365. He Does All Things Well

Mark 7:37

Right now, it probably seems as though a lot of your life is not going the way you want it to. I know that’s how I feel. If I had a magic wand, there are dozens of things I would change about where I am and what’s going on. My guess is, you’d like to borrow the wand when I get finished with it. The funny thing is, you probably don’t feel that way about some of the things in your past anymore. I’ve found that the longer people walk with Jesus, the more they start to embrace their past as being part of a story God is writing or a tapestry He’s weaving together to bring them here from there. It doesn’t even matter all that much how bad some of those things from the past were. As people grow in the Lord, they look back over disappointments, confusions and even tragedies to find evidence of God at work. This is part of the paradox of having faith in Christ. When we’re in the midst of troubles, we find ourselves struggling for answers and doubting the love of God. When we make it out of those same troubles, we look back and see the Lord’s hand, tenderly making a way for us. My hope for my own life is that over time, the gap between straining and praising will diminish. I know that in the end, when my race is run and I’m with Jesus, I’ll look Him full in the face and say, “You did everything well.” May He give us the faith to say those words today and may He give us the grace to know that when we can’t say them, He still loves us.

364. He Doesn’t Want What To Use What We Want To Be

1 Corinthians 1:28

When people try to help you feel better about your insecurities, what do they usually do? Do they try to pump you up and tell you how awesome, talented, beautiful and smart you are? Do they cite all the amazing things about you that make you better than other people? Of course they do. That’s how friends are supposed to respond when you feel terrible about yourself. Here’s the thing though; those compliments never really convince you, do they? When your friends try to build you up, it’s never enough, is it? Our insecurities are like bottomless pits. They can’t be filled. When we try to feed insecurities, we just wind up hungrier than when we started. We shouldn’t be feeding our insecurities, we should be starving them. The Apostle Paul does a startling thing at the beginning of his first letter to the Corinthians. He essentially says, “Remember when Jesus called you guys? You weren’t brilliant and beautiful. You weren’t powerful and prestigious. You were ordinary, weak, needy folks.” It turns out that the things we all value aren’t very important to Jesus. In fact, all the things we most want to be only seem to get in Jesus’ way. He doesn’t just want the coolest person in the room, hoping they’ll bring some of their coolness to the Kingdom. He wants to utterly change broken people who need redemption. It’s time to starve our insecurities by embracing humility, accepting who we are and realizing Jesus is crazy about us because He just is and no one can change that. Jesus wants you - with all your flaws, scars, weaknesses, temptations and wrong. He loves you for you and that’s enough. 

363. He Wants To Be Invited

Luke 24:29

Why doesn’t Jesus just split the sky open, call a world-wide, live-streaming press conference and prove Himself to be who He always said He was? Wouldn’t that solve everything? Wouldn’t that settle all the debate about which religion is legit? Wouldn’t it answer all our doubts? If Jesus just showed up and proved Himself to be the uncontested King of the Universe, people would have to decide where they stand, right? If He did that, we would all be forced to make room for Jesus, right? Honestly, I don’t know the answer to all those questions, but I know that for whatever reason, Jesus hasn’t revealed Himself in that way. He wants people to trust in Him without having all the proof. He wants us decide to make room for Him in our lives even though we don’t really have to. He wants us to choose to love Him. After Jesus rose from the dead, He disguised Himself. You would think He would be strutting His stuff in front of all the people who had Him killed, but He didn’t. He met with people in small groups and even hid Himself from them. One couple talked with Him on a road and didn’t even know it was Him. When they reached their village, Jesus acted as if He were going further on down the road, but these two people begged Him to go with them and eat dinner with them. That’s what Jesus wants. He wants people who don’t have to hang out with Him to want to be with Him. He wants to be invited into your life. He wants you to bring Him into your day and into your heart because you love Him.

362. He Thinks Very Highly Of You

Matthew 18:10

My guess is that you don’t like you very much. I bet you look around at other people, their lives, their talents, their accomplishments their bodies and wish you had what they have. I bet you want to be like them because you don’t want to be like you anymore. Oh, I wish I could give you even a momentary glimpse of the way Jesus feels about you. I wish you could peek into His outrageous affection for you - even for the tiniest fraction of a moment. If you got even a sideways glance of how much Jesus esteems you, it would shock you to the core. I know you probably believe Jesus loves you; but for most of us, our belief in His love is kind of like our acknowledgment that the sun is big. As in, we know the sun is big. We’ve seen the diagrams, but if you were able to actually go into space and get close to the sun without getting burned up, you would be totally overwhelmed by the size. The thing is, Jesus doesn’t just love you, He loves you beyond your ability to comprehend it. And that’s not all. He honors you. He thinks very highly of you. He sees you as His very own child and He warns people not to mess with you because there are angels charged with your care who report to God face-to-face. Don’t miss that. There are Heavenly military forces - eternal, invincible warriors of light who exist to serve and care for you. Jesus doesn’t just love you. He has deployed His best troops to guard your very life. To Jesus, you are the most precious thing in the entire universe.

361. He's Trying To Help You, Not Hurt You

Mark 6:49

Why is it that when we need the most help, we will sometimes go anywhere but Jesus? Why is He our last resort? When we’re brokenhearted, we’re looking for a flesh and bone friend to talk to - and if we can’t find a good friend, we’ll settle for just about anyone before we go to the Lord about it. When we’re angry, we’re calling everyone we know and even posting on Facebook about our situation rather than stopping for ten minutes to pray about it. When we find ourselves in the middle of a storm we can’t weather and panic sets in, why don’t we go straight to the Lord? My guess is that we have the same instincts the first disciples had about Jesus. One time, they were in a boat on the lake in the middle of a huge storm in the middle of the night. It was dark, they were scared and they didn’t know what to do. All of a sudden, as the lightning flashed, they saw Someone coming toward them, walking on the water. They went from merely being scared to being completely out of their minds with panic and fear. They thought Jesus was a ghost. They probably thought He was coming to scare them to death. He wasn’t a ghost, though. He was their friend. He wasn’t coming to scare or hurt or kill them. He was coming to help them. If they had stopped long enough to pray, they would have asked for this very thing - for Jesus to come save them. We go to Jesus last because we’re still worried He’s after us, but in everything He does, He’s saving us, helping us and loving us. 

