If you learned that a king or president was coming to your house tomorrow, what would you do?

You would start cleaning immediately. You would deal with the pile of clothes you have stepped over for three weeks, hide anything you didn’t want them to see, and try to put your best foot forward.

Why? Because when someone important is coming, you prepare.

Matthew 3 begins with an announcement: The King has come.

But John the Baptist tells us that we do not prepare for King Jesus by cleaning ourselves up, hiding the mess, or pretending to have everything together. We prepare through repentance.

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
—Matthew 3:2

What Is Repentance?
Repentance is one of the greatest gifts God has given His children. It is His gracious call to turn away from what is destroying us and walk more fully in the life Jesus has given us.
Repentance and faith are closely connected. Repentance is turning from sin, while faith is turning to Christ and trusting Him.

This begins when we first respond to the gospel, but it also becomes an ongoing pattern in the Christian life. Christians do not need to be saved again each time they sin. Because we belong to Christ, we continue confessing our sin, turning from it, and trusting the Holy Spirit to make us more like Jesus.

Repentance is more than saying, “I’m sorry.” It means owning our sin without excuse, turning from it, and trusting in the finished work of Jesus.

We see this fleshed out in  Jeremiah 3 so well when God says to Israel:
“Return, O faithless sons; I will heal your faithlessness.”
—Jeremiah 3:22

God does not excuse His people’s rebellion, but neither does He abandon them to it. He calls them to turn from their sin and receive the healing only He can provide.

Repentance Is Our Response to the King
When John announces that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” he is declaring that God’s saving rule has entered the world through Jesus.

God’s kingdom is not merely a place we go after death. It is God’s redemptive reign breaking into our broken world. Through Jesus, God confronts sin, forgives sinners, defeats darkness, and heals what is broken.

Repentance is our confession that we need His saving rule to break into our lives.

It says, “Jesus, change my thinking, my desires, my direction, and my will. This life belongs to You.”

Jesus does not become King when we repent. He is already King. Repentance removes what is resisting His rightful rule.

Some of us want Jesus to visit our lives, but we do not want Him to reign over them. We welcome Him into the rooms everyone can see while keeping other rooms locked—the ones containing our bitterness, secret habits, ambitions, and need for control.

Repentance opens every locked door, hands Jesus every key, and says, “Your way is better.”

Repentance Confesses and Forsakes Sin
Proverbs says: “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.” (Proverbs 28:13)

Many of us have become pretty good at confessing our sin, but we struggle with the forsaking part. We repeatedly tell God that we are sorry for without taking the necessary steps to leave the sin behind.

Confession opens the door, but forsaking changes our direction.

Forsaking sin may require asking someone for forgiveness, establishing accountability, removing access to temptation, making restitution, or bringing a hidden struggle into the light.

Grace does not make those steps unnecessary. Grace gives us the courage and power to take them.

Repentance Produces Change
John told the Pharisees and Sadducees:“Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” (Matthew 3:8)

Religious knowledge, church attendance, family history, and Christian language cannot replace genuine repentance.

Not every apology is repentance either. Regretting what sin has cost us is not the same as grieving that we have sinned against the God who loves us.

Worldly sorrow hides, minimizes, rationalizes, and blames. Godly sorrow takes responsibility and turns to God for mercy.

Repentance begins within us, but it does not remain invisible. If we have repented of anger, we should be learning gentleness. If we have repented of greed, we should be growing in generosity. If we have repented of pride, we should be becoming teachable.

That fruit does not purchase salvation; it demonstrates that our repentance is genuine. Repentance does not mean instant perfection, but it does mean a new direction.

Repentance Depends on the Holy Spirit
John promised that Jesus would baptize His people “with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11).

Jesus does not merely forgive us and leave us enslaved to what is destroying us. Through His Spirit, He exposes what does not belong, puts old patterns to death, and forms a new way of life within us.

The Spirit does not simply remove what is sinful. He replaces it with what is righteous. The gossip becomes the one that builds people up. The greedy person becomes generous. The prideful person becomes teachable.

Jesus did not come to make the old you behave a little better. He came to make you new.

How Do We Practice Repentance?

1. Recognize what God is bringing into the light

Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal anything you have concealed, defended, or tried to manage.

What sinful pattern needs to stop? What part of your life have you marked “Keep out”?

2. Repent by naming your sin honestly and turning away from it.

Do not minimize, rename, rationalize, or blame. Confess your sin plainly to God.

Psalm 32:5 David says to God, “I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,’ and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.”

Proverbs 28:13 Solomon says, “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.”

1 John 1:8, 9, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Confess, bring all your sin to the foot of the cross, and ask God to forgive you. When appropriate it can also be helpful to confess it to a trusted Christian who can pray for you and help you walk in the light.

3. Receive the mercy of Jesus

Your hope is not in the strength of your resolve. Your hope is in the mercy of Jesus and the power of His Spirit.

At the cross, Jesus took the judgment our sin deserved and gave us forgiveness and new life. Repentance does not earn that forgiveness; we receive it because of Christ’s finished work.

4. Respond with concrete obedience

Ask, “What needs to stop, and what act of obedience needs to begin?”

Seek accountability. Ask for forgiveness. Remove access to temptation. Make restitution where necessary. Do not only confess what is wrong, take a step in a new direction.

5. Return to God in repentance and faith

Repentance is not only an event at the beginning of the Christian life. It becomes an ongoing pattern of confessing sin, turning from it, and walking by faith in Christ.

You might pray:
“God, I have sinned against You. Forgive me because of what Jesus has done for me. Help me turn from the bondage of my sin, from what is destroying me and walk in what pleases You. By Your Spirit, form in me the life You desire.”

The Hope of our Confession

Maybe you already know where you need to repent, but shame is keeping the door locked. Perhaps you have fought the same battle so many times that you wonder if freedom is possible.

Your hope is not in how strongly you promise to change. Your hope is in the mercy of Jesus and the power of His Spirit.

The conviction you feel is not God telling you to clean yourself up before approaching Him.
It is His kindness exposing what is destroying you and calling you to turn from it.

Walking in the way of the King begins with walking in the way of repentance.

We live in an age of extraordinary connection and profound isolation. We can communicate with almost anyone, anywhere, at any time, yet many people still feel unseen, unknown, and alone.

Our world also teaches us to divide into tribes. We naturally move toward people who share our interests, background, politics, or stage of life. We draw our circles tighter because being around people like us feels comfortable and safe.

But the gospel moves in a different direction.

Jesus moved toward those who were far from Him. He welcomed sinners, touched lepers, ate with tax collectors, and crossed cultural, religious, and social barriers. He created spaces where outsiders became guests, strangers became friends, and sinners became family.

That leads us to a simple but challenging truth:

A hospitable church makes the invisible welcome of God visible through His people.

Remember How Christ Welcomed You

Biblical hospitality begins with remembering the gospel.

"Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world."
-Ephesians  2:11–12.

In Ephesians 2, Paul reminds the Gentile believers that they were once separated from Christ, strangers to God’s promises, without hope, and without God in the world. Then come two of the most beautiful words in Scripture: “But now.”

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13).

Paul does not say that we found our own way to God. He says that we were brought near. God took the initiative. Jesus crossed the distance and welcomed us through His sacrificial death on the cross.

