28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30
Dear God, what an interesting thing for Jesus to say. He didn’t say, “You best be gettin’ to work!” Yes, he raised the standard on a lot of things. He equated hate to murder. He loathed selfishness. But his lead-off hitter was peace.
I’ve quoted this song many times in these prayers, but the song “Peace” by Rich Mullins comes to mind this morning. The chorus: “May peace rain down from heaven like little pieces of the sky. Little keepers of the promise falling on these souls the drought has dried. In his blood and in his body. In this bread and in this wine. Peace to you. Peace of Christ to you.”
That’s my prayer for my wife and children this morning. For my parents, siblings, and nieces and nephews. For my coworkers, our clients, and then my friends. I pray that they burdens be lifted, their wounds be healed, any secrets locking them up would be revealed for your glory’s sake, and for you to ultimately enter the world through them. And do the same with me. Let your peace fall on me as I go through this day. Help me to carry that peace to others.
12 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost? 13 And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn’t wander away! 14 In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish.
Matthew 18:12-14
Dear God, it’s important to remember the context of this statement by Jesus. He was answering the question about who is the greatest in the kingdom. He starts by talking about the value of children. Then he goes into talking about not causing someone else to sin. Then in tells this story of the one sheep and the 99. So the answer to the question, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven,” is that we are all precious–even that 100th one that wanders away. That lost one must be found. That child is precious. We are precious. I am precious. But when I look at other Christians and what they are doing, there should be no enmity between them and myself. I should not be jealous of another Christian who is living a more obviously “victorious” or “impactful” life than I am (and I confess that sometimes I do get jealous in this way. No, I should delight with you in them. I should ask if there is a way I can support them. I should pray for them that they not be led into temptation and delivered from evil.
Father, help me as I go into this day today. I have some work to do. I have some people to love. Help me to love. Help me to work fast and efficiently. Help me to worship you in everything.
3 In those days John the Baptist came to the Judean wilderness and began preaching. His message was, 2 “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” 3 The prophet Isaiah was speaking about John when he said,
“He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming! Clear the road for him!’”
4 John’s clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food he ate locusts and wild honey. 5 People from Jerusalem and from all of Judea and all over the Jordan Valley went out to see and hear John. 6 And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.
7 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptize, he denounced them. “You brood of snakes!” he exclaimed. “Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? 8 Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. 9 Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. 10 Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.
11 “I baptize with water those who repent of their sins and turn to God. But someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not worthy even to be his slave and carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12 He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.”
Matthew 3:1-12
Dear God, my inclination is to figure out how I am or want to be like John the Baptist. What is he doing that I should be doing? How should he be my example. Then I am reminded that there is only one John the Baptist, but there are a lot of Pharisees and people coming to him to repent. Maybe the question should be how I become a “repenter” and not a Pharisee.
I wonder why kinds of sins the Israelites who came to John were repenting of. And were there any Gentiles in the mix who were coming into the Jewish faith? They might have been repenting of the same old sins that must of us struggle with like selfishness, lying, lust, etc., but I wonder if it was more fundamental than that. Were some of them repenting of not following your commands? Tithing. Forgiving debt. Debauchery.
That leads me to the uncomfortable question of, if John the Baptist were down at my local river outside of town, what would I be repenting of? What should I repent of? What are you waiting for me to repent of?
I still don’t think the practice of “confession” or “reconciliation” in the Catholic church is a mandate as the Church believes, but I do see the value in it. I do see the value in being vulnerable about our sins to another person and saying it out loud. And while I don’t do that practice with a priest since I’m not Catholic although I go to a Catholic church with my wife, who is Catholic, I do have two friends who I’m able to tell about my failings–and sometimes I tell them everything. I think if we don’t have godly people in our lives with whom we can share our thoughts, mistakes, misgivings, and then even be vulnerable about the types of motivations and actions that we would normally keep hidden then we will keep ourselves clear with you and with our own consciences.