360. He Knows You're Fighting

1 John 4:4

Are you discouraged or filled with doubts? Do you have a sneaking suspicion that God is angry with you and withdrawing Himself from being close to you? Do you ever feel like you’re worthless or that your life just doesn’t mean very much? Okay, time out. You are under attack, right now. In the Scriptures, God’s enemy has a few different names and titles; but to me, the one that strikes home the most is “the adversary.” When it comes down to it, he’s just against you. He’s your opponent. He wants to take you down and take you out. He does this by confusing you, discouraging you and lying to you about who you are and how God feels about you. He’s so good at his job that most people don’t recognize his attacks at all. When we get discouraged or confused, we blame ourselves and then feel guilty for experiencing perfectly understandable emotions. When we hate ourselves and feel despondent about the pointlessness of our own existence compared to others, we call it humility and we think we’re doing the right thing. If there’s one thing that could completely change the temperature of the daily spiritual battles of normal folks, it would be this: the recognition that a battle is being waged in the first place. The Scriptures are clear when it comes to spiritual warfare. All we have to do is show up. Paul says get dressed and stand. Peter says to simply resist. John says the One in us is greater than the one attacking us. Our biggest problem is simply forgetting that we have an adversary. We blame ourselves, but Jesus knows we are under attack and He wants to fight for us.

359. He's Recruiting Pilgrim Hearts

Hebrews 11:14

Do you ever get frustrated with this world and the way it’s going? Do you ever look around at the people getting more stuff, bigger houses, nicer clothes, better vacations and then realize that you don’t really care about any of that stuff? Have you tried out enough of this busted old world to realize that it doesn’t actually have very much to offer your heart? I mean, let’s be honest - this world has a lot to offer your physical senses. There are comforts, pleasures and delicacies by the truckload, but is there really all that much that can satisfy the depths of who you are? Why is it that the people who have the most stuff, the greatest accomplishments and the brightest spotlights are usually incredibly lonely, depressed and even addicted? This world was never supposed to be our home and the sensory pleasures of this world were never supposed to be able to satisfy our hearts. You were made for a better world. You’re not supposed to be comfortable here. You’re supposed to feel like a foreigner. As believers in Jesus, we are supposed to be pilgrims on a journey to a different and better world - our true home. On Jesus’ last night before the cross, He told His friends that He was going away to prepare a place for them and that He would come back and bring them to that place He was preparing. That’s why you’re getting tired of this place. That’s why you’re longing for something more. God’s people have always had a healthy dissatisfaction with temporary pleasure. We are only passing through this world. If you find yourself homesick for a place you’ve never been, you know you’re one of His kids. 

358. He'll Never Be Finished

Luke 24:5

One of the hardest things about being human is the question of your own worth. How can you ever really know whether your life means enough? On top of the difficulty of that question is the fact that death cuts the answer off. When you die, everything’s just over. Death is so final. When you lose someone really close to you, it takes a long time for the fact to sink all the way down into your heart that they really are gone and their life on earth is over. You’ll hear a song they really loved or remember an old inside joke you shared with that person and think of them. You might even start to call them or send them a text message only to remember with a painful stab that you can’t make that call because they won’t pick up. It’s over. They’re gone. Their work is finished, their laugh is silenced and all their stories are told. Surely this is the way the disciples felt on the Saturday after Jesus died on the cross. Waking up Sunday morning would have had that same, dull, numb sadness of grief until the greatest news broke over their weary hearts like a tidal wave of impossible joy. He’s back! He’s not dead! Incredibly, amazingly, Jesus is alive. His story didn’t end and His work isn’t finished. In fact, one of the beautiful things about Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is that He gives us that same indestructible life that beats in His ribs. We are His kids, and we will never really die. Your worth is sealed by the fact of His spilled blood for you and His everlasting life is pulsing in your veins. He’ll never be finished with you.

357. He Died To Bring You Behind The Curtain

Luke 23:45

I bet you sometimes feel really far away from God. Not only that, but I bet you think the distance is God’s way of showing you how unhappy He is with your behavior. In other words, you assume God punishes your sin by withholding Himself from you. The reason I know you sometimes feel this way is that I do too. We all do. Everyone goes through seasons of feeling really far away from God and we all naturally think this is a direct result of our wrong. The thing is, despite the way you feel, if you know Jesus, your sin will never separate you from the love of God ever again. The truth is, we used to be separated from God because of our wrong. We were all born that way, excluded from His fellowship like the Israelites of old who worshiped God knowing that they could never really approach Him. There was a special room in the temple where God’s presence was said to dwell and a giant curtain hung in front of the entrance to that room, keeping them separate from God. Only one person could go behind the curtain and only one day out of the whole year. Even then, this High Priest had to have the blood of a spotless substitute on his head, hands and feet. Jesus came and lived a perfect life and then laid that life down to be your Spotless Substitute. His perfect blood was shed to take you behind the curtain. In fact, before He died, that curtain ripped from top to bottom. You are no longer separated from God’s presence. No matter what you have done, you can be with God right now.

356. His Love For You Is Outrageous

Psalm 139:17

I want you to answer a question in your own head without thinking about it. Just give your gut reaction as soon as you read the question. Ready? Here we go: who is the person you love most in the world? Is it your best friend? Is it your spouse or your child or your Great Aunt Liz or your German Shepherd, Roscoe? Who in your life just sets your heart on fire? Who is that person you are most devoted to and most excited to be with? Who is that person you’re crazy about, in spite of all their faults? Who is that person you would defend at all costs? Okay. Now picture them. Can you see their face in your mind’s eye and hear their voice and their laugh? Focus on that face you love and think about the way you feel about them. I want you to try something. Take your affection and commitment for that person and multiply it a million times. Multiply it a billion times. Imagine that huge love you have radiates with the eternal, explosive power of a trillion burning suns, no matter what that person does or who they become, forever and ever. Now, I want you to imagine what it would feel like to be loved like that. What if Jesus loves you with that kind of intensity and constancy? He says you’re the apple of His eye. He says you enthrall Him. He says you are His chosen, His beloved, His friend. He says He’ll never forget you and never forsake you. What if you believed those words with all of your heart? What if His thoughts about you were the most precious thing in the world to you?

