Self-Care Is Not the Antidote

Self-care is a buzzword that tends to make its way across my screen more than a couple of times a week. It is a popular concept that encourages one to self-reflection, self-appreciation, and self-satisfaction. It focuses on physical and mental wellness with the end game to become the best, truest version of yourself. This equilibrium comes from recognizing your needs and taking the necessary steps to make sure they are fulfilled. 

The problem with self-care is that it is a band-aid created by our culture that leaves us empty when mantras, extra sleep, and self-awareness do nothing to slay the darkness that haunts the caverns of our souls. It offers distractions but not solutions. No amount of chasing our dreams, being true to oneself, days focused on relaxation, or sleep is going to fix us.

As the phrase would dictate, self-care draws our focus back to self. What do I want? What do I need? It puts the crown firmly on our own heads declaring our needs vitally more important than anyone elses. It is the antithesis to the biblical call for selflessness and humility. That we might become less so that CHRIST might become more (John 3:30). That He might become more in us, because Christ in us is marked by mercy, love, grace, humility and a servant to all. Not "how can I be served?", but rather "how might I serve others?". Christ calls for the death of self and the embracing of humility before all people. Self-care calls for our satisfaction and enjoyment above all else - it asks us to love ourselves enough to do what's best for our hearts and minds. And a big part of this 'love' comes from self-acceptance and recognizing our worth. But the truth is, we are not enough and we will never be enough. Christ is enough and it is at the end of ourselves that we find Him to be enough. When we preach to ourselves the value of our own worth we will always be left empty and wanting. Satisfaction found within ourselves is unattainable. We were not made for it. God intended for self-reliance to die the moment our eyes blinked open to what was done for us on the cross, thus creating a beautiful dependence on Him.

 We don’t need to convince ourselves of our goodness or worth by following "10 Steps to Your Best Self" because we have been lavished with love by the God of the universe who looked at us in all of our filth and sin and self-destructive ways and while we were still sinners He died for us (Romans 5:8).  There is no expectation that we come to him sinless or shameless or perfect or pretty or happy or put together - we simply must rest in the grace of what has already been done for us. 

We will never find the acceptance we crave buried somewhere deep within just waiting to be found by the futile efforts of loving ourselves enough. What we need is the life-breathing hope found in the God who knit us together in our mother's womb, who knows the number of hairs on our head, and who loves us unconditionally despite our sin-prone selves. It is through the prodigal love of the Father that we are truly empowered. Not by habits, self-love, or mantras. Self-care ushers us to muster up from within ourselves inner strength, worth, and satisfaction. It makes us responsible for our own happiness. It sets the focus on "me" and it sets us up for failure in that we are forced to rely on ourselves. But true joy comes not from self-acceptance but from the intense sense of the mercy we receive when we enter into fellowship with God. We have an answer for fear, anxiety, loneliness, and lack of self-worth - it is found at the foot of the cross. It is found in the Gospel. 

One of my favorite verses that has been resonating with me as a source of encouragement this past 6 months is Acts 3:19, and it says "Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord...". When we recognize our depravity and need of a Savior the response is the blotting out of our sins through the death of Christ and the beginning of the renewing, reviving, and restoring of our spirit.

The weight of our sin wiped clean that we might be made whole through the Gospel, waiting expectantly for the day of full restoration when we will be in the presence of God forever. The hope of the glory to come sustaining us in the meantime. What I am saying is that while sleep, a good cup of coffee, dream chasing, and other forms of self-care are not always negative in and of themselves, they become negative when they make themselves false gods in which we look to for revival. But they will not revive and renew us into eternity. Nothing apart from Christ will make us whole. Nothing apart from Christ is worth looking to for renewal or hope or self-discovery. 

What we must do is treasure Christ and treasure the Gospel, because He is worthy of our full affection. And He is the only one capable of filling all of the empty and dry places that leave us needing and wanting more. Don't look for worth in places it cannot be found. Don't look to be refreshed by temporal, fickle things. Recognize the things we get to enjoy here on earth as secondary gifts to the first and truest gift: Jesus.

"Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand." Psalm 16:5-9

Love So Much It Hurts

It is the quietest it has been in days, eerily so. We have gone from a house of five to a house of three and soon we will be back to two.

For two weeks our little home has been holding all that it can between its walls, the spaces filled with emotion, laughter, tears, and big suitcases as we have prepared to send off my brother-in-law and sister-in-law to Haiti. Thousands of miles and 8 months will separate us. Our best friends no longer near but instead very, very far. It has been a time of rejoicing with them, but as each moment of joy subsides, a pit forms in my stomach that gnaws like a pang of hunger when you have gone all day without eating and you're body screams, "something isn't right!". Selfishly I want them here. I want them here at my house. I want them here, drinking coffee with us at our favorite shop on Fridays. I want them here at Christmas and Thanksgiving as we eat too much dessert and open gifts that we each are so excited to give. I want them here. But beyond my wants is a calling that surpasses the earthly and chases after the eternal . And they are answering that calling obediently. So through the pangs I will continue to rejoice. I will rejoice because I have loved them enough to feel their absence. My iron has been sharpened by their own, and I will rejoice in who we have been and always will be for each other.

Love is instituted by Christ. Apart from him it doesn't exist - not truly. The Gospel love isn't the kind that requires something in return or that is feeble or fickle or easily swayed. Real Love says love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:31), Real Love manifests itself as humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another in all things (Colossians 3:12-14). Real Love gave everything, death on a cross, and as we are called to Christ-likeness, we to should love in a way that gives everything. 

The body of Christ serves as a tool of exhortation, a pendulum that swings back and forth pushing us to deeper sanctification with each measure. But for us to experience the body functioning in this way, we have to be apart of it. We have to be willing to dig in, to have our feelings hurt, to have our sins called out, and to love one another deeply, unabashedly, and without fear. Fear keeps us from giving too much, from letting others in, from being truly known. It helps us to create walls and settle for shallow when true beauty rests in the depths. But we know perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18), and perfect love is demonstrated by the Son. Fear doesn't get to separate, leaving us to trudge alone. He is the binding agent, first bringing us to Himself and then to each other. 

Jesus is the heartbeat of God-exalting friendships. He is what creates the joy within them so that we may know the worth of Christ more fully because He is the common denominator and treasure between us. He is what makes them good! He is what binds us, what brings us together, and who teaches us how to love fully and freely. This is where we experience the covenant of the body. 

Loving well in our friendships leaves us vulnerable but it also leaves us rich and rarely unchanged. When we love with every fiber of our being, as Jesus calls us to, it humbles us, tests us, strengthens us, and allows us to feel so very deeply. But more than anything, it helps us treasure the faithfulness of God as He is working all things out for our good and His glory. We don't love halfheartedly, keeping ourselves safe because we have protected the parts of us that are most sacred. True friendship gives all and loves recklessly, holding nothing back. And when a part of that community leaves or moves on or something shifts to make room for change, we will hurt. And cry. And feel the gap left in their absence. All because we have loved enough to really feel. 

So today, through my tears, I will praise God for the gift of knowing and being known. For friendships that transcend something as passing as common interests to be rooted firmly in Christ. I am thankful that I am left marked by those friends & family who have loved me for all that I am and also all that I am not. 

Marriage Isn't Hard

I sat across from a friend over bagels and coffee. We caught up, laughed, and enjoyed the gluten-free goodness of the warm bagels in front of us, when I asked the question: How's married life? I listened to her rattle off the Church's marriage mantra: "It's hard but so good." I smiled, shook my head knowingly, not surprised or unfamiliar with that phrase - or really expecting her to say anything different. But in the middle of my shaking and nodding, the words I had heard from friends over and over again, actually digested. And I found myself asking why this was the answer I expected? Why is that the phrase we push to the dating, engaged, and newlyweds of our church communities?

Because to be completely honest, marriage isn't that hard. 