Father, I feel like I want to close with the penitent prayer Catholics say at just about every mass: I confess to Almighty God that I have great sinned in my thoughts and in my words; in what I have done and what I have failed to do through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault. Therefore I ask blessed Mary, all the angels and the saints, and you my brothers and sisters to pray for me to the Lord our God.
35 Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. 38 So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”
10 Jesus called his twelve disciples together and gave them authority to cast out evil spirits and to heal every kind of disease and illness. 2 Here are the names of the twelve apostles:
first, Simon (also called Peter), then Andrew (Peter’s brother), James (son of Zebedee), John (James’s brother), 3 Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew (the tax collector), James (son of Alphaeus), Thaddaeus, 4 Simon (the zealot), Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him).
5 Jesus sent out the twelve apostles with these instructions: “Don’t go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans, 6 but only to the people of Israel—God’s lost sheep. 7 Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!
Matthew 9:35-10:8
Dear God, I never put this together before, but this story of healing a bunch of people and then sending the disciples out comes right on the heels of Matthew 9:30, when Jesus tells the two blind men he healed not to tell anyone. What changed between 9:30 and 9:35? I don’t know that I can come up with an answer for that question, but it’s an interesting one to consider.
And then he empowers the disciples to go out and do the same thing. Go heal. Go preach. Go and make yourself conspicuous for me. This is not a quiet display of power he’s wanting to have them exhibit. He wants them to put themselves out there–even to the point where they will be arrested an beaten (Matthew 10:17). Jesus’s time here and his strategy for using his three “ministry years” to accomplish the things he accomplished is sometimes confounding to me. But like most things about you that confound me (e.g., why you built our scriptures the way you did, why you had to use Jesus life as a sacrifice of us like you did, etc.), I really can’t think of a better alternative. I have no opinions on what I think you should have done.
I guess the other interesting thing about this story is that you wanted to focus on the Israelites first. No Samaritans for this trip. No Gentiles. You wanted to reveal the Kingdom’s nearness to your people first. The Samaritans and Gentiles would come later. I guess that’s the way the plan needed to go as well, and it was the best way to do it in the long run.
Father, I have a job to do today. I’ve been given a fascinating task, and, frankly, it feels above me and over my head. I feel overwhelmed by it. Help me to lean into you today. Help me to hear your voice in the midst of the noise. If there is something you want to do in the world through me today, let it be so. Let it be so, oh, my Father. Oh, my Jesus. Oh, my Holy Spirit. Use me today.
27 After Jesus left the girl’s home, two blind men followed along behind him, shouting, “Son of David, have mercy on us!”
28 They went right into the house where he was staying, and Jesus asked them, “Do you believe I can make you see?”
“Yes, Lord,” they told him, “we do.”
29 Then he touched their eyes and said, “Because of your faith, it will happen.” 30 Then their eyes were opened, and they could see! Jesus sternly warned them, “Don’t tell anyone about this.” 31 But instead, they went out and spread his fame all over the region.
Matthew 9:27-31
Dear God, I normally read the story of Jairus’s daughter out of Mark 5 and not Matthew 9. Mark kind of skips over this story of the two blind men after Jesus raises Jairus’s daughter from the dead, but Matthew gives it to us. So this is part of a string of pretty incredible healings. In Matthew 9, he healed a paralyzed man, the woman who was “bleeding,” Jairus’s daughter, these two blind men, and then after this he casts out a demon. Yes, the fame of Jesus was growing a lot.
Here’s the part that always hard for me: “Do you believe?” Do I believe? I have so much love for you and yet so little faith. If I had more faith, well, I don’t know what my life would be like or how it would change me. Would I be more focused on intercessory prayer if I had more faith? I kind of believe in amazing healings–I’ve seen them–but if I really believed, would I pray that much more? My prayers tend to be more about changing my heart and the hearts of others than they are about praying over physical maladies. I even pray more for provision for needs than I pray for healings.