355. He Gives Gifts, Not Wages

Matthew 20:15

Are you at peace and filled with a deep seated joy today, or full of anxiety? When you look at your self and your own heart, are you content, or shuddering and nervous? Do you know, right now, with absolute certainty where you stand with Jesus, or are you tense and worried, unsure about the way He sees you? People come to Jesus in one of two ways and the way you see your relationship with Him is completely dependent upon how you come to Him. People either come to Jesus as an employee ready to collect what they’ve earned or they come to Him as a charity case, ready to receive what He freely gives. Only one approach actually works, and yet most of us try them both from time to time. In Matthew 20, Jesus told a story about a landowner who hired people to work in His vineyard. Offering a certain amount of money, He hired some folks at dawn, some at mid morning, some at lunch, some in early afternoon and He even hired a few right before quitting time. At the end of the work day, He paid everyone the same. The people hired at dawn complained because they thought they should get more. The landowner said, “You got exactly what I offered you. You got exactly what you agreed to. So what if I’m generous to these others? This is my money.” When you approach Jesus like an employee, you’ll always wonder if you worked hard enough and you’ll be discontent with what He gives, but when you realize He just loves you for no reason, you accept everything as charity, which frees you up to just be satisfied, joyful and loved.

354. He Got Us Out Of Trouble

1 Thessalonians 1:10

Do you ever have those moments where you come face-to-face with the awful truth of who you can be and realize that if Jesus didn’t love you, you’d be hosed? And look, I’m not talking about someone making you feel guilty about something from your past. I mean, you have some funky attitude or reaction and you look at it all on your own and admit to yourself without any doubt, “I’m kind of a huge jerk.” The weird thing is, no matter what we try to do, we can’t clean up the spill. We can't rehabilitate the jerkiness away. There’s a darkness deeper than we like to face inside everyone of us. The weird thing is, even though we know this is the truth about ourselves, we forget it an awful lot. It’s very easy to think that the world is divided up into evil people and good people and we’re basically on the good side. Do you ever land with both feet in those moments where you know you’re not on the good side? The truth is, there’s a storm coming. It’s unavoidable and unstoppable and it’s going to change absolutely everything. The uncompromising justice of the Holy God of Heaven is going to sweep down over this world and His patience with wrong will be replaced with devastating power unleashed on every corner of darkness until everything is made right. It’s not just something crazy people write on cardboard signs - the end is actually coming one day. The wrath of God will spill out and we deserve to be leveled in that awful wake, but we won’t be. We have been spared. Jesus saved us because of His love for us.

353. He's Okay With Some Honest Stubbornness

Luke 11:8

I think when it comes to prayer, most of us are a bunch of chickens. My whole life, I’ve heard people pray in such a way where they dance around the thing they really want to say instead of just saying it. I’ve heard people pull punches with God and even apologize for bringing up what they’re asking of Him. Sometimes, when people do get around to asking for the thing they really want God to do for them, they’ll immediately frame it by saying, “but only if it’s Your will, Lord.” In other words, these folks will effectively withdraw their request as soon as they make it by deploying the ‘if-it’s-Your-will’ clause. I have to be real here and admit that I’ve prayed like this as well. We all have. We learned it from other believers. We want to treat God with the respect He deserves and we don’t want to sound like a bunch of demanding, ungrateful punks rattling the gates of Heaven, so we back off from asking for the thing we really want. The thing is, Jesus didn’t teach us to pray this way. Jesus told His guys to pray with honesty, intensity, determination and even a disregard for social propriety. He told a story about a guy going over to his neighbor’s house at midnight and begging for bread to feed some unexpected guests. It’s a rude request and the neighbor flatly refuses, but Jesus says the bread was given. Wow. That’s prayer. It’s stubborn and real, even if it is disrespectful. Real prayer says, “I’m not leaving your porch until you answer me.” Does that make you uncomfortable? Jesus said it’s the way to get what you want.

352. He Sees You Through The Eyes Of A Parent

Matthew 9:2;22

Are you ever suspicious about the way God sees you? Let’s face it, God knows everything about you, so He probably sees you in the worst possible light, right? It’s an easy thing to assume and feel. Most people see God as the Chief of the sin police; and since He’s omniscient, that would probably make Him the head of the CIA version of the sin police. The only problem is that when we look at our relationship through this lens of the troublemaker and the Enforcer, we sell everybody short. I’m not saying you don’t have sin in your life, because you do, but seeing God merely as a sin investigator and seeing yourself merely as a perpetrator makes God less than He is and makes you less than you are to Him, and I can prove it to you. I want you to think of someone in your town or school or church who gets into trouble a lot. Think of someone everyone talks about behind their back. The funny thing is, people are bold and loud about this person’s wrongs with anyone and everyone unless that person’s mother or father is around. If Mom or Dad is in earshot, they show more respect. The thing we always forget is that we are God’s kids. That’s the ultimate lens He sees us through. In Matthew 9, Jesus called a man, “son” and a woman “daughter.” That’s how Jesus sees you. A wise parent sees the sin in their child, but real love goes deeper than disappointment, embarrassment, anger or anything else. There’s a connection and a sympathy that outweighs the wrong. When Jesus sees you, He sees the child He loves.