Christian hospitality is not a way to earn God’s welcome. It is our grateful response to the welcome we have already received.

When we remember that we were once the outsiders whom Jesus welcomed by grace, we stop deciding who is worthy of our time and attention. We begin moving toward others with humility, gratitude, compassion, and hope.

The Church Is About Presence, Not Simply Attendance

Through Christ, we have not only been reconciled to God; we have also been brought near to one another.

Paul writes:

“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.”  
—Ephesians 2:19

The church is not merely an event we attend or a spiritual product we consume. It is the household of God. We are family.

Family, however, requires more than occupying the same room once a week. It requires presence. Presence means opening our lives, allowing ourselves to be known, carrying one another’s burdens, offering forgiveness, and remaining committed when relationships become inconvenient.

Many of us want deep community, but deep community does not develop accidentally. It grows when ordinary people consistently make room for one another.

Practical Ways to Make God’s Welcome Visible

Hospitality does not require a perfect house, an impressive meal, or an outgoing personality. It begins with noticing people and making room for them in the life God has already given us.

Here are several practical ways to begin.

1. Notice the person standing alone

It is easy to walk into church and immediately find the people we already know. Instead, pause and look around.

Is someone standing alone? Does a new family appear uncertain about where to go? Is someone sitting by themselves?

Walk over, introduce yourself, and learn their name. You do not need a perfect opening line. A simple, “Hi, I don’t think we’ve met yet,” can make someone feel seen.

 2. Stay a little longer

Hospitality often requires margin.

Come a few minutes early or stay after the gathering. Use that time to meet someone new, reconnect with someone who has been absent, or ask a meaningful question.

Consider asking:

- How has your week been?
- Is there anything I can pray about for you?
- Would you like to sit with us next Sunday?

Small conversations can become the beginning of genuine relationships.

3. Invite someone to share a meal

Throughout Scripture, meals create space for friendship, conversation, and ministry. Jesus regularly welcomed people around a table.

Invite someone to lunch after church, meet a neighbor for coffee, or ask a new family to join you for dinner. The meal does not need to be elaborate. Order pizza, share leftovers, or meet somewhere inexpensive.

The goal is not to impress people. The goal is to make room for them.

Consider inviting someone you would not naturally spend time with—someone from a different generation, culture, background, or stage of life.

4. Listen without treating people like projects

Hospitality is not merely talking to people; it is learning to listen.

Ask about someone’s story and give them your attention. Resist the urge to correct every opinion, offer an immediate solution, or turn the conversation back to yourself.

People are not projects to fix. They are image-bearers to love.

We should never compromise biblical truth, but truth can be spoken within relationships marked by patience, compassion, and genuine care.

5. Make room in your weekly rhythms

Hospitality becomes sustainable when it is part of your ordinary life.

Instead of waiting for a special occasion, invite someone into something you are already doing:

- Include someone in your weekly family meal.
- Invite a neighbor to walk with you.
- Ask a coworker to join you for lunch.
- Offer another parent a place at the park.
- Include a college student or single adult in a family activity.
- Check on someone who is sick, grieving, or experiencing hardship.

Hospitality is less about adding another event to an already crowded schedule and more about opening your existing life to others.

6. Belong to the church beyond Sunday morning

Refuse isolated Christianity.

Join a home group. Serve on a team. Let people know what is happening in your life. Receive help when you need it, and be willing to carry someone else’s burden.

Serving also helps create a welcoming environment for others. Greeting someone at the door, helping a family find the children’s area, preparing coffee, setting up chairs, or cleaning a room can all make the welcome of Jesus tangible.

Every act of service helps turn a gathering into a home.

7. Move toward someone who cannot repay you

Jesus did not welcome us because we could offer Him something in return. He welcomed us freely by grace. Because He moved toward us, we are called to move toward people beyond our usual circles and outside the walls of our church.

Ask yourself:

Who in our community is lonely, overlooked, hurting, or in need—and how can I move toward them with the love of Jesus?

Join an outreach during the week and serve our neighbors in need. Meet people where they are, listen to their stories, build genuine relationships, and look for practical ways to help.

This may mean visiting someone who is lonely, serving a family experiencing hardship, caring for the unhoused, welcoming a refugee, supporting a local school, or befriending someone whose life is very different from yours.

Biblical hospitality does not wait for people to come to us. It crosses the street, enters the neighborhood, and makes the welcome of Jesus visible through compassionate words and practical service.

Take One Step This Week

Learn someone’s name. Send an encouraging message. Invite someone to lunch. Join a home group. Serve on a team. Pull up a chair.

We cannot save anyone, only Jesus can do that. But we can create places where people hear His Word, see His love, and experience the welcome of His grace.

Because Christ welcomed us, we welcome others.

That is how the invisible welcome of God becomes visible through His people.

What fills your heart will eventually shape your life.

We all build our lives around something. It may be our work, family, comfort, success, approval, or control. Whatever matters most to us will eventually shape how we think, spend our time, respond under pressure, and make decisions.

The Bible calls this worship.

Worship is much bigger than singing songs on Sunday. Worship is our response to whatever has captured our hearts. Humanity’s greatest problem isn’t that we stopped worshiping, it’s that we began worshiping lesser things.

In Ephesians 5:18, Paul writes: “Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.”

Paul’s larger point is about influence. Whatever fills us begins to control us, and whatever controls us eventually shapes us.

If our minds are not being shaped by the Holy Spirit, they will be shaped by something else: fear, approval, ambition, anger, comfort, pleasure, or control.

Everyone lives under an influence. Everyone yields to something. Paul invites us to yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit. We can never get more of the Spirit then we already have because He's given us all of Himself, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.” (2 Peter 1:3) But we can give Him more of our selves each day.

When Paul says, “Be filled with the Spirit,” he isn’t saying that we lack the Spirit. He’s saying that we can resist or neglect the Spirit’s influence in our lives. In Greek, this is an ongoing command perhaps better understood as, “Keep on being filled with the Spirit.”

Here is a simple practice to help you do that each day.

1. Notice What Is Shaping You

Pause and honestly examine your heart.

• What has been filling my attention?
• What voice have I been listening to most?
• What desire has been driving my decisions?
• When pressure hits, what comes out of me?

Your reactions often reveal what has been shaping you.

2. Behold Christ

Worship is seeing before it is singing.

Read Ephesians 5:15–21 slowly. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to the beauty, greatness, and grace of Jesus revealed in His Word.

Write down one truth about Jesus that you need to remember today.

The more your heart is filled with Christ, the less room there is for everything else fighting to capture your worship.

3. Surrender to the Spirit

Being filled with the Spirit does not mean getting more of the Holy Spirit. It means the Holy Spirit having more of us—more of our attention, desires, habits, and decisions.

Ask yourself:

• Is there a sin I need to confess?
• Is there a habit I need to surrender?
• Is there an act of obedience I have been avoiding?
• Where am I still trying to maintain control?

Then pray:

Spirit of the living God, keep filling me. Shape my thoughts, desires, words, and actions. Whatever You want, my answer is yes.

4. Respond in Worship

Paul says that Spirit-filled worship produces gratitude and humble relationships.