You might say, oh Kali, you have only been married 10 months so you just wait - your time is coming. First off, people need to stop saying things like that. Secondly, even in 10 months, JT and I have faced difficulty - a pay cut of more than 15K a year, a mortgage, wading through balancing ministry, seminary, and time for one another. We have given more of ourselves, our resources, & our time to people in the last year then ever before. We are tired. We are poor. But I can still look you in the eye and say that marriage is not hard. And I mean that. 

Life is hard and dealing with my own sin is hard.  But waking up next to my best friend every day is not hard. Having someone by my side, knowing the depths of my soul, both good and bad, yet still choosing to push me toward the goodness of God -  that is not hard. 

We hear over and over again that , “Marriage is hard. It reveals the depth of your sin. You'll see how selfish you really are.” And it's true, marriage is paramount in our sanctification - it allows us to become more like Christ, and it is sweet. But I can't imagine "hard" being the picture that God intends to paint as the perfect love between Christ and the Church. Yes, we are faced with difficulties, sins and brokenness but those things exist whether you are married or not.

Singles, don't fear the beautiful union of marriage because the the concept of "denying yourself, and taking up your cross daily" (Luke 9:23) will be tested in its truest form. And if you are married, quit moving blame from your sin to the institute of marriage.

It's as if we believe that all of our sin and selfishness we fought our entire lives to lay at the feet of Jesus, didn't exist until "I Do". Or maybe it reignited with a vengeance after those words spilled from our lips.  But that just isn't how it happens. I am the same prideful, selfish & sinful woman I was before I was married. That did not change. Marriage does not change who you are. The only shift is that there is someone else to witness your sin with a microscope day in and day out. I am fully known and unable to pretend that I am okay. None of my good works cover the darkness of my heart. There is no hiding behind deep theological conversations and lofty thoughts or acts of service and ministry - there is a man who walks through each day with me and he knows my sin to its fullest. I cannot hide. And I must address my sin each day because it not only drags me into the darkness, but also my husband. 

I am also not saying that marriage is perfect, because it isn't. It is the same as singleness - you learn and continue to be sanctified as each day goes by. And as we are being sanctified, we are not only being made more like Christ but we are also being reminded that one day we will be united with Him forever. That's the whole purpose of marriage, to point to the heavenly and perfect union we long for in Christ.  It is one of the ways in which God helps us to drink deeply from the well of immeasurable glory found in unconditional love. A love that He authored and perfected. 

If our reflection of this love is " It's hard", we not only rob ourselves of the joy found in displaying the love of Christ but we honestly downplay the beauty of it. Marriage is a window from which we have the opportunity to shine the glory of God. 

You are not your own, and your marriage is not merely for your joy and satisfaction - it for the glory of the God - and our happiness comes naturally secondary to that.  This satisfaction in God above all earthly things, including your spouse, is the the very rope from which we cling that enables husbands to love like Christ and wives to follow like the bride of Christ. Ephesians 5:22–25 displays the roles of husband and wife, one to lead and the other to submit - and both of those acts of love are not sustainable for God's glory without first having found complete satisfaction in God. So I would imagine marriage would be hard if you placed all of your hope on the unequipped shoulders of your spouse - a weight meant solely for Christ. But when Christ is our satisfaction, we are able to love our spouses without expectation. And a love devoid of expectations, limits, and clauses is a love that stands unconditionally. 

If you take nothing else from this article, understand this: sin is what makes life hard. When we experience hardship within marriage, it is not because of marriage, it is because of sin. Every marital issue can be traced back to sin. Insecurity, jealously, infidelity, selfishness - whatever - it's sin that creates the void. That is why we see a culture full of broken marriages. That is the point - not discounting hardship in whatever form it appears in your life, including marriage, but to encourage us to view sanctification for what it is - a call to put sin to death. That is not isolated to the bounds of marriage. When I fail (and I do all of the time), when I hurt my husband, and when I am anything but the perfect wife, it is because I am a broken woman in a broken world - it is not because marriage is hard, it's because sin is hard. 

This post was influenced by the following resources: This Momentary Marriage,  The Mingling of Souls, Sayable, You & Me Forever. 