351. He Belongs To The Needy

Matthew 21:14-15

Do you ever find it funny that we spend so much time and energy trying to attain a self-sufficient life when we are so obviously frail and dependent? The really interesting thing is how much our spiritual culture emphasizes and aims for strength, competence and security when our faith doesn’t really promise those things. Indeed, our faith is supposed to be about our need for Jesus. He is the strong One. He is our security. And yet, we are uncomfortable in our own skin. We are ashamed of not being enough and we don’t like to see that need in others. Dependence makes us feel embarrassed on behalf of desperate people, despite the fact that at the core, we are all smoking wreckage in need of critical repair. One week before Jesus went to the cross, He was entering Jerusalem on the back of a young donkey, fulfilling an ancient prophecy as crowds sang Messianic Psalms to praise Him. At the same time, other folks were telling Jesus to silence these crowds because their praise was inappropriate. Matthew tells us the folks worshiping Jesus were the blind, the lame and the children. The folks opposing their worship were the rich, the powerful and the influential. Jesus loved their songs. He stood with and defended the cause of the helpless, the powerless and the voiceless. The thing is, it’s not that Jesus didn’t love those religious leaders opposing Him, they just didn’t think they needed Him. Jesus isn’t for everyone. Don’t get me wrong - everyone needs Jesus, but not everyone knows it. If you know you are totally needy - dependent, powerless and helpless without Him, Jesus belongs to you. He died for you and He lives for you.

350. He Let Himself Be Excluded

Hebrews 13:12

Have you ever noticed how some of the most significant and profound moments of spiritual change happen in the smallest, quietest and most humble situations? This is kind of a weird thing, because lots of Christian-looking events and gatherings are big and flashy - church services and worship concerts in fancy arenas with thousands of people, laser light shows and chart-topping bands. In my experience, however, people’s lives change most in one-on-one conversations in coffee shops while no one else is looking. I’ve seen people really give their heart to the Lord in moments of failure, humiliation, tragedy and disease. Despite the glitzy image and talk of many Christian groups, the Kingdom of God is advancing in the midst of pain and friendship, sorrow and service. There is a place at the end of the book of Hebrews that talks about how the priests in the old sacrificial system would take the blood of the sacrificed animal into the temple, but the bodies would be burned outside the camp, in disgrace. This writer goes on to say that Jesus suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy by His blood. The way of Jesus is that of exclusion and disgrace. It’s the way of service to the weak and troubled. Jesus identifies with the poor, hated, hurting and lonely. The writer then goes on to say that for this reason we should go to Him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace He bore because this world is not our home. Let’s build the Kingdom alongside Jesus. Let’s embrace exclusion, humility, and want. Let’s give ourselves to serve the broken and ignored. This world is fancy and fine, but it is not our home.

349. He Loves Doing Things For You

John 14:2

One of the easiest traps to fall into is assuming that Jesus does things for you because He has to - as if He is fulfilling the requirements of a contract against His own will. The Bible says there are tons of things Jesus is doing for us all the time - praying for us, strengthening us, guiding us, holding us, working through us and even making all things work together for our best. There’s even one place where Jesus says that He’s preparing a place for us in Heaven. If I’m honest, I sometimes picture Jesus carrying out that list with a frown on His face - the way I do chores when I’d rather be curled up on the couch watching a movie. I assume He’s reluctant to work in my life but does it anyway, because if He doesn’t, who will? The thing is, the more I think  about it, the more I realize my assumption about Jesus’ attitude sells Him way short. This week, my wife and I are planning a big party for our kids themed around the Harry Potter books. We’re dressing up as our favorite characters and making food and drinks from the stories. Christy and I are having so much fun putting this party together for our kids because we love them and we love their joy. It doesn’t even feel like work. It’s just what love does. Do I really think Jesus is a less enthusiastic parent than I am? Do I honestly think He’s less joyful, less loving or less fun? No way! Jesus loves working in your life. He loves making a place for you and praying for you because you are His child and He absolutely loves your joy.

348. He Doesn't Want You To Hold Back On Him

Isaiah 62:7

When you’re trying to figure out what it means to walk with the Lord, it’s easy to think that you’re not really allowed to feel the things you feel. There are Bible verses about not complaining, not worrying and rejoicing always; but sometimes you feel sad. Sometimes you feel anxious and disappointed in what you’re facing. So, what does that mean? To be honest, I don’t know. I know those verses I mentioned are the goal. That’s where we want to end up when we’re in the middle of life’s troubles. I know that God has gotten me to the place of having a carefree, full heart that just trusts in Him, even when it’s hurting. I also know that I almost never start out there. When I find myself in a storm, I usually start out pretty confused, disoriented and upset. The thing I’m coming to believe more and more about the Lord is that He’s okay with that. He has a goal for my heart and He knows what it’s going to take to get me to grow into that goal, but I also know He wants me to be myself with Him, even when I haven’t reached the goal. I’m learning that in the place of prayer, I can be me, unfiltered. Isaiah 62 says when you’re really upset about something, you should pray and give yourself no rest. He goes on to say you should give the Lord no rest as well. If you need to bang on His door with your questions, hurt, complaint or frustration, do it. Do it until you get an answer. It’s what Job did. It’s what David did. It’s how Jesus taught us to pray.

347. He Wants To Change The Way We See, Think And Feel

Luke 14:5

So many of us have wasted a lot of time trying to please God by following all the rules. The thing is, following rules doesn’t have anything to do with pleasing God. Not only that, but trying to earn God’s approval by walking a perfectly straight line winds up making us worse. When we try to go by the rules, we end up blind, dense and insensitive. When we’re focussed on simply doing things the right way, we lose all traces of simple, basic, common sense. One time Jesus was at a dinner party with some Pharisees - the religious leadership of God’s people. In the midst of the guests was a man suffering from severe and painful swelling in his joints. Jesus had already gotten in trouble for healing people on the Sabbath day. They considered healing to be work and as a result, a violation of the command of that day to rest. Jesus looked at this hurting man and then asked the leaders if it was okay to heal even on the day of rest. They stayed silent. He then said that if they had a child or even an animal that was hurting on the Sabbath, they’d intervene and help out. What’s really interesting is the fact that this dinner party only takes up 14 verses in the whole book of Luke, but two of those verses were used to tell us the Pharisees were speechless. When we focus on the rules and doing everything the right way, we can’t see, think or feel properly. Trying to live right changes us, but it changes us for the worse. Jesus wants to set us free to simply let Him change us.