I have a friend who I talk to every Friday morning, and this morning we were talking about health insurance, healthcare, and faith in healing. He doesn’t have health insurance and is of the mind that if sickness comes then sickness comes. That’s a little too fringe for me. But I get it. I think it’s also easy to say about yourself, but when it comes to your wife or children, is that really the level of faith I’m prepared to live at? Luke was a doctor (although I have no idea what made someone a doctor as opposed to anyone else 2,000 years ago). How did he feel about it? I do know in the story of the woman bleeding, he took a more sympathetic tone towards doctors of the time.
Father, the only thing I really know to pray in this moment is for you to increase my faith, but I am terrified at the thought of what kind of trial would come my way that would grow my faith. But I will pray this. Give me whatever you need me to have so that I will continue to grow into the man you want me to be. Be glorified. Be worshipped. Be loved. Help me to be your ambassador in every situation I find myself in today. Help me to decrease so that you might increase in my life.
21 “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’
24 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. 25 Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. 26 But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. 27 When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”
Matthew 7:21-27
Dear God, I was just talking to my wife about how overwhelmed I am right now. Part of it is seasonal with work, but there are about three or four layers that are put on top of the seasonal things that are making me feel under pressure. Even saying these words to you feels a little foolish and helps me to start to put things into perspective a little. To start, my problems are first-world problems. No one is persecuting me. I have food and shelter. I have much more than just food and shelter. I have a good woman as my wife. No, in the grand scheme of things, I’m doing just fine. It’s in the minutia that I’m feeling the pressure, I suppose.
My wife talked about me turning each thing over to you, which is how I got here from this passage from the end of the Sermon on the Mount today. It’s interesting that Jesus ended the sermon this way. Basically saying, “I just gave you a lot of stuff. If you do it, you’ll be good to go. But if you try to do all the stuff you grew up hearing you should do to show you’re tight with me (casting out demons, prophesying, etc.) and ignore what I just said about holding yourself to a higher ethical standard and loving God and your neighbors then, well, we won’t know each other.”
Father, I want to know you. I want to know you through holding myself to the spirit of the law that goes beyond the letter of the law (“You have heard it said…, but I say…”). I want to lead with love. I want to lead with compassion for others. That might include hard words for people that they don’t want to hear but are for their own good. And maybe you have hard words for me that I don’t want to hear but are for my own good. Whatever it is today, Father, one step at a time, help me to be exactly who you need me to be for your glory’s sake. Help me to decrease as you increase. I don’t care if anyone sees me. I only want them to see you.
29 Jesus returned to the Sea of Galilee and climbed a hill and sat down. 30 A vast crowd brought to him people who were lame, blind, crippled, those who couldn’t speak, and many others. They laid them before Jesus, and he healed them all. 31 The crowd was amazed! Those who hadn’t been able to speak were talking, the crippled were made well, the lame were walking, and the blind could see again! And they praised the God of Israel.
32 Then Jesus called his disciples and told them, “I feel sorry for these people. They have been here with me for three days, and they have nothing left to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, or they will faint along the way.”
33 The disciples replied, “Where would we get enough food here in the wilderness for such a huge crowd?”
34 Jesus asked, “How much bread do you have?”
They replied, “Seven loaves, and a few small fish.”
35 So Jesus told all the people to sit down on the ground. 36 Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, thanked God for them, and broke them into pieces. He gave them to the disciples, who distributed the food to the crowd.
37 They all ate as much as they wanted. Afterward, the disciples picked up seven large baskets of leftover food.
Matthew 15:29-37
Dear God, I just want to sit with lack of faith this morning. Sit with the idea that I don’t bring my cares to you enough. Sit with just how far I have to do in my walk with you.
