be forced to take my mind off of my own anxiety. As it happens, my relationship with God felt closer and more alive than it had in years, and my own problems of the time became so inconsequential that they soon fell far behind me. It was transformative to focus on others, and I’ve recently taken up the practice again.

It hadn’t occurred to me that those prayer runs were an act of humility until hearing the message on Sunday. Then, of course, thinking that I was living out a godly virtue without even realizing it made me feel proud of myself, which probably defeats the whole purpose. But that’s OK – if I’m danger of pride I’ll just take another run.

Jeremiah 31:21 tells us to “Set up road signs; put up guideposts. Mark well the path by which you came,” (NLT). We heard about four metrics to consider on the pathway we’re traveling and what makes us ourselves, as children of God.  These were humility, hunger, heart and health. For the purposes of this post, I’m just going to focus on the first one. We have all thought about what humility is not, but how often do we really think about what it is? Moreover, what markers tell us we’re within its boundaries?

C.S. Lewis once wrote that, “Humans have been brought to think that humility means pretty women trying to believe they are ugly and clever men trying to believe they are fools. And since what they are trying to believe may, in some cases, be manifest nonsense, they cannot succeed in believing it and (demons) have the chance of keeping their minds endlessly revolving on themselves.” Even when we are trying to adopt a humble outlook, our thoughts and efforts are focused inward. Instead, humility is the intentional and directed effort to focus on God and others. And while it doesn’t come easy, we are much healthier when we seek humility.

You may not be a runner, and honestly I’m not much of one either, which is why I needed to adopt a distraction technique. But somewhere in your daily routine, you likely do things like cooking, sorting through mail, hitting the weight machines at the gym, or other tasks that don’t require all your concentration. During this time, I would challenge you to ask God how the man you met during the greeting at Sunday service is faring this week, or if he would bless that life group member who is awaiting word of a loved one’s surgery. Some tasks may be better suited to this than others, but you succeed so long as you stop thinking about you. And if you stop trying to be so humble all the time, you just might arrive there now and again by mistake.

Written by: Chad Halcom

Edited by: Tamara Sturdivant

Home- Part 2

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:5-9

When I first encountered this passage of scripture, I sort of glazed over it because it seemed to be geared towards parents. However, the more I reflect on this excerpt and this week’s sermon, the more I am realizing the relevance it has to my own life as a follower of God. In its original context, Moses was challenging the Israelites to take the command “Love the Lord with all your heart” directly into the home. He insisted that followers of God express their love for Him by honoring Him in all things and passing this love onto their families.

While I may not have children to “impress” my love for God onto, this passage still has significant meaning to me. It challenges me to love God and honor Him with everything that I have. To me, the example of generational transference suggests that loving God should be something that trickles down to every other aspect of life. Loving God should expand my capacity to love others and should change the way I act. It should be evident to those around me, and should be reflected in all of my relationships.

Through finding new meaning to this portion of scripture, I am challenged to determine whether or not my life actually reflects this concept. Does my love for God trickle down to the way I treat others? Does it push me to act in a way that is more like Christ?

Ultimately, letting God take the first place in our hearts and loving him with everything we have is something that can be life-changing. Not only can it bring us closer to God, but it can also direct others to Him.

I challenge you to examine your heart this week. Does God have the first place? Does loving him change the way you see and treat others? If not, I encourage you to open yourself up and make the necessary changes you need to put God first. It is my prayer that as you “love God with all your heart,” you are able to make a life-changing impact on those around you.   

Written by: Tamara Sturdivant

Edited by: De Ann Sturdivant