346. He's Winking At The Camera

John 18:6

Do you ever feel like your life has gotten completely out of hand? Do you ever look around in your own experience and see nothing but disasters? Sometimes it’s as if you are caught up in your own nightmare scenario and you don’t know the way out. Maybe something happened and you’ve lost all your friends. Maybe no one really understands you and you feel completely alone. Maybe that thing you did in secret has come to light and you’re afraid the ceiling is going to cave in on all your relationships. Maybe you’re out of money. Maybe you’re sick. Maybe you’re about to lose the person you love the most. In those moments, it’s hard to cling to your faith in Jesus, right? I mean, if He’s in control, then why in the world is this happening right now? If He’s calling the shots, why did we wind up in this mess? On the night Jesus was arrested, it seemed as though the world was falling apart. Jesus was betrayed by His friend, falsely accused and sentenced to die even though He was innocent. It looked like the world was having its way with Jesus. Everything was out of control - or was it? There were little moments when Jesus showed He was still running the show. It was like an action hero in a movie winking at the camera when all seemed lost - letting you know he has a plan. When soldiers tried to arrest Jesus, He merely spoke, and hundreds of armed men fell to the ground. It was a little wink. He’s still in control. He still has a plan. In the midst of your confusion, Jesus knows what He’s doing. He’s working for your best.

345. He Knows You're Going To Have Bad Days

Luke 17:1

Some days you’re just not feeling it. Some days, you may be tired, cranky, negative, apathetic or else just sad. There are times when you will wake up and go through your whole day knowing you probably should have just stayed in the bed. For folks who believe in Jesus, this is hard news to accept. We don’t like the sound of it. Christians sometimes talk as if the only acceptable way to be or feel or live is totally awesome all the time. We don’t leave space for even the occasional sin. We don’t give ourselves room for a bad day. We don’t make allowances for going through a slump. The interesting thing is that Jesus doesn’t seem as bothered by it as we are. He says sin is bound to happen. He says we should be ready to forgive our brothers and sisters even if they misbehave up to five hundred times. Psalm 103 says that He remembers we are dust and does not treat us as our sins deserve. The fact is, we are going to mess up. We are going to sin and fall and fail. Pretending you can and should make it through every single day soaring on the heights is unrealistic and unkind. Jesus knows you’re going to have bad days as well as good days and He’s ready to walk you through both of them. If you don’t give yourself the grace for an off day, you won’t be able to understand when other people need that same grace. Remember that you and all of your friends are dust. Jesus does, and He’s not in a hurry to move you back into the fast lane when you need a break.

344. He's The Only Place You Can Turn

John 6:68

Were else are you going to go besides Jesus? You have no other choice. There is no plan B. Have you learned this yet? It takes some people longer than others to figure this out. It has taken me my entire life and even though it is completely obvious, I still sometimes find myself straining against the inevitable truth. Jesus is our only hope. He’s our only refuge. He’s our only real help. When you’re a little kid, your parents are your whole world. They provide for you, teach you and love you but at some point they let you down or lose your trust. You make friends you would die for, but they can’t measure up, right? You fall in love, but your heart gets broken. The same thing happens with siblings, teachers, pastors, and on and on. It’s as if all of life is pushing you, prodding you forward through a tunnel that keeps getting smaller and smaller until there is only one point of light - one final conclusion. Along the way you find out the alarming and disorienting truth that you can’t even rely on yourself. You aren’t enough. Money doesn’t satisfy. Sex doesn’t fill you up. Achievement, prosperity, comfort and fun are not good enough on their own. At their best they merely point toward something else - something deeper. When the ceiling caves in and the bottom drops out on your life, there is only one place to go. There is only one person to turn to. If you haven’t learned this yet, just keep living. As Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go?” In the end, you will find He’s all we have and He’s far more than enough.

343. He Doesn't Actually Want You To Be Enough

2 Corinthians 12:9

So many people are working so hard to be enough. They want to be good enough, holy enough, spiritual enough, strong enough, tough enough and resilient enough. It’s natural. We want to be able to please God on our own steam. We want to be able to clean up our wrongs all by ourselves. We want to be able to earn our way and we want to be able to map out the course so that we can demonstrate exactly how we got there. In short, we want to be able. But there are two huge problems with this completely understandable desire of ours. The first problem is something we all find out sooner or later. It’s a lesson that hurts to learn, but is unavoidable. We find out we are not able. We don’t have what it takes. We can’t cover up our wrongs. We can’t stop doing wrong things. What’s more, we can’t even stop wanting to do wrong things. We’re weak and we don’t have the formula or the will power for true, lasting and total change. The second problem with us wanting to be enough is kind of surprising, but when you embrace it, everything changes for the better. You see, Jesus doesn’t want you to be enough. He doesn’t expect you to be strong or able and He would much rather you be weak and needy. When you accept the fact that you’re not enough and ask Jesus to help you, an amazing thing happens - you get set free by your dependence. You’re not enough, but Jesus is. He wants to supply what you don’t have. He wants to fill you and make you everything you were made to be.

342. He Wants Us To Grow Down

Matthew 11:25

What does it take to really know God more deeply? Can you do it? Do you personally have what it takes? Can anyone figure it out, or is it one of those things that’s only available to a select few? Do you need a degree from a seminary? If you want to be closer to the Lord, do you have to be a theological powerhouse who has read all the right books and can break down all the scholarly secrets? Is God only interested in truly revealing Himself to folks who are upright and holy? Even as I ask these questions, something just doesn’t seem right, does it? When you actually read the Bible and watch the life and ministry of Jesus, you see something totally different. Jesus didn’t surround Himself with a bunch of high born scholars. He didn’t reserve the good stuff for the people who were following all the rules. In fact, the biggest fights Jesus got into were with the so-called holy and righteous guys who had all the religious degrees and knew all the answers. Jesus was frustrated and angry with that crowd, calling them a bunch of “whitewashed tombs that look good on the outside but were filled with rotting corpses.” He called them a “brood of vipers” and “sons of the devil.” Jesus worked miracles and taught all the secrets to outcasts, sinners, the poor and lonely. He said God was revealing Himself to little children and hiding things from the wise. If we want to get closer to God and know Him more, all we have to do is become like little kids. We need to grow down, not up. Needing Him is the key to knowing Him.