I was listening to N.T. Wright talk about Ephesians yesterday with Russell Moore, and he was talking about “the armor of God” (your armor) and how it occurred to him recently that the armor Paul calls us to put on is armor that you reference to yourself in different parts of the Old Testament. It is truly your armor that we are to wear. Do I really put that on.
I woke up a few times last night and also this morning with a gnawing in my gut. There’s something in my life that is causing me angst. So what am I doing with that angst? Am I running from it and trying to distract myself from it? Am I trying to figure it out on my own and force my will upon it? Or am I bringing it to you and asking you to guide me and the others involved? Am I putting on my armor? Am I bringing you my fish and loaves, admitting it’s not enough, and asking you for a miracle–or at least a blessing?
Father, I do want to bring my little bit to you, sacrifice it before you, and then have you do something amazing with it. Be glorified in all of this. Be powerful. Be amazing. And don’t do it for me. Do it for your kingdom. Do it for everyone involved. Do it for their personal lives. Do it for your life to shine through them. Do it so that we might all be a reflection of you and your power might come into the earth.
5 When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer came and pleaded with him, 6 “Lord, my young servant lies in bed, paralyzed and in terrible pain.”
7 Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.”
8 But the officer said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. 9 I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.”
10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who were following him, he said, “I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel! 11 And I tell you this, that many Gentiles will come from all over the world—from east and west—and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of Heaven. 12 But many Israelites—those for whom the Kingdom was prepared—will be thrown into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
13 Then Jesus said to the Roman officer, “Go back home. Because you believed, it has happened.” And the young servant was healed that same hour.
Matthew 8:5-13
Dear God, there are obviously all kinds of things to like about this story. First, a centurion who recognizes Jesus as a man of authority and power. Not presumptuous, but honoring of Jesus. It’s lovely to see.
Next, Jesus being impressed with his faith. Oh, that you will be that impressed with my faith! Better said, oh, that I might have a faith you would be impressed with!
Finally, the thing that really caught my eye this morning was the idea of this centurion being a model for Gentiles coming into the Kingdom. People like me. People with no birthright. No preferential treatment beyond just receiving your love.
Father, help me to be a man of faith. Help me to be a Gentile who leads other Gentiles to you. Help me to be exactly who you need me to be today. I have friends who are sick. I have things that need to be accomplished. I have people around me who need love. Help me to be exactly who you need me to be in all of this.
27 Then Jesus was approached by some Sadducees—religious leaders who say there is no resurrection from the dead. 28 They posed this question: “Teacher, Moses gave us a law that if a man dies, leaving a wife but no children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who will carry on the brother’s name. 29 Well, suppose there were seven brothers. The oldest one married and then died without children. 30 So the second brother married the widow, but he also died. 31 Then the third brother married her. This continued with all seven of them, who died without children. 32 Finally, the woman also died. 33 So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all seven were married to her!”
34 Jesus replied, “Marriage is for people here on earth. 35 But in the age to come, those worthy of being raised from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage. 36 And they will never die again. In this respect they will be like angels. They are children of God and children of the resurrection.
37 “But now, as to whether the dead will be raised—even Moses proved this when he wrote about the burning bush. Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, he referred to the Lord as ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ 38 So he is the God of the living, not the dead, for they are all alive to him.”
39 “Well said, Teacher!” remarked some of the teachers of religious law who were standing there. 40 And then no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Luke 20:27-40
Dear God, a couple of things stood out to me in this passage.
What an interesting custom/law they had for being responsible to marry your brothers widow if she had not sons. I mean, that what ultimately happened with Ruth and Boaz after her husband’s death, and that turned out to give us David and then Jesus, so it was a valuable custom. But it’s still interesting. At present, I have one son and it looks like he is not going to have children and carry on my name through having children. My last name will stop with my dad and me on my branch. I guess that makes me kind of sad, but is it important? I don’t know. I think one of the important aspects back then was that women had so few options in supporting themselves and owning property. They needed a male husband or son to have agency. It seems messed up, and as I’ve said before, I heard someone describe some of the weird-looking decisions you made in the Old Testament as you constantly having to triage and accommodate bad decisions from you people. After the garden, it was all just making the best of a bad situation. That’s what this sounds like to me.