The Church Cannot Be Silent

Our world is in a seemingly never ending season of violence. 

Death, fear, and loss are constant invaders of our sense of security. There is hate for so many groups, minorities, and religions. This hate continues to heat and boil, until it overflows into acts of violence. The Orlando shooting is no different. 50 lives were lost, with another 50+ injured. Whenever I think about it, I struggle to breathe, as I process the devastating loss of brothers, sisters, wives, husbands, daughters, sons, and friends. And with this absolute devastation, as terror fights to reign and control and intimidate, we have a call as the Church to respond. To be a voice calling out amongst the mourners. TO BE THE MOURNERS.

"Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn." Romans 12:15

Church, we cannot be silent.  The outcry over this tragedy has been of a quieter nature in comparison to the attacks on Brussels & France. In talking to others, I am not the only one who has perceived a difference in the way Christians have responded to other tragedies, and the way they have responded to this one. Why is there silence? I believe this silence exists because we are uncomfortable or unsure of how to lovingly enagage with a group we spend so much time disagreeing with. This silence only serves to widen the chasm that separates the LGBTQ community and the Church. This chasm should not exist in the first place. 

As I struggle to even comprehend this discomfort or hesitation, I want to shout from the edges of the roof top that all human life is of equal value. To your discomfort & silence, I say we are called to love above all else. To love without conditions or merit or qualifications or judgement - to love when we disagree or when it is hard. Loving like Jesus, means loving without limits.To be uncomfortable is to not understand love itself. 

There is no condemnation in love. How do we grasp this kind of love? Because we have been changed through the life-giving love experienced at Calvary, that while WE were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) We know love because it's the very breath that filled our lungs as we were made alive in Christ - once dead in our trespasses only to be resurrected to a new life. Dead people made alive. Yes, we should know love, because it is the very thing that raised us from the dead. 

We have a responsibility to stand for truth, but that must be tempered with love. Condemnation pushes no one towards grace - but love does. To understand truth, one must first understand the love of God. Be bringers of that love. 

50 lives were cut short and the loudest voice of comfort should be the Church. The most brokenhearted should be the Church. The quickest hand to extend out and exclaim with urgency "how can we help", should be the Church. Love is our narrative, and now is the time to prove the validity of that narrative. 

Church, we cannot be silent.  To the LGBTQ community - you are loved and you are not alone in your sorrow. 

Focused On Forever

How do we enjoy the life we have been given while also remaining focused on the beauty of the eternal joy that is coming? Acknowledging that we are merely sojourners passing through a small stretch on the road that is eternity.

This is a question that I am continuously asking myself. 

It starts with recognizing Christ as fully satisfying and completely enough. 

When Christ is what we treasure, it helps shift the lens through which we view life. For me, it helps me recognize that a stable savings account, new clothes that fit the latest trends, and the things I selfishly would like to fill my time with, mean nothing in the light of eternity. 

I think this section from an article in Desiring God nails it:

"The problem with the church today is not that there are too many people who are passionately in love with heaven.  The problem is not that professing Christians are retreating from the world, spending half their days reading Scripture and the other half singing about their pleasures in God all the while indifferent to the needs of the world. The problem is that professing Christians are spending ten minutes reading Scripture and then half their day making money and the other half enjoying and repairing what they spend it on.

It is not heavenly-mindedness that hinders love. It is worldly-mindedness that hinders love, even when it is disguised by a religious routine on the weekend. {A christian passionately in love with the Creator and promised glory} is not in bondage to TV-watching or eating or sleeping or drinking or partying or fishing or whatever. He is a free man in a foreign land. And his one question is this: How can I maximize my enjoyment of God for all eternity while I am an exile on this earth? And his answer is always the same: by doing the labors of love.

Only one thing satisfies the heart whose treasure is in heaven: doing the works of heaven. And heaven is a world of love! It is not the cords of heaven that bind the hands of love. It is the love of money and leisure and comfort and praise — these are the cords that bind the hands of love. And the power to sever these cords is Christian hope.