341. He's Using All His Authority For Your Sake

John 10:18

Is God for you? Is He on your side? Does He listen to you? Does He work stuff out on your behalf? Does He ever employ all His limitless power for your personal benefit? I mean, when it comes to having connections with people who can pull strings, He’s the top of the ladder. He’s holding all the strings. The question is, are you on His radar at all? Sometimes it can feel as though God is doing His own thing and you are doing your own thing and there’s not a whole lot of crossover. Sometimes it can even feel as though the very universe itself is against you. It’s not just that God is otherwise engaged, but He’s after you - on your case. Is that the way it is, or is God up to something else? Right before Jesus ascended into Heaven, He told His disciples He had all the authority in Heaven and earth. He said it was given to Him. That word we have translated ‘authority’ can mean power, right, jurisdiction, dominion or to be in charge. Put all those words in a blender and Jesus said He had it all. He is ultimately running the whole show. In John chapter 10, Jesus used that same word and told us what He would do with all that power and right to wield it. He said He had authority to lay His life down. That’s what happens when you hand Jesus the keys to control everything in the universe - He lays His life down. He died on purpose because He can. He died on purpose because of His love for you. Every calculated movement of His limitless authority was aimed at rescuing you.

340. He Answers For Us

Job 9:32

Do you ever wish you could make God answer for some of His decisions? Go ahead, be honest about that. I know it probably feels like we’re treading on dangerous ground here. You may be wondering whether or not you’re even allowed to ask such questions. God is the Almighty One - how could we dare to insist that He answer us about the things He has done? And yet, we’ve all thought this way. At some point, you’ve surveyed the landscape of your own life and the things God has allowed and thought to yourself - “Why in the world did that have to happen? Why would God do this to me?” The Old Testament book of Job is about a man who lost everything and tried to figure out what it means to know God in the midst of devastation, depression and heartbreak. In one of Job’s rants, He says He wishes He could call God to account, but how can He? As Job points out, “He is not a mere mortal like me, that I might answer Him, that we might confront each other in court.” In other words, Job wants to sue God, but he can’t because God is God and not a man. Except, God did become a man. Jesus was God in the flesh and He not only became a man, but He let men drag Him into court, though He was sinless. He let them falsely accuse and sentence Him to death. Jesus took our place, bearing the full penalty of our wrong, dying our death so we could live. We don’t always know why God allows what He does, but this much is true - He took the blame in our place because of love.

339. He Feels Your Hurt Deep Down

Matthew 9:36

Do you ever wonder how God feels about the way you struggle? Let’s face it - your life can be really hard sometimes and not all of your failings and inconsistencies are simply the result of your sin. You have pitfalls and stumbles that have nothing to do with you, but are just part of the unique difficulty of your life being lived in this fallen world. Sometimes you live those hard moments well and at other times, you don’t. I have talked to so many people who assume that God watches them face troubles and hurts with the air of an overbearing parent who is impossible to please. They assume God is disappointed unless we weather every storm with poise, grace and spiritual maturity. The thing is, when you watch Jesus in the Gospels, you find something altogether different. There’s a place in Matthew 9 that says, “When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” When Jesus looked at the problems and distress of the lives around Him, He wasn’t upset that those people weren’t living more victoriously. Rather, He felt for them. In fact, in the original language Matthew wrote this verse in, the word we have translated ‘compassion’ is a word that literally means “intestines.” Matthew was trying to tell us that Jesus felt for these people way down in His gut. Jesus’ compassion is so deep and real that for Him, it’s a physical reality. Your life is hard and sometimes you don’t handle it all that well. Know that when you are having a rough time, Jesus is on your side. He feels for you more than you can imagine.

338. He's Growing You Up

Galatians 3:24

Have you ever felt like religion was just too controlling? If you grew up in certain types of churches, you probably know exactly what I mean. All you heard the whole time was “do this,” “wear this,” “stop that” and of course, “don’t ask why.” For a lot of people, their experience with God has been all about living a certain way in order to be acceptable to Him - trying to keep in step and stay clean so that He will look down on your life and give His approval. It turns out that being acceptable to God isn’t really about your behavior at all. We can’t live this thing so clean and right that we are acceptable to Him, so He made a way for us in spite of our weakness. Jesus gave His life to offer us the thing we could never earn - a relationship with God where we’re completely acceptable to Him. That’s the Good News, and it’s completely free, regardless of what you’ve done or do. All you have to do is believe it. This message comes in like a hero, breaking down the door of the old, controlling way. Following all those rules (or trying to follow them) was like a security blanket. It was like being a little kid and crossing the street holding the hand of a grown-up. Paul says the old rules were like a guardian, but Jesus came and now it’s time to grow up, turn loose of that controlling hand and cross the street. Believing Jesus loves me and God accepts me is growing up and leaving the guardian. You don’t need to live right to be good enough. All you need is Jesus, and you have Him.

337. He Has More For You Than You Think

Luke 5:6

I used to think a life with God in it would be less life. I thought life with God would mean a limited, restricted, lame sort of life. Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever thought giving your life over to God would mean you were somehow giving up on fun and fullness and somehow settling for less? I think we assume this kind of thing because we misunderstand who God is and what He cares about. We assume God exists to stifle and water down our desires, when the truth is, God invented life. He created us with our desires and rather than water them down, God wants to point them in the right direction so they can grow deeper and more fulfilling than we could even imagine. One time Jesus told Simon to take his boat out into deep water to go fishing. Simon’s entire life and livelihood was about fishing, and Jesus was going about it all wrong. Smart fishermen don’t fish in deep water in the heat of the day, but Jesus persisted. Jesus was taking Simon’s life and doing it His way. The result was amazing. They caught so many fish that the nets started to break. They called another boat in to help, but there were so many fish, both boats threatened to sink. Simon’s life Jesus’ way didn’t yield less, it yielded more - way more. Jesus is offering you a fulness and depth you’ve like you’ve never known. Walking with Him doesn’t limit your fun, it multiplies the meaning of fun thing and brings the depth of eternity into all you do. Your life lived Jesus’ way will overwhelm and overflow all that you thought was possible.