"...addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ." (Ephesians 5:19–21)

Put that into practice in two simple ways:

1. Begin each day with gratitude. Before your mind fills with everything you need to do, thank God for who He is and what He has done for you in Christ.

2. Choose costly service. Serve someone who cannot repay you. Forgive before being asked. Give up a preference for someone else’s good.

Keep Being Filled

Worship is not limited to what happens while the music is playing. It is about what captures our attention and shapes our lives every day.

As we behold Christ, we become like Christ. The Spirit’s work in our lives produces renewed worship and renewed relationships.

So pause. Notice what is shaping you. Behold Christ in His Word. Surrender to the Spirit. Then respond with gratitude and service.

What fills your heart will eventually shape your life.

What is Worship-Based Prayer?

Worship-based prayer begins with God before it begins with us.

Most of us naturally begin prayer by talking about our problems, our worries, and our requests. While God invites us to bring every need to Him (Philippians 4:6), Jesus teaches us to begin somewhere else. To begin by worshipping Him for His character, His works, and His promises.


Before asking for daily bread, forgiveness, or guidance, Jesus directs our attention to the Father.

Why?

Because worship changes our perspective.

J. Oswald Sanders defines worship this way:
Simply put: Worship is the response of all that we are to the revelation of all that God is.

The more we see God for who He is, the more we trust Him with what we're facing.

Worship-based prayer seeks God's face before God's hand.

God's face represents His character, His presence, and who He is. God's hand represents His gifts, His provision, and what He does.

When we seek God's face first, we discover that His presence is our greatest need and that every other request flows from there. And as we behold Him through Scripture, our hearts are shaped by His greatness before we ever bring Him our requests. Thats worship.

Why Pray This Way?

Throughout Scripture, God's people consistently begin with worship.

• David filled the Psalms with praise before bringing his burdens.
• Paul's prayers overflow with thanksgiving before intercession.
• Even heaven is filled with worship before God's purposes unfold on the earth.

When we begin with worship:

• Our fears become smaller because God becomes bigger.
• Our hearts move from anxiety to trust.
• Our prayers become shaped by God's promises instead of our emotions.
• We remember that prayer is not about convincing God to care, but responding to the God who already does.

Worship doesn't ignore our problems.

It places them in the presence of a great God.

A Simple Pattern

1. Read

Begin by reading a passage of Scripture that reveals God's character.

Some great places to start are:

• Psalm 23
• Psalm 27
• Psalm 46
• Psalm 103
• Isaiah 40
• Ephesians 1
• Colossians 1

Ask, "What does this passage teach me about God?"

2. Worship

Respond by praising God for what you've just seen.

For example:

"Father, thank You that You are my Shepherd. You faithfully lead and provide for Your people."

"Lord, thank You that You are gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love."

Take your time. There is no rush.

3. Reflect

Spend a few moments quietly before the Lord.

Ask the Holy Spirit:

1. What are You teaching me?
2. What do I need to believe about You today?
3. Where do I need to trust You more?

Allow God's Word to shape your heart before moving to your requests.

4. Request

Now bring your needs before God.

But instead of praying from fear, pray in light of His character.

• Because He is faithful, ask Him to strengthen your faith.
• Because He is your Shepherd, ask Him for guidance.
• Because He is your Provider, ask Him to meet your needs.
• Because He is your Peace, ask Him to calm your anxious heart.
• Because He is your Savior, ask Him to save those who don't yet know Him.

Let who God is shape what you ask Him to do.

The Goal

The goal of worship-based prayer isn't simply to receive answers.

It's to know God more deeply.

As we behold His greatness through Scripture, our faith grows, our hearts are transformed, and our prayers become increasingly aligned with His will.

When we seek His face first, we often discover that His presence is the greatest answer to prayer.

_{Adapted from Daniel Henderson}

We live in what columnist David Brooks calls an "arena culture."

We've been conditioned to consume. We buy our tickets, find our seats, watch someone else perform, and then decide whether it was worth our time. If we're not careful, we can bring that same mindset into the church. We show up, sing a few songs, listen to a sermon, and head home evaluating whether our preferences were met.

But that's not the picture Paul paints in Ephesians.

The church isn't an audience. It's a family. It's a body. It's not a place where a few people do ministry while everyone else watches. It's a people who have been equipped by Jesus and sent into the world to do the work of ministry.

So how does Christ build a church like that?

Paul's answer is wonderfully simple: God's Word is what grows God's church.

That's why the local church matters. That's why Sundays matter. Church isn't simply something we attend. It's God's design for you and me to gather, to be equipped for ministry, for our maturity and for our protection from drifting into false ideas about God. As we gather around God's Word week after week, this one of the key ways Christ forms us into His image and unleashes us back into the world to live on mission and multiply disciples. 

1. Christ Equips His Church for Ministry

Paul reminds us that Christ Himself gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers "to equip the saints for the work of ministry" (Ephesians 4:11-12).

Notice who does the ministry.

Not just pastors.

The saints. You.

Every believer has been gifted by the Holy Spirit and sent into everyday life as Christ's representative. My role as a pastor isn't to do all the ministry. It's to faithfully teach God's Word so God's people are equipped for the ministry God has already placed in front of them.

Sunday isn't the game.

It's the practice field.

The rest of the week is where God sends His people into neighborhoods, workplaces, classrooms, coffee shops, and homes to live out the gospel.

The church doesn't have a handful of ministers on staff. The church is made up of ordinary believers scattered throughout the city, carrying the hope of Christ wherever they go.

2. Christ Matures His Church Through the Word

Paul says Christ equips His church "until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood" (Ephesians 4:13).

God's goal isn't simply that we know more Bible facts.

His goal is that we become more like Jesus.

That kind of maturity doesn't happen overnight.

Our culture loves instant results, but you can't microwave discipleship. Christ patiently shapes His people through years of hearing, believing, obeying, and living out His Word together in the local church.

One of my favorite pictures of spiritual growth is an oak tree. For years it grows deep roots before anyone notices much happening above the ground.

That's often what God is doing in our lives.

Many mornings you may read Scripture and wonder if anything happened at all. Then the storm comes. A difficult diagnosis. A broken relationship. A season of suffering. Suddenly you discover that God wasn't wasting those ordinary moments in His Word.

He was growing roots.

The storm didn't make the tree strong.

It simply revealed what Christ had been growing all along.

Every week countless voices compete for our attention, but God's Word is the voice that shapes God's people into the likeness of Christ.

3. Christ Protects His Church With the Word

Paul explains that God's Word not only grows His church but protects it.

Without biblical truth, believers become "tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine" (Ephesians 4:14).

One of the greatest dangers facing the church isn't pressure from outside. Throughout history, Christianity has often flourished under persecution.

The greater danger is drifting from God's truth.

When Paul met with the Ephesian elders in Acts 20, he didn't primarily warn them about Rome. He warned them about false teachers who would arise from within the church. Years later, when Timothy pastored Ephesus, Paul's first instruction was to guard sound doctrine.

The greatest defense against false teaching isn't becoming an expert on every false teacher. It's becoming deeply rooted in God's Word.

Paul then tells us how Christ protects His church:

"Speaking the truth in love" (Ephesians 4:15).

The gospel isn't meant to stay in the pulpit.

It becomes the language of the church.