In truth, when we have been radically changed by the blood-bought promises of Christ found at the foot of the cross, if we truly understand the saving work that was done there - then we cannot be complacent. It leaves absolutely no room for that! We are shaken. Desperate for Christ. Desperate for all to know him. Christ becomes all. The implication to that is that if he not everything to us then he is nothing. There is no room for lukewarm, lack luster Christianity. Sunday morning attendance, a prayer or 2 a week, and an occasional scripture reading does not point to one who has been turned upside down by grace. Where are you loving? Where are you serving?

We have to evaluate what drives us. What is the single most motivating factor in our lives? If it's not Jesus, then that it a huge problem we must be willing recognize. Even if it is "Jesus and____", there is a massive problem. If Jesus isn't the honest and only answer to that question, then we are fooling ourselves - and that kind of faith is not the saving kind. God requires all of our heart, all of our soul, and all of our mind (Matthew 22:37). Again, Christ is all or nothing. 

Our identity is in Christ, not in:

• spouse/significant other
• family
• friendships
• material things
• creativity
• our jobs
• how good your social media looks
• money/stability

These are all things that will not enter into eternity with you. 

"But godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.  But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

...for those in the present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,  thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life."

This passage is full of hope - that Christ is enough.  The temporary things of the earth that give us pleasure are nothing in light of living in full unity with God in the heavenly places. This passage also gives us tangible actions; to set our hope on God, to purse good works and labors of love that are tempered with faith, godliness, gentleness, righteousness, and endurance. These are the true treasures of eternity. 

You sweep men away; they are like a dream, like grass which is renewed in the morning: in the morning it flourishes and withers. So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:5, 6, 12)

Understanding the mere moment in time that encompasses our life here on earth helps us set the stage for the continual treasuring of Christ. Because that is all that our time is: a moment. A splash in the ocean of eternity. Recognizing that our days are numbered and fleeting requires humility and submission to the sovereignty of God. It is sobering. It help us to embrace the catalyst of purpose that God gave us upon entering in a relationship with him, to love him and to love people. (1 John 4)

So where does this leave us? How do we balance time on earth in the light of eternity?

We treasure Christ. We seat him in the right place in our lives, as Lord of all. We live in submission to God being enough - we understand that nothing in the world will satisfy the places in our souls that only God can. 

To quote my husband's sermon from last night, "If we set the foundation of our relationship with God, everything else will flow from it."

If you find yourself setting hope in earthly things, seek time with God. Pray, find rest and truth in his word, be intentional about being in his presence. The only way we separate ourselves from hope in a temporary world, is by understanding who God is and what that means for us. We have to continually say "God is enough" and the only way that can be true for us, is if we have a real, deep relationship with him. When that happens, everything naturally fades in comparison. We might not flow perfectly into eternal focus, but we at least intentionally fight for that view and are continually being convicted by the Spirit of the God who lives within us. 

Praying with Faith

John Calvin called prayer the “chief exercise of faith.”

And I would go as far as to say that prayer is a direct response to grace. Meaning that no Christ follower should be without a prayer life - that would be a paradox. 

If we love Jesus and have been brought into the saving and transforming knowledge of the cross, then we are spiritually alive. We have been born again through faith in God and indwelled by the Holy Spirit which gives us an eternal, God-focused vision that previously didn't exist.

In other words, all those who have a true relationship with Christ have a desire to commune and spend timewith Him through prayer. We desire and long for this because through it we experience true intimacy with the Lord. We deeply need this. We wither without it. So when prayer is something we struggle with and there is no prevailing sin in our lives, the problem can be traced back to our faith and to our method.

 Prayer should be our delight not our duty. Prayer should be a foundation of our walk with Jesus. Prayer should be our heart's desire. 

Through out my walk with God I have spent many hours praying over direction, asking for answers, interceding for people and praying for certain outcomes.

And many times I have felt as if I heard nothing but silence. I wait, I pray harder, and I say the same things over and over again only to be met with the continued sound of nothingness. In these moments, I would turn back to the Sunday school mantra's that often stick with us forever. Repeating to myself,  "Ask and you will receive" like a broken record that can't get past a lyric. And then I would think, why am I not receiving?!