Right here, Jesus gives us one of the clearest pictures of the afterlife and what happens after death. Are all souls immortal? Is it possible for a soul to die? I’m no theologian, and I know this is a very debatable point. In fact, I heard a Christian who is older than me, wiser than me, and much more spiritually mature and knowledgeable than me say on a podcast this week that “all souls are immortal.” I think she’s wrong about that, but I don’t know. Is there a sorting one day? Yes, Jesus is very clear about that. Will there be pain and suffering by some? Yes, Jesus is clear on that. Will that suffering be for eternity? That is much less clear. Who will make the cut on heaven vs. hell? That’s pretty unclear too. In fact, Jesus went out of his way to say a lot of people will be surprised where the cut line is (Matthew 25:31-46) But in this case, Jesus makes it seem as if there will be some worthy of being raised from the dead and some who won’t be. He also says the post-death lives of the worthy will be unlike anything we experience here. 35 But in the age to come, those worthy of being raised from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage. 36 And they will never die again.
The entirety of verse 36 is interesting: 36 And they will never die again. In this respect they will be like angels. They are children of God and children of the resurrection. I’ve talked with my wife about the ideas of calling angels “Saints.” For example, “St. Michael the Archangel.” The designation of calling an angel a “Saint” seems like a demotion to me. Jesus says that John the Baptist was as great a human as there has been, but he will be less than the least in heaven (Matthew 11:11). So let’s leave angels in their proper places as much greater than us and much greater than “Saints.” And that will always be, into eternity. We will not be great in heaven. I will never be great in heaven. And that’s okay because none of it is about me.
It’s a little vague who complimented Jesus at the end. Was it some of the Sadducees who were impressed with the answer or Pharisees who appreciated Jesus putting the Sadducees in their place? Not sure, but I think we are all good with Jesus when he supports our biases and frustrated when he doesn’t. If it’s the Sadducees complimenting him then I’m at least impressed with their ability to appreciate a good argument. If it’s the Pharisees then they are just behaving like I would expect them to behave.
Father, I think my big take-away from this passage is that I am so small. I am just so small. And I always will be. And that’s okay. I don’t need to be big or great on this side of heaven or the next. My life is worth nothing to me. If only I may finish the race and complete the task you have given me: The task of sharing your gospel. Let it be so.
I pray this in the name of Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
43 “A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. 44 A tree is identified by its fruit. Figs are never gathered from thornbushes, and grapes are not picked from bramble bushes. 45 A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.
46 “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say? 47 I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. 48 It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built. 49 But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house right on the ground, without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.”
Luke 6:43-49
Dear God, I don’t normally follow the gospel readings for the Catholic church day to day so faithfully, but these are from the mini-Sermon on the Mount and I’m loving it. I almost wonder if I shouldn’t read the Sermon on the Mount–the OG in Matthew–every day, as a discipline. Or maybe record it and listen to it in my earbuds as I go to sleep at night. Yeah, maybe. I’ll think about that.
Okay, I just took a moment to go to YouTube and find it. Of course, someone put it up.
I’ll need to bookmark it and try that. In fact, my wife and I were talking this morning about bad dreams and things to help. Maybe this is a way to go.
Now, back to Luke 6. Two things here. First, fruit [of the Spirit] that comes out of us as we live how you taught us. It’s interesting how I can see two people who disagree on a lot of things, but when they are both really pursuing and loving you with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength and loving their neighbor as themselves then they can be very close and loving to each other. The good fruit rises above any disagreements. I fact, I’ll see them influence each other. I think about how my wife and I have influenced each other over the years even though we don’t agree on everything. Our good fruit (what I hope is good fruit from me and I know is good fruit from her) reigns.