We encourage one another with the gospel. We comfort one another with the gospel. We lovingly correct one another with the gospel. Over time, the truth of Christ becomes our native language instead of fear, pride, shame, or self-sufficiency.

That's how Christ builds a healthy church.

Keep Showing Up

Maybe today you feel discouraged because your spiritual growth seems slow.

Don't mistake slow growth for no growth.

Keep showing up.

Keep opening God's Word.

Keep gathering with God's people.

Christ is doing a deeper work than you can see.

At Vintage Church, our prayer is that we would become the kind of church where God's Word isn't just heard on Sundays but treasured every day. A church where the gospel becomes our native language, where we speak the truth in love, and where every member is equipped to make disciples and build up the body of Christ.

Because God's Word is what grows God's church.

Anybody who talks to me will know that I am an advocate of good therapy. I grew up around Bible-believing Christians that studied the Scriptures earnestly but often had blindspots about the ways their culture and upbringing shaped their relationship with God and others. The effects of these blindspots weren’t merely theoretical. Relationships suffered because of them, and those who had them often remained oblivious to the ways they hurt others (or refused to see it!).

I believe that our finitude and sin mean that we can be well-intentioned and even have great zeal for God, but need the wise counsel and the corrective perspective of those skilled in drawing out the ways we mis-relate to ourselves, others, and even our faith. I don’t think every Christian needs a therapist to unpack these things. But one prevalent fact of modern-day life is that many Christians do seek out therapists to get a better handle on their pain, their inner life, and their past. I want to provide a perspective on the way that Christians can understand the relationship between therapy and their faith.

Now, modifying therapy with the word good can seem unfair, because obviously nobody would endorse any therapy that misses the mark. But it’s still a helpful framing, if at least to open up the conversation to therapy skeptics (what makes therapy good rather than harmful?) and those naive to the dangers of bad therapy (do you have the discernment to tell the difference?).

I define good therapy as the conversational help someone receives to help them become more properly ordered to reality, from the head all the way down to the heart, and in some sense, deep within their bones. Therapy helps surface the ways we’ve been formed by things like our families of origin, the lies we believe about ourselves or God, and the distorted ways we relate to friends, family, and neighbors.

Good therapy helps integrate our character so that we experience less of a dissonance between what we believe, what we feel and desire, and how we move through the world. Good therapy can be assessed by its fruit: are we becoming persons of love that relate wisely and virtuously with respect to others, ourselves, and our communities? Or are we becoming increasingly self-absorbed, alienated from the truth of who we are, and unable to give ourselves to others and receive them with grace?

Of course, framing therapy as an ordering towards reality raises the question of: what is reality? And can secular therapists orient us toward it? We trust well trained physicians and car mechanics, regardless of their worldview, because the science of the body and a car are hard sciences, whose practice is not easily distorted by ideology. But when it comes to human nature—who are we, what are we, and what are we for—claims about ultimate reality (the kind that can’t be measured or calculated by empirical observation) begin to press in.
It’s beyond the scope of this post to fully address the nuances of why or whether secular therapy is valid. Here’s my modest claim: good therapists, even those who aren’t Christian, are like craftspeople who have acquired a skill for perceiving common patterns and structures of human relating—with ourselves, with others, with our families, and with our beliefs—that either help or hinder our flourishing. Whether they bring in notions like shame, attachment theory, or the nervous system with diagnostic accuracy will depend more on their skill in being attentive to the person right in front of them—their client—than their worldview alone.

With that established, my goal in this post is less to trace the nuances of how therapy can go wrong but to paint a picture of how it fits in the Christian life. Assuming you find a therapist who has the kind of skill I described above and isn’t invoking ideas that are in constant tension with your Christian faith: how do you integrate what you learn in the counseling room with what you hear on Sunday?

This is where the concept of telos becomes so helpful. Telos is the Greek word for end, goal, or purpose. Telos tells us what humans are for, and this is something that only the God who made us can tell us. In other words, while therapy can help us discern the structure of human relationships and the ways these become misshapen, only God can tell us the ultimate form and direction they should take. Therapy can work with the facts of human existence at the level of empirical observation and skillful attunement. But therapy can’t discern the ultimate purpose we were made for. It doesn’t speak to the deepest part of the human heart in its continual responsiveness to life with either trust toward God and his promises or unbelief and autonomous self-rule.

If you have a therapist that is helping you unpack childhood wounds, relational trauma, and your experiences of mental health, they can help discern the ways you’ve accumulated unhelpful ways of relating to yourself, your faith, or others. But eventually, you will need to supply the theological interpretation of these things. This is something your therapist cannot ultimately do for you. Where was God when these things happened to you? Was He good in allowing or purposing these things to come into your life? Are you able to bring all of this before God in prayer? Why or why not? These are the kind of things that should be worked out in a church community, under the care of a pastor, shaped by a study of God’s word and in the attentive heeding of biblical preaching.

The Bible’s own therapeutic categories, if we want to use that language, deal with human life in the realms of faith, lament, waiting, believing, hoping, suffering, sinning, obeying, and following Jesus. The Bible makes claims about what kind of responses cultivate resilience, love, and loyalty to God and what kind of responses lead to ruin, disobedience, and a hardened heart that refuses to trust God.

The Bible’s own view of the heart, mind, soul, and body provides Christians with its own biblical psychology, which takes precedence over every other system of interpreting human experience. And while the Bible speaks to every area of human life (its authority is comprehensive), it is not an encyclopedic handbook or manual for every area of human life (its contents are not exhaustive). And yet, this doesn’t mean the Bible’s relevance to all of life is limited in any way.

The Bible’s authority speaks not only what it says is true, but what it says is important. The Bible gives us the right weight to assign to each facet of our lived experiences and how everything must be viewed in reference to the person of Jesus Christ, in whom “all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17). In this way, God has given to us, in the Bible, everything we need for salvation and to live a life pleasing to him: “for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17), for “life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3).

To give a concrete example of how biblical anthropology informs and controls the therapeutic, consider the example of a Christian with chronic anxiety. On the one hand, a simplistic response would be to quote Philippians 4:6, “Do not be anxious about anything”, exhort them to trust in God, and consider your care for your anxious brother or sister in Christ complete. On the other hand, a therapist might accurately trace the ways overwhelming experiences in life have conditioned their nervous system to have trouble regulating their emotions (“the hysterical is historical”).

Because the Bible teaches that we are embodied souls, a holistic response can account for both of these angles. Because we are embodied, with our mind and brain being inseparably connected, our past “baggage” (painful memories, shame, and lingering lies) qualify our capacity to respond in the ways we wish we could in difficult circumstances. But because we are souls, we are not irreversibly determined by our past or our biology. We have the ability to truly, though not easily, relate to God in faith even when our history and biology are “stacked” against us. The heroes of the faith are not just those who do great things for God, but those who trust greatly in God despite and within their emotional and mental pain.

Of course, as God's people, we know we are part of the new humanity He is building. But what does that look like in everyday life? As an engineer? As a stay-at-home parent? As a student? As a retiree? How do we leverage our lives for the kingdom of God?

As Paul closes his letter to the Colossians, he gives us a picture of what that looks like in the life of the church.

Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts, and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here...
-Colossians 4:7-17

Throughout Scripture, God has always provided faithful co-laborers to serve alongside His leaders in the work of the gospel. Paul had men like Tychicus, whom he described as "the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord" (Eph. 6:21). As Paul closes Colossians, he lists several friends and ministry partners who served alongside him "for the kingdom of God" (Col. 4:11).

These fellow workers were not merely helping with tasks. They were participating in the mission of proclaiming Christ and seeing people brought into God's kingdom. Throughout Acts and Paul's letters, working "for the kingdom of God" is closely connected to the proclamation of the gospel and the making of disciples.

Paul ends this letter by showing the church what co-laboring means to him and what it looks like in the life of the church. Then he closes with a final charge:

"See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord." (Col. 4:17)

Everyone has an assignment.

Mine is different than yours. Yours is different than mine.

There are people you can reach that I never will. There are opportunities God has placed in your path that He has not placed in mine. But when each of us takes seriously the ministry God has entrusted to us, the kingdom advances.

For many people, the daunting question is, What is my ministry?

Paul seems to demonstrate that one of the best places to start is by co-laboring in the gospel and working "for the kingdom of God." As he closes Colossians, he highlights ordinary believers who partnered with him in extraordinary ways.

Here are four ways they co-labored in the gospel.

1. Co-Laborers Communicate and Strengthen Churches

Tychicus (4:7-8)

"I have sent him to you for this very purpose... that he may encourage your hearts."

Tychicus was more than a mail carrier. He was a trusted messenger who likely explained Paul's letters, answered questions, and strengthened believers wherever he went.

Kingdom work includes:

* Carrying truth to God's people.
* Strengthening discouraged believers.
* Providing trustworthy communication between churches.
* Encouraging the saints.

Ministry is not only preaching. It is also encouraging hearts.

2. Co-Laborers Embody the Transforming Power of the Gospel

Onesimus (4:9)

"Our faithful and beloved brother."

This is remarkable because Onesimus was formerly a runaway slave (see Philemon). Yet Paul now describes him with the same language he uses for Tychicus.

Kingdom work includes:

* Living as evidence of gospel transformation.
* Demonstrating reconciliation.
* Serving faithfully regardless of your background.
* Showing what God's grace can do in a life.

One of the greatest contributions you can make to the kingdom is a changed life.

3. Co-Laborers Willingly Suffer for the Mission

Aristarchus (4:10)

"My fellow prisoner."

Aristarchus appears throughout Paul's ministry and now shares in Paul's imprisonment.

Kingdom work includes:

* Enduring hardship.
* Standing with gospel workers during difficult seasons.
* Remaining loyal when ministry becomes costly.
* Refusing to abandon the mission when things get hard.

Some people advance the kingdom through sacrifice more than visibility.

4. Co-Laborers Restore and Welcome One Another

Mark (4:10)

This is the same John Mark who once abandoned Paul during an earlier missionary journey (Acts 13:13), leading to sharp disagreement between Paul and Barnabas.

Yet now Paul says:

"If he comes to you, welcome him."

The gospel had done a work in both men.

Co-laborers pursue reconciliation wherever possible because reconciliation is one of the clearest displays of the gospel's power. Healthy kingdom work creates space for redeemed failures, second chances, and restored relationships.

Kingdom work includes:

* Restoring fallen servants.
* Extending grace.
* Giving people another opportunity to serve.
* Pursuing reconciliation for the sake of the gospel.

Healthy kingdom work makes room for redeemed failures.

As Paul looks around at the people God has placed beside him, he doesn't see superstars. He sees ordinary believers faithfully using their lives for the kingdom. Some encouraged. Some suffered. Some had dramatic testimonies. Some opened doors for reconciliation.

Together they were "fellow workers for the kingdom of God."

The same is true today.

You may not preach sermons, plant churches, or travel the world as a missionary. But if you are using your life to help others know Christ, grow in Christ, and follow Christ, you are participating in God's kingdom work.

"See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord."

One of the most overlooked disciplines in the Christian life is watchfulness. In Colossians 4:2, Paul exhorts believers to be "watchful" in prayer, living with spiritual awareness and attentiveness to God's activity in the world.

The Scottish pastor and theologian Thomas Boston helpfully organized biblical watchfulness into three categories: things we must watch over, things we must watch against, and things we must watch for. Together, they provide a practical framework for living awake to God's work and alert to spiritual realities.

1. Watch Over What God Has Entrusted to You
Before believers can effectively engage the world around them, they must pay careful attention to their own souls.

Watch Over Yourself
Boston begins with the believer's own life:

• Watch over your mind and your beliefs.
• Watch over your heart and its thoughts.
• Watch over your affections and desires.
• Watch over your tongue and speech.
• Watch over your senses and what you allow to shape you.
• Watch over your conduct and daily walk.

The Christian life requires more than occasional self-reflection. It calls for ongoing spiritual vigilance.

Watch Over Your Graces
Faith, love, humility, patience, and joy do not thrive accidentally. Like a garden, spiritual growth must be cultivated and protected.

Watch Over Your Duties
Prayer, Scripture reading, worship, fellowship, evangelism, and service should not be neglected. Watchfulness guards us from drifting into spiritual complacency.

Watch Over Your Attainments
Growth in godliness should be maintained and strengthened. We must guard against losing ground spiritually through neglect or pride.

2. Watch Against Spiritual Dangers
The Christian life is not only about nurturing what is good. It is also about resisting what seeks to destroy our fellowship with Christ.

Watch Against Sin
Boston specifically warns believers to watch against:

• The sinful tendencies of their nature.
• Former sins that seek to regain influence.
• Particular temptations unique to them.
• Even seemingly "small" sins. Many spiritual failures begin with sins we considered harmless.

Watch Against the Appearance of Evil
Believers should exercise wisdom, avoiding situations that compromise their witness or invite unnecessary temptation.

Watch Against Occasions of Sin
Often the wisest response to temptation is not resistance but avoidance.

Watch Against Temptations
Satan's schemes rarely arrive announcing themselves. Watchfulness helps us recognize temptation before it gains a foothold.

Watch Against Harmful Influences
The company we keep shapes the people we become. Scripture repeatedly reminds us that influences matter.

3. Watch For God's Activity
Watchfulness is not merely defensive. It is also expectant. Christians are called to look for ways God is working and opportunities to join Him.

Watch For the Right Time to Act
There are moments when God opens unique doors for obedience, service, encouragement, or gospel witness. Watchful believers recognize those moments.

Watch For the Spirit's Leading
God often nudges His people through conviction, burden, opportunity, and the illumination of His Word. Watchfulness helps us discern His direction.

Watch For God's Providence
Boston encourages believers to carefully observe God's dealings in their lives. As we reflect on His providence, we learn to recognize His faithfulness and guidance.

Watch the Fruit of Your Labor
Pay attention to how God answers prayer, changes hearts, and advances His purposes. Noticing God's work fuels gratitude and strengthens faith.

Hedges, Brian G.. Watchfulness: Recovering a Lost Spiritual Discipline (pp. 91-93). 

Colossians 3:1–4

There are moments in life that permanently redirect us.

Some are beautiful. A wedding. The birth of a child. A move across the country. A new opportunity that changes the trajectory of your life. A job change.