This cultivated a level of frustration in my prayer life. Were my prayers unheard, not good enough, asking too much?

I left it at that, and didn't dive deeper into the, "why" - I still prayed but I didn't expect much in return.

 Earlier this year I was examining my expectancy, or lack thereof, for God to move when I stumbled upon this verse:

"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." James 1:5-8

A thought began to creep its way through my mind. 

My doubt, my lack of expectancy, my faithlessness -  void my requests. Why would God in all of His infinite glory and omniscience, who demands our worship and our faith in Him, move when I am asking aloud but doubting in my head and heart. 

There was a disconnect.

God's requirement for us is simple: submit to Him in obedience and faith, love Him, worship Him, and recognize our great need for Him -and after all of that, be transformed by this knowledge. (Luke 4:8, Matthew 22:37, John 14:1). All of these things should create a desperation in us to sit at his feet. 

I started to really meditate on James 1:5-8, and I realized that while my faith in God, his goodness, his power, and his glory was concrete, that my faith through prayer in His ability and WILLINGNESS to move was almost nonexistent.

Major heart check. What is faith if it doesn't overtake every area of our heart, mind, and life? 

My conviction is this: That when we love God and when we understand the breadth of His glory and power, it should give us a hope that covers everything, including our prayer life. A hope that he can and will move.

And if we feel that all we are hearing is silence and if we see a lack of passion in our prayers, then we must evaluate the state of our hearts and the method and content of our prayers. 

It really boils down to 5 things:

1) Ask, EXPECTING God to move. (1 John 5:14)

2) Having a heart of a belief. And if we find ourselves in doubt and lack of faith, our prayer must simply and sincerely become, "God, give me faith." (Mark 11:24) 

3) Seek His will and not our own. (Psalm 19:14, Romans 8:26)

4) Pray often with passion and urgency (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

5) Pray without distraction. (Matthew 6:6) 

Prayer is not a small thing. It is important and powerful. We were created in the image of God, and the purpose of man created in the image of God is to display the glory of God. And one way this glory is clearly displayed and preached is through our utter dependency on Him through prayer.

A Grateful Heart

"Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come in his presence singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us and we are his sheep, we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture." Psalm 100:1-3

One trend that remains constant throughout the Psalms, is David's spirit of gratitude. It is the driving force behind his worship and adoration of God. He gets it. He gets that our worship is an every moment kind of thing, he gets that it is meant to consume us every.single.second. When we allow ourselves to truly revel in what God has done for us on the cross, it should transform us. It should shake us to our core. And it should drive us to our knees with arms wide open and praises drifting from our lips. 

When we get it, this gratitude doesn't allow for stagnancy in our walk with Jesus. We should never outgrow the rush of thankfulness and awe that overcame our hearts the first time we understood the cleansing power of the cross over all of our sin. Every mistake, unkind word, harsh judgement, moral failure - whatever our baggage was, we knew we were utterly undeserving of that mercy. Yet there it was. A mercy that came at the expense of the life of another: Christ. 

We must understand - we DO NOT deserve this. In Romans, Paul points out that "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us".  We never reached this point of making our selves good enough for Christ. His sacrificial death came to us in all of our selfish sinfulness. We were not good, we were not ready, we were not seeking, and yet he saved us. It is so easy to become callous to the cross, to the fact that a man died so that we might live. We forget or sugar coat the darkness of our human nature, and out innate need for something more. Guys, we need Jesus. We need him, desperately, every moment. 

Because of that sin nature we must choose to die of everyday, there is an intentionality needed to truly savor the preciousness of Christ. We must seek to have our hearts overcome with gratefulness and to live in constant awe of the God who created and loves us. 

What would change in our lives if we lived with the acknowledgement that we deserve nothing but have everything? I think it would re-shape the way we view and treat people. I think it would give us a more eternal perceptive.

I think we would make a joyful noise to the Lord. I think we would serve with gladness. I think we would trust more in who he is and what he has done. 

I think it would change everything.