Saturday - Week 4

Reread the story of Martha and Mary:

"As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, 'Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!'

'Martha, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.'"

Luke 10:38-42

Meditate on these words from Jesus: "Mary has chosen what is better."

There is a better choice we can make every single day when we choose to make our relationship with God more important than anything. 

Friday - Week 4

The god of power often manifests in personal achievement—records we chase and accolades we receive. And the  gods of power give us convenient ways to keep score: titles after our name, increase in wages, the square footage of a new home, or some sort of public recognition. This recognition seemed to be the motive behind the rich young ruler coming to Jesus as described in Luke 18. He wanted commendation for how well he had lived. After all, he was a man who had accomplished, achieved, and accumulated. He was the very definition of worldly success. There  is nothing wrong with his success, unless those achievements were the things he was living for.

The god of achievement distracts us from following Jesus by reminding us with all the things that need to be done. How often do we live with good intentions of spending time with Jesus and turning our heart toward him only to find at the end of the day that's the one thing on our checklist that we never got around to?

How has your life up to now been defined by achievement?

Why do you work as hard as you do?

When do you feel the most guilty or self-critical?

Do you hate feeling unproductive?

The best way to counter the drive to achieve is simply to…"Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). Stilling our bodies and focusing not on what we are doing or need to do but on what God has done and is doing in our lives quiets that voice within us that pushes us on. The check list will wait. The accolades aren't the most important thing. Involving ourselves in the things of God is:

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

2 Corinthians 4:18

Thursday - Week 4

How often do you compare what you have and how much you make to others?

Do you develop resentment when you feel you're worth more than you are paid?

How much anxiety do finances add to your life?

What is your attitude toward giving?

These sorts of questions reveal whether the god of power in the form of money has infiltrated the throne room of our hearts. The Bible talks regularly about money because throughout time, money equals power. Money means control. It means we can dictate how our lives are lived and the quality of them. Too often the pursuit of happiness often means the pursuit of money. Yet we fail to acknowledge one important fact:  "The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it" (Psalm 24:1). When we approach money from the perspective that it belongs to us, it turns into something that it is not. They key to keeping money in its right place is to remember that it all belongs to God. Whatever we have is on loan from God.

And when we begin worrying about the things of this world, becoming obsessed with money and the security it brings, then it has become a god for us. Look around and you will see this to be true for a lot of people: Capitalism is religion. Banks are churches. Bankers are priests. Wealth is heaven. Poverty is hell. Rich people are saints. Poor people are sinners. Commodities are blessings. Money is God. The biblical authors consistently portray money as God's chief competition. Jesus' solution is simple:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:19-21).

Close your time with this prayer:

"Two things I ask of you, O Lord; do not refuse me before I die:

Keep falsehood and lies far from me;

give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.

Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say,

'Who is the Lord?'

Or I may become poor and steal,

and so dishonor the name of my God." Proverbs 30:8-9

Wednesday - Week 4

What is your definition of success?

How do you know when you have attained it?

The world defines success as being self-sufficient and self-reliant—acting as if you have it all figured out. But Jesus challenges this notion. Read over the beatitudes found in Matthew 5:3-12.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

What characteristics epitomize the ones who are blessed and happy (we might say successful) in God's kingdom?

In God's economy, success only comes when we declare spiritual bankruptcy. Biblical success is hearing God say to you one day, "Well done, good and faithful servant." God measures success by faithfulness and our obedience to Scripture. How do you think God would measure your success?

Tuesday - Week 4

The god of power invites you to save yourself instead of depending upon Jesus to do it. This is one of the reasons that the most successful of people often have the hardest of times becoming followers of Christ. Being a devoted disciple means they must acknowledge their own helplessness and their ultimate need—the need for rescue. It is not easy for a successful person to admit the need for help.

This world puts the emphasis on being self-sufficient and self-reliant, acting as if we've got it all figured out. But Jesus redefines power as one who humbly says to God, "I can't do this on my own. I need your help." From the world's perspective, that's the opposite of what powerful people do. Jesus takes power and turns it upside down. We think that power is about being the king of the hill. Jesus points to the downtrodden, humble, and pure-hearted who refuse to play the world's game as the powerful ones.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10: "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Boasting in our weaknesses seems so foreign to us. For some people, the idea of standing before God without an impressive resume is unthinkable. We want to show him our success and prove our worth. But to God, success is precisely the opposite of that. It's being willing to step away from all the stuff, all the achievements, and say, "None of that means a thing to me, Lord. I lay it all before you; you and only you are my success." The gods of power want us to believe that our significance comes from what we make of ourselves. But we find our true identity in Christ. He has marked us as his own, and that's what makes us valuable. That's where our value is found. He forever determined our value when he died on the cross for us. 

Monday - Week 4

Monday

The god of power has no problem finding followers. He is attractive, compelling, and charismatic. He walks into your everyday, rat-race world and shows you what life could be like at the top of the heap. And what he is selling is hard to ignore. It's a line as old as the Garden of Eden—you can be like God. He offers us the applause and envy that makes life sweet. He plays on the most basic problem of humanity—pride. Pride is the pull of doing it our way. It is the same attitude that Obadiah warned the Edomites about:

"The pride of your heart has deceived you,

you who live in the clefts of the rocks

and make your home on the heights,

you who say to yourself, 'Who can bring me down to the ground?'" (Obadiah 3)

But in our culture, pride is often a virtue: "Take pride in your heritage. Take pride in what you have accomplished." And when pride drives you too hard for your own good it could make you arrogant and contemptuous of others. When pride becomes self-importance and smugness the god of power has fooled you into thinking that you are more than you are.

How do you view yourself? Humbly? Better than others?

How often do you compare yourself to others?

What do you think your motivation is behind such actions?

Saturday- Week 3

Never in the history of humanity has there been so much pleasure and so little satisfaction. Over 1500 years ago Augustine had it right: "Our hearts are restless until they find rest in thee."

We were made for God, and until he is our greatest pleasure, all the other pleasures of this life will lead to emptiness.

The more vibrant our inner lives are, the less we need from the outside. The more active we are in worshipping God in Spirit and in truth the less we need to fall back on external pleasures and other input.

Consider this:

"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.'" Acts 17:24-28a

Are you finding your very life and being in God? If not, then perhaps it is time to distance yourself from the things that are taking you away from him.

Spend some time reading over Psalm 37. Write down the strong verb words (Trust, Delight, Commit, etc.). How well are you accomplishing these things?