Others are painful and unexpected. A loss. A betrayal. A diagnosis. A season of suffering that quietly reshapes the way you think and live.

Before Christ, we were spiritually dead, living for ourselves, trapped in sin and separation from God. But through the death and resurrection of Jesus, we have been given an entirely new direction, a new identity, and a new future.

So how does the resurrection redirect our lives? In Colossians 3, Paul gives us three practical ways the resurrection redirects the way we live.

#1. The Resurrection Redirects Your Identity

One of the greatest struggles many Christians face is with their identity.

And often we answer the question of who am I with:

* our failures
* our past
* our wounds
* our success
* our politics
* our career
* what other people think about us

But Paul says believers are no longer defined by those things. “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:3)

One of the clearest pictures of our new identity in Christ is found in the baptism of Jesus.
Jesus did not need baptism the way everyone else in the Jordan River did. The crowds came confessing sin and repenting. Jesus had no sin to confess. He is fully holy, righteous, and obedient.

So why was Jesus baptized?

Because Jesus came to identify with us.

From His birth to the cross, Jesus continually stepped into our place so that through faith we could be united to Him.

And before Jesus performed a miracle, preached a sermon, or went to the cross, the Father spoke over Him:

“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
Matthew 3:17

Jesus received the declaration of His identity before He did anything publicly.

That really speaks directly into our culture’s identity crisis. How many times do have we receive our worth by our accomplishments, failures, careers, politics, or the opinions of others. But the real danger to for the believer is when our identities become handed to us by people who did not create us. True identity can only come from God.

How do we change? First, spend time identifying your false identities

Ask yourself honestly:

* What label do I return to most often?
* What voice defines me when I fail?
* What am I afraid people will think about me?

Write those things down. Then compare them to what God says is true about you in Scripture.

Preach truth to yourself daily

Every morning this week, remind yourself:

* I am united to Christ.
* I am forgiven.
* I am loved by God.
* My identity is secure in Jesus.

Read Colossians 3:1–4 slowly each day

Do not rush through it. Meditate on it. Let it reshape how you think about yourself.

# 2. The Resurrection Redirects Your Pursuits

Paul does not stop at identity. He moves to pursuit.

“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”
Colossians 3:2

What fills your mind eventually shapes your life.

Most people are constantly meditating on something:

* fear
* success
* comfort
* politics
* relationships
* control
* anxiety

But Paul says believers are called to intentionally redirect their minds toward Christ.

This does not mean ignoring real problems. It means allowing eternal truths to shape how we respond to temporary circumstances.

Paul reminds believers that Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Jesus rules over our:

* suffering
* uncertainty
* fear
* your future
* your present circumstances

Nothing in our lives sits outside His authority.

But the truth is many of us are stuck living in fear because, it's not that we don't know Gods word, it's that we don't believe God's word.

How do we grow in not only knowing God's word but allowing the Spirit to seal it on our hearts. It starts with limiting the noise shaping your mind. Here's what I mean. Pay attention this week to what consumes most of your attention:

* social media
* news and politics
* fear-based thinking
* endless distraction

This is why Paul’s antidote for the Colossians church, who were wrestling with false teaching about Jesus, was to call them to “seek the things that are above.” That statement can feel very vague, so what does the Apostle mean when he instructs them to seek the things above?

Four Ways to Seek the Things Above

Seeking the things above cannot be occasional. It has to become a daily habit.

Here are four simple ways to practice this:

a. Study your Bible.
Use the year-long Bible reading plan in our church app. Open the app, click Bible, then go to Plan in the bottom right. Follow along each day.

b. Meditate on Scripture.
Do not just read quickly and move on. Slow down and ask, “How should this Scripture redirect the way I think?”

Philippians 4:8 tells us to dwell on what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and worthy of praise.

Thomas Watson wrote:
“Meditation imprints and fastens a truth in the mind… as a hammer drives a nail to the head, so meditation drives a truth to the heart.”

c. Pray the Scriptures.
Let God’s Word shape the way you pray for yourself and for others.

d. Gather with people who reinforce God’s truth.
Do not walk alone. Get into a Vintage Community where you can grow with others, be encouraged, and be reminded of what is true.

Seeking the things above is not a one-time decision. It is a daily direction.

# 3. The Resurrection Redirects Your Future Hope

Paul says:

“When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”
Colossians 3:4

Christians do not simply have wishful thinking about the future. We have resurrection hope.

That means:

* suffering is temporary
* death is not the end
* sin will not have the final word
* glory is coming

Paul reminds these Colossians believers that their lives are hidden with Christ right now, but one day what is true spiritually will become fully visible.

One day:

* suffering ends
* sin is gone
* faith becomes sight
* believers will be with Jesus forever

That future hope changes how Christians endure the present.

Questions to Consider

Ask yourself where your hope really rests. What are you looking to for security right now?

Anything temporary will eventually disappoint you if it becomes your ultimate hope.

Remember that this world is not the destination. Our ultimate future is glory with Christ. So we are to hold earthly things with open hands. Enjoy God’s gifts without making them your identity or hope.

The resurrection of Jesus did not come merely to make people religious or slightly improve their lives.

The resurrection redirects everything.

It redirects:

* your identity
* your pursuits
* your future hope

And because Jesus walked out of the tomb, you no longer have to live trapped by the past, controlled by fear, or consumed by temporary things.

The invitation of the gospel is not self-improvement. It is resurrection life through union with Christ.

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
-Proverbs 22:6

1. The greatest gift parents give their children is a godly, committed, warm marriage. You were together before they came and you’ll be together after they go. If they never get grossed out by seeing you kiss, you're doing something wrong. (This, sadly, isn't always possible — but it's worth pursuing when it is)

2. Parenting is an “always on” job. It’s often difficult, hard work. Get over it. The pain is worth it. Sure, you'd love a bunch of days off — but those only come on the rare days you literally have a vacation without them. Embrace it.

3. Kids respond to their parents’ presence as much or more than what their parents say. Are you calm, measured, joyful, thoughtful, and self-controlled? Or are you anxious, dramatic, short-fused, reactive, and on an emotional roller-coaster? Kids sense the difference and respond accordingly.

4. Have very few rules and enforce them every time. If it’s worth disciplining once, it’s worth disciplining every single time. If it’s not worth disciplining every single time, then it probably shouldn’t be a rule.

5. Train toward first-time obedience. Do not give warnings, threats, or count to three—it just trains them to delay obedience (which is disobedience). Give few options, clear and short instructions, and set them up for success. If they wait or delay or rebel, there are consequences.

6. Dads are the spiritual and relational thermostat in the home. They set the temperature (whether good or bad). Godly dads reject passivity, accept responsibility, and lead courageously.

7. Treat them with high respect, but low autonomy. These kids are image-bearers of God, and you will know them eventually for longer as friends. So treat them with utmost respect. But when they're young, don't give them much autonomy. They don't get to decide what to eat or wear. You can start tight and loosen later, but you usually can't go the other way.

8. Children thrive with consistency and boundaries. They need consistent expectations, rules, bedtimes, nap times, etc. They actually want boundaries. Lots of fun can be had within the confines of a sandbox, but total flexibility = anarchy.