336. He Gave Us Everything

Romans 8:17

Do you ever feel like God is holding out on you? Have you ever had the sneaking suspicion He’s making things hard for you on purpose? Do you ever think, “If God really loves me so much, why does He hold back so many good things from me?” You’re not alone if you feel that way. I know you already know this, but it’s worth saying again - we’re in the hard part right now. We’re in the middle of the strain. God promised that we would struggle and suffer, but His promises don’t end there. In fact, the promise is that our difficulties are evidence of the truth that will one day make all hard things right. It turns out that these current pressures and problems show us that we are God’s kids. Because of Jesus’ suffering and death, God has adopted us as His very own children. We are part of the royal family of Heaven now, and just as Jesus, our Forebear endured suffering, we must. But it is our badge of authenticity, not a sign that God is giving us less than His best. The truth is, Jesus gave us Himself and in so doing, gave us everything. Now, we are heirs with Him. We will inherit nothing less than all the eternal goodness and glory of Heaven. Can you imagine that? Us - heirs of Heaven! We’ll be like the unruly children of some great Emperor, running up and down the halls of an amazing palace with muddy boots, sliding down the marble banisters and drinking kool-aid out of some priceless tea service. God isn’t holding anything back from you. When the hard part is over, we inherit everything. Because of Him, we get it all.

335. He Rescued Us From Us

Galatians 1:4

Have you ever seen inside yourself the very thing that most upsets you in other people? I’m sure you have. Even if we’d rather not face it, we all know that we are (or have the potential to be) just like the things we hate. Inside my own heart, I find desires and longings that are pure and filled with the Spirit of the Lord living right alongside the kind of selfishness, fear, unkindness and petty jealousies that broke the world. This incongruity is disturbing. How can we be two things at once? We are all like a hotel manager who rents a room to the city’s very best and worst characters on the same night, and then has to sleep in that room. The thing is, when you look around at the mess and cruelty of this world, you want to see justice done. You want to see the monsters done away with and the sufferings of the innocent made right, but there is a problem. When you are honest, you realize that the monsters aren’t just out there - the monster is within us all. In Galatians 1, Paul says Jesus came to rescue us from this present evil age, which is exactly what we most want and need. We want to be rid of the darkness of this place, but can we be? If the rescue mission involves getting us out of this evil world, does my messed up heart have to stay behind? We’re not just the victims of this story, but the villains as well. The amazing thing is that Paul says Jesus came to rescue us from this present evil age by giving Himself for our sins. He pays, forgives and then delivers us.

334. He's Teaching You To Walk

John 10:28

Most Christians think God is only pleased with them when they’re living right. Even if we really love the idea of grace, singing the songs that celebrate forgiveness and writing out the verses that proclaim our freedom on index cards for our dashboards, lots of us are talking ourselves into it. Deep down inside us, many of us really think our stumbling and struggling is a source of frustration for the Lord. We walk a few paces upright, we start to feel good about where we are spiritually, and before you know it, we crash and burn all over again, feeling like the same old loser we’ve always been. Not only that, but we think God shares our low opinion of ourselves. We have a very wishy-washy view of the affections of God. We see Him hot and cold and everything in between, based on whether we walk or fall. Jesus said He has us by the hand and no one will ever break His grip. As a father of three kids, I love the feeling of holding my kids’ hands. I have a head and heart full of memories of helping them learn to walk and holding their chunky little mitts in my hand, guiding them across the floor one step at a time. My kids fell a lot - even after they learned to walk. Just the other day I was holding my five year-old son’s hand as we crossed an icy parking lot so that when he slipped, I would have hold of him. You are going to stumble, stagger and fall, but Jesus isn’t frustrated or disappointed. He has hold of your hand and He loves to watch you try while holding onto Him.

333. He's Looking For You Beneath Your Madness

Mark 5:9

Do you know what it’s like to get dragged into something messed up or harmful because you were listening to the wrong voices? We all have tons of voices in our lives. Some of the voices you hear might make you feel pressured to be a certain way or do certain things. Some of the voices in your life may make you feel like you don’t measure up or that no one wants you around. Some folks hear a negative siren call every time they walk past a mirror or every time they see that ‘perfect’ friend who has it all together. Some of us never get over the voices of parents we could never seem to please. Do you know how it feels to have a heart and mind filled with both whispers and yells telling you that you’re not enough? Do you know the madness of trying to please everyone in your life so much that you don’t even know who you are or what you want anymore? One time Jesus met a man whose heart and mind were filled with wicked voices. They had pulled him into a life of dark isolation. He was lonely, angry and harming himself. Everyone in his life had given up on him and driven him away. When Jesus met this man, He asked him, “What is your name?” I love that. I think it’s so cool that Jesus still saw a man underneath all that wrong who was worth saving. We’ve all followed the wrong voices from time to time, but no matter what you’ve done, Jesus is searching for the real you behind all your madness. Even if everyone else gives up on you, He never will.

332. He's The Answer To Our Whys

John 11:21

The most raw and honest place we can go with our doubts is to ask the question, “Why?” Most of us believe God exists. Even folks who say they don’t are usually so mad at Him that their disbelief is less than convincing. Our trouble with God is not His existence, but rather the fact that we have some huge, unanswered questions about our own pain and loss. If God is, then why do we have to endure such hurt and tragedy? If He’s powerful, why doesn’t He stop our nightmare scenarios before they happen? If He cares about us, why does He seem to stand idly by when our world is caving in? If He is, then why? If He could help and He wanted to help, then He would help, right? But what if the answer is deeper than that? What if our problems are the merely the symptoms of a disease? One time, Jesus’ friend Lazarus was dying. His sisters sent for Jesus, but He didn’t show up until it was too late. The ‘why’ question was heavy on the lips of the grieving sisters. A week later, Jesus Himself was the One asking “Why” in the deepest darkness in the middle of the day on the cross. You see, God doesn’t show up to put out every fire and answer every question, but He doesn’t stand idly by either. The brokenness is deeper than we can understand. The world is so dark and messed up that God Himself had to come here and spill His blood to fix it. Jesus is the payment for all our brokenness. He is the Light that will eclipse the darkness. He is the answer to all our whys.