Now, for the foundation built through following you. I remember when I had a plumbing issue with my first house over 20 years ago. It had a slab, but a sewer pipe in the slab that was made of cast iron collapsed. They said we had to choices. One was to dig into the slab and repair the line at that point, or we could run a new drainage line through a wall and then go underground with it, tapping into the original sewer line in the yard in front of our house. Someone warned me I didn’t want to mess with the foundation, and I agreed. So we ran a new line. A year or two later when we sold that house, the inspector told the buyer about the problem we solved and indicated that we had chosen the correct path. We didn’t want to tear into the foundation.
A few years later, I was at a relative’s home where they were faced with the same situation, but they chose to cut into the slab and repair the line. There were all sorts of cracks in their walls. The foundation was shifting and unpredictable. The house wasn’t on the verge of falling down, but it had been weakened.
So if Jesus says when the storms come and not if, then how do I make sure I have a foundation ready for the storm? I think it goes back to my prayer from almost exactly a year ago about the “floor.” What is the least I need to be doing to worship you. Here is what I wrote at the time:
The prayer journals. Spending 15-30 minutes a day in a concentrated time of prayer like this has become a have to for me. And it didn’t used to be that way. A year ago I would have said that I need to do it 4-5 times a week. But since Lent I haven’t missed a day because I know I need this time meditating on you, listening to your Holy Spirit, and learning from the bazaar thing you left us called Scripture.
Giving. Ten percent of our gross is a minimum. Not that we are giving away even 20%, but we try to be generous when we see needs arise. Giving 10% is a floor.
Intentional time in conversation with my wife at least once a day is a floor. If we are available around each other at a meal, we each make it a priority to sit with each other, even if one of us isn’t eating at the time.
At least one sermon/Bible teaching a week. I need to hear someone else I trust teaching me the Bible in a way I wouldn’t see on my own (this homily is a perfect example of that).
Communication and contact with at least one of the two male friends I have. It doesn’t even have to be a conversation, but I need to touch their lives in some way–even if it is to text about sports.
Avoiding sexual temptation/lust. This has to be a floor. When you look at the lists of sins Jesus and Paul talk about, it’s always on there. I must do this.
Exercising at least four times a week. I am mentally better when I am taking care of myself physically. I should probably make better eating habits a floor, but I haven’t chosen to do that yet. Perhaps it will be one day.
Doing the things I know bless my wife like fixing things around the house, managing our money and then sharing with her what our status is, doing my laundry, making the bed, etc. Even listening to things I like but I know she doesn’t care for on my headphones instead of subjecting her to it. There’s a whole set of “floor” issues for my relationship with her that are important for her to feel loved.
So then what are some of the things I “get” to do, but aren’t necessarily something I “have” to do every week?
Church. A lot of Christians would probably disagree with me on this one. While I feel like it is important to have a church you belong to and to be involved in that church, I don’t feel like the foundation in my life is cracking if I miss a week.
My extra writing projects. I get joy from writing and thinking about how to bless others, but it’s a “get” to and not a “have” to.
Teaching. Similarly, I enjoy taking what I get from you during my prayer journal time and sharing it with others through preaching or teaching, but those occasions happen infrequently, and, while they help me and teach me, they aren’t the floor.
Engaging healthily through prayer and action in my community. This is close to a “have” to because it is part of me loving others as I love myself, but it’s not something that is foundational. Well, maybe it is. It actually might belong in the “have” to list.
Listening to Christian music. I mix it in during the week, but I also listen to secular as well.
Listening to Christian podcasts. Similar to music, I mix it in, but it’s a “get” to.
Father, help me to be mindful of the work I need to do to build the best foundation I can, and help that lead to your best fruit in me. Let that fruit bless others around me, starting with my wife. Love her well through me. Give her what she needs through me. Be glorified in my life regardless of what it costs me. I consider my life worth nothing to me, Father. It’s all yours. Use me as you will.
Emails to God 