9. Read to your kids. A lot. Snuggle up. Read fun books. Read educational books. Read silly books. Read the Jesus Storybook Bible. Read, read, read. Deep down, they want this more than they want electronics, cool experiences, or organized activities. They want and need their mom and dad to give them focused time and attention.

10. Remember the gospel. You will blow it. You will sin against your spouse and your kids. Confess those sins to Jesus. Trust that his life, death, and resurrection are sufficient for you. You are not in good standing with God on the basis of your parental love, but on the basis of God’s.

Learn how your work matters to God and how you can make a difference in your workplace, wherever that might be.

Sent to the Workplace is a simple, practical discipleship course from the International Mission Board that helps you see your everyday work through God’s eyes and live it with purpose.

Whether you’re in the marketplace, at home, in school, or serving in your community, this course will help you connect your faith to your daily life in real, tangible ways.

Here’s the best part:

It’s easy. No heavy lift. Just sign up, jump in, and start growing.

What you’ll walk away with:

• A clear understanding that your work matters to God and carries eternal weight
• Simple, practical ways to live on mission right where you are
• Tools to “show and tell” the gospel through everyday conversations and relationships
• Real stories from others who are faithfully living this out

This isn’t about adding more to your schedule.
It’s about seeing what’s already on your schedule differently.
You don’t need a new job to live on mission.
You just need a new lens.

Jump in. It’s quick to access, easy to follow, and built to help you grow in scripture and on mission with Jesus in the workplace.

CLICK HERE TO START 

Salvation Is Free. The Mission Is Costly.

“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake…” (Colossians 1:24)

This line is deeply personal for Paul. In the report he received about the church in Colossae, these new believers were trying to make sense of their new life in Christ while watching the very man God used to bring them the gospel constantly face hardship. Naturally, the question rises: why? Why all the suffering? Why the detours?

It’s a question we still ask. Why does following Jesus sometimes feel heavier, not lighter?
That tension doesn’t sit comfortably with us. We tend to assume the opposite. If Jesus is Lord, shouldn’t life smooth out a bit? Shouldn’t obedience lead to clarity, comfort, maybe even a lighter load?

Paul answers that expectation from these Colossae Christians with something surprising. He says he "rejoices in suffering." Not because pain is pleasant, but because Jesus is sovereign and supremely above all things, nothing we face is discounted from his kingdom plan.

Paul sees his life caught up in something bigger than his own ease. He understands that while salvation is completely free, the mission of God is costly. Jesus suffered to accomplish salvation once and for all. That work is finished. But the message of that salvation still needs to travel, still needs to be heard, still needs to reach people who have not yet seen or believed.

And God, in His wisdom, sends that message forward through ordinary people who are willing to give their lives away.

That’s where Paul finds joy. His suffering is not meaningless. It is being used. His sacrifice is not empty. It is producing life in others. As he says elsewhere, “death is at work in us, but life in you.” When Paul lays down his comfort, others are led to Christ. When he endures hardship, the gospel advances.

That reframes how we see our own lives.

What if your current struggle is not an interruption to God’s plan, but part of it? What if the very thing you would remove is the thing God intends to use for his own glory and the gospel. 

Paul also makes it clear that this kind of life flows from identity. He says he became a servant according to a stewardship from God. Not a consumer, not a spectator, but a servant entrusted with something valuable.

That’s the shift many of us need. We often drift into asking, “What am I getting?” Paul asks, “What have I been given, and who is it for?” Grace doesn’t just comfort us, it commissions us.

And at the center of it all is this staggering reality: “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” The mission is not powered by your willpower or sustained by your strength. It is Christ Himself, alive in you, working through you, carrying you forward even when you feel weak.

That means you don’t have to wait until life feels easy to step into what God has called you to. You can serve in the middle of hardship. You can love when it costs you something. You can speak the gospel even when it feels inconvenient.

Because your life is not random. It is an assignment.

So take a moment and ask: what is driving my life right now? Comfort or calling? Consumption or commission?

Salvation is free. You cannot earn it. You cannot add to it. Christ has done it all.
But stepping into His mission will cost you something.
And in the strange, upside-down economy of the kingdom, that’s exactly where you’ll find your life.

We spend much of life trying to bring things into focus, searching for clarity, control, and a sense that we’re not missing something. But in Colossians 1:15–29, Paul centers everything on one reality: Jesus is first in all things.

“He is the image of the invisible God… For by Him all things were created… all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (Col. 1:15–17). Jesus is not just part of the story. He is the originator and sustainer of all things. Everything begins with Him, continues through Him, and exists for Him.

And this same Jesus is the reconciler. “Through Him [God] reconciled to Himself all things… making peace by the blood of His cross” (Col. 1:20). Then Paul makes it personal: “And you… He has now reconciled… in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him” (Col. 1:21–22). This means your life is not self-defined. It belongs to Him, and your standing with God is already secured in Christ.

That truth reshapes everything. If Jesus holds all things together, then you don’t have to. The pressure to control your future or prove your worth begins to loosen. You are already reconciled, already accepted, and being held together by Him.

Yet we are constantly tempted to believe there is something more. A deeper truth. A better version of ourselves just out of reach. But Paul reminds us: the gospel is not lacking. Your identity is not achieved. It is received.

So the call is simple: don’t shift from the hope of the gospel (Col. 1:23). Start with Jesus. Put what you’re carrying on Him. Stay rooted in Him.

Because when Jesus is first, everything else finally finds its place.

I’ve practiced fasting from after dinner until lunch for many years. These days, fasting is widely embraced for its health benefits, but its deeper value is spiritual.

Biblical fasting is meant to open our eyes to more of God, to awaken a deeper hunger for Him, to draw us nearer to Christ, and to train our hearts to find strength and joy in His presence. If every other benefit of fasting were stripped away, this alone would be enough.

John Piper, in his book "A Hunger for God," writes this;

“Bread was created for the glory of Christ. Hunger and thirst were created for the glory of Christ. And fasting was created for the glory of Christ.

Which means that bread magnifies Christ in two ways: by being eaten with gratitude for his goodness, and by being forfeited out of hunger for God himself. When we eat, we taste the emblem of our heavenly food—the Bread of Life. And when we fast we say, “I love the Reality above the emblem.” In the heart of the saint both eating and fasting are worship. Both magnify Christ.”

Fasting is about what our hearts crave. It exposes what we truly hunger for, and teaches us to hunger for God above all.

“I humbled my soul with fasting…” (Psalm 35:13)

When you remove food, what rises to the surface reveals your deeper desires. Fasting is meant to redirect that hunger toward God.

For Jesus, fasting wasn’t optional. Notice His words:
“When you fast…” (Matthew 6:16) Not if, but when. Jesus expects His people to fast.

This has been a practice for the people of God for centuries.
“Return to me with all your heart, with fasting… rend your hearts and not your garments.” (Joel 2:12–13)

But many of us mistake fasting for denial. Denial is giving something up for a time, like social media, desserts, or entertainment. That can be helpful for drawing near to God, and disciplining ourselves, but biblical fasting is specifically fasting from food. (1 Corinthians 9:27)

Why fast?

God rewards fasting because we are saying with the cry of our hearts that nothing else satisfies me, except for Christ alone.

Historically, during Lent, the church set aside this season leading up to Easter to fast and pray, to express their desire for Christ alone and to prepare their hearts to remember the cross and celebrate the resurrection.