331. He Is All In

Luke 9:58

I think one of the most troubling suspicious many of us deal with on a day to day basis is the fear that we are on our own. Sometimes life gets so overwhelming that it feels as though we have to sprint just to keep up. Have you ever thrown your hands up because you’re tired and just over it? Do you find yourself wondering if you’re ever going to get a break? One of the hardest things about being in a place like that is the fear that not only is your life overwhelming, but you’re the only one investing in the struggle. It can seem as though you’re the only person who cares - the only one who’s sacrificing and straining to make your life work. The thing is, even when it feels that way, you’re not actually on your own. Jesus is alive and at work right now in your life. He is on a mission to give you a full, abundant life and He isn’t going to rest until you have it. In Luke chapter 9, Jesus told His disciples about the death He would die. Luke says after this He “set His face like a flint” for Jerusalem. That’s a phrase which means He was on a mission and He was serious about it. Later, a man asked if he could follow Jesus and the Lord said, “Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.” In other words, Jesus won’t stop until you have everything He promised you would have.. You’re not on your own. Jesus is at work and He’s focused. No rest, no sleep, no slowing down until you two are home together.

330. He Came For People Like You

Matthew 1:1

Sometimes, when you are face-to-face with the reality of your own desperate and fallen heart, it can be hard to believe that Jesus would ever truly want anything to do with you. I know I have felt that way tons of times. Could He really love this big a mess? Does He really treasure a person like me with all of my problems and struggles? If you’ve ever felt that way before, there’s good news for you. At the very beginning of the New Testament, in the first chapter of Matthew, there is a list of names. The author tells us that it is the genealogy of the Messiah. This is Jesus’ ancestral line - the biological history of where the Christ came from. Now, when you start to read a list of names like that, you might assume that these would be the very pillars of humanity. Surely the line that brought about the Messiah would be holiest, most exemplary group of superstar people to ever walk the face of the planet, right? Well, it’s actually quite the opposite. This list includes liars, cheaters, thieves, adulterers, murderers, idol worshipers and scoundrels of the very lowest order. One man in this list is described as a person who committed more evil by himself than all of the pagan nations before him. Wow. There were desperately poor people in this list and people with deep emotional problems. The lineage of Jesus isn’t a hall of fame, it’s the manifesto of a rescue mission. Jesus didn’t just come from these people, He came for them. No matter who you are or what you’ve done, Jesus came for you. He came because you need Him and because He loves you.

329. He's The One Holding On To You

John 10:28

When you are feeling far away from the Lord and you want to be closer to Him, does your first instinct involve you trying a whole lot harder? When you’re spiritually dry, do you start looking for the quick fix - some new spiritual routine or discipline that will pump life back into your walk with Jesus? I know I think that way. When something seems off, my first response is to simply work harder at this Jesus thing. My brain tells me to ramp up my commitment, get more consistent at certain practices and be better at being a Christian. And there is the problem. We automatically assume that our relationship with Jesus is a wishy-washy, flighty arrangement. Sometimes it’s close and good, but at other times it’s distant and cold. When we start with that line of thinking, we naturally go on to assume that our proximity to Jesus is all wrapped up in our effort. We think that if we try harder, we’ll be closer to Jesus. If we don’t, then we won’t. As a result, so many of us are spinning our wheels looking for the next amazing devotional or discipline that’s really going to make us connect with the Lord and we get frustrated when it doesn’t work. Our trouble is that we started out believing a false premise. Jesus said that we are in His hand. He said He will never leave us. He said no one can loosen His grip on us at all. You don’t need to try harder to be close to Him. He is holding you. What if you just believed the truth that you’re already and eternally connected to Him and just relaxed in His grasp?

328. He Isn’t The One Pushing You To Do Better

Galatians 5:8

Have you ever laid your head down on your pillow at the end of the day and then thought, “Did I do enough today? Did I work hard enough? Did I really show Jesus enough proof to demonstrate my loyalty and love for Him?” Do you know what it’s like to wake up to a brand new day, start praying and then find yourself telling the Lord that today is going to be different and you’re really going to make it an awesome day today? Do you measure one day against another, thinking that you did enough today? When you are trying to figure out the health of your relationship with Jesus, what evidence are you looking for? Is it something you did or didn’t do that made you feel closer or farther away from the Lord? This is the easiest trap to fall into when it comes to our walk with Jesus. After all, most people think religion is about doing stuff to make yourself good. Not only that, but there is so much in the Bible about doing good things that it can be hard to figure out that this is not the point of knowing Jesus. The Apostle Paul says that if you think doing certain things or failing to do other things shows you how close you are to Jesus, you have been bewitched. There are people who will try to persuade you to work harder and do more, but in Galatians 5, Paul says “that kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.” Jesus isn’t pushing you to do more. He wants you to love Him honestly and everything else will flow out of that love.

327. He Doesn't Care What Other People Think About You

Luke 7:39

Have you ever had the feeling that there are people looking at your life thinking that God wouldn’t want anything to do with you? Have you ever wondered whether or not there are people who size you up and find you unworthy to be one of Jesus’ people? I’d love to be able to tell you that you’re wrong about that, but the truth is that I can’t because you’re not wrong about it. If you sometimes feel as though some folks think God should pass you by and leave you out because you don’t qualify, it’s because there are people who feel that way. There are folks who will look at the sin in your life and the struggles you can’t shake and think you and Jesus are like oil and water. I know that’s not very comforting and I know that feeling stings, but there is something very important you need to know: Jesus doesn’t agree with them. Jesus loves you and wants to be close to you right now, today. No matter what you’ve done or who you’ve been, you matter to Him more than anything and He wants to help you and heal you. One time, when Jesus was eating dinner in the home of a very important religious leader, a woman came in to the house and approached Jesus. She had a bad reputation and everyone there knew about it. She was crying tears of gratitude, worship and love for the Lord. The religious leader looked at her and judged her, thinking Jesus must be a phony if He couldn’t tell how bad she was, but Jesus stood up for her and forgave her. Jesus is on your side, too.