So this is why this year we are leaning into fasting.

What could fasting look like?

For some, fasting for a full day may be appropriate. For others, depending on health or season of life, it may not be wise and that’s okay.

A simple place to start:

1. Skip one meal and replace that time with prayer
2. Fast from sunrise to sunset
3. Fast two meals and eat one
4. The goal isn’t the method, it’s making space to seek God.

Resources:

1. A Guide to Christian Fasting by desiringGod.org
2. Should Christians Fast? by TableTalk Magazine  
3. "For The Church" on Fasting by Jared C. Wilson 

A few years ago I went to the dentist expecting a routine visit. I assumed it was a simple cavity appointment. Nothing serious. But when I arrived, the receptionist casually mentioned the dentist was preparing for surgery. A few minutes later I heard the words root canal, and I realized I didn't read the instructions ahead of time. That moment taught me something simple: instructions matter, especially when you are heading into danger.

That is exactly how Paul ends the book of Ephesians. He is not offering random closing thoughts. He is giving urgent instructions to believers living in a real spiritual battle.
Paul begins with a command: “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.” Notice he does not say be strong in yourself. The strength the Christian needs does not come from effort or discipline alone. It comes from the Lord.

Then Paul tells us why this strength is necessary: “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” The Christian life is not a playground. It is a battlefield. Our struggle is not merely against circumstances or difficult seasons. Beneath those struggles is a deeper conflict involving spiritual forces that oppose the work of Christ.

When Paul speaks about the armor of God, he is not inventing a new idea. He is drawing from the Old Testament picture of the Lord as the divine warrior. In Isaiah 59:17 the Lord is described this way: “He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head.”

And in Isaiah 11:5 we read, “Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.”

The armor Paul describes is God’s armor. The strength believers stand in is not their own strength but the strength of the Lord.

Paul then describes how this armor equips us to stand.

The belt of truth holds everything together. A life shaped by God’s truth and lived with integrity keeps believers from tripping over hidden sin and deception.

The breastplate of righteousness protects the heart. It is a life brought under obedience to God, where areas of compromise are surrendered to Him.

The shoes of the gospel of peace give readiness and stability. The gospel grounds our lives and sends us forward on the mission of Christ.

The shield of faith is what we list up to extinguish the enemy’s flaming darts, lies, accusations, and despair, by trusting the promises of God.

The helmet of salvation guards the mind with assurance that Christ has already secured our redemption.

And the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, is the believer’s offensive weapon.

Scripture brought to mind and spoken in faith cuts through deception and exposes lies.
Paul closes by reminding the church to pray at all times in the Spirit. Prayer keeps believers alert and dependent on God, and it is the very thing that makes the Word alive and active in our lives.

Perhaps you are struggling to believe your identity in Christ. Perhaps you are wrestling with doubt. Maybe your marriage is hanging on by a thread. The call of God in this passage is to remember that your enemy is not your spouse, and it is not merely the difficult circumstances around you.

Our battle is deeper than what we see.

Paul reminds us that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood.” Our struggle is against the devil and the spiritual forces at work behind the scenes of our lives; forces that seek to keep conflict alive in our homes, to keep hidden sin buried in the dark, and to push us further away from God’s purposes.

But the encouragement of this passage is that God has not left His people defenseless. He has given us His armor, His Word, and the gift of prayer so that we can stand firm in Christ.

Jesus has already won the victory. Our call is simple: stand firm in Him, by putting on His armor. 

History shows that when ordinary people trust God enough to pray, God often moves in extraordinary ways. Not because prayer manipulates God, but because the sovereign God who rules all things has chosen to accomplish His purposes through the prayers of His people.

In the 1850s, during an economic crisis in America, a quiet Christian businessman named Jeremiah Lanphier began a simple lunch-hour prayer meeting in New York City. The first week only six people came. But they prayed. Within months thousands were gathering daily across the city, and the movement spread throughout the country. Historians estimate that over a million people came to faith in Christ. It became known as the Layman’s Prayer Revival. It began with one ordinary person who believed God hears the prayers of ordinary people.

That is exactly where the book of James ends.

Throughout the letter, James confronts the church’s double-mindedness. He exposes pride, conflict, favoritism, and divided loyalties. And in the final verses he brings everything back to faith-filled prayer. The greatest danger to the church is not what happens around us, but when we attempt to do God’s work in our own strength rather than in dependence on the Spirit of God.

Francis Schaeffer once wrote:
“The central problem of our age is not liberalism or modernism, nor Roman Catholicism, nor the threat of communism, nor even rationalism. The real problem is this: the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, individually and corporately, tending to do the Lord’s work in the power of the flesh rather than of the Spirit.”

So how do we do the Lord’s work the Lord’s way?

First, believers are called to pray in weakness. James writes, “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray… Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church” (James 5:13–14).

James is talking about sickness and suffering, showing us that our deepest problem is not physical frailty but spiritual sickness caused by sin. We aren't sick because of our sin but sometimes God does use our illnesses to uncover our deeper need for the salvation.

Second, the church must confess sin honestly. James commands, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (James 5:16). Confession exposes what sin tries to hide and reminds us that our relationship with Jesus is personal but never private. As Paul writes, “We are members one of another” (Ephesians 4:25).

Third, James calls believers to trust God’s power. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. His prayers were effective not because of personal greatness but because they aligned with the purposes of a sovereign God. James says, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”(James 5:16)

Righteousness here is not perfection but a life aligned with God through repentance and obedience, grounded not in our own righteousness but in Christ righteousness.

James also shows that faithful prayer is persistent. Elijah prayed, and then he prayed again. Even when nothing appeared to happen, he continued asking. Persistent prayer does not attempt to force God’s hand; it expresses confidence in His character and trust in His timing. (James 5:18)

Finally, James connects prayer to God’s mission. The greatest miracle is not merely physical healing but the restoration of wandering sinners. God has ordained that the prayers of His people participate in His redeeming work. (James 5:19–20)

And like the Layman’s Prayer Revival, we may yet see the fruit of a generation that refuses to waste our lives praying for better outcomes alone.

What if we linked our story with God’s story and aligned our hearts with His heart for the world?

What if every prayer ended with this:
“God, glorify Your name and advance Your kingdom.”

You may not have grown up in a church tradition that observes Lent. Maybe this is the first time you’re even hearing the word. Or maybe you come from a Catholic background and Lent feels very familiar to you.

While the Bible does not use the word Lent, the season reflects a pattern found throughout Scripture. Lent is an intentional time to slow down, pray, fast, repent, reflect, and return to God (Joel 2:12–13; James 4:8). For generations, the church has observed this season as a way of preparing hearts for the cross and the resurrection.

In many ways, Lent simply gives shape to rhythms already present in the Bible, setting aside time to fix our eyes on Christ, grieve our sin honestly, and anchor ourselves again in the hope of the gospel.

If you’re familiar with Lent, you know it marks the 40 days leading up to Easter, Sundays excepted. Like Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness, it has often been reduced to giving up chocolate or other comforts to show devotion. But Lent is far deeper than proving you can give something up. Jesus modeled a different pattern, spending forty days fasting and preparing for ministry (Matt. 4:1–2), living in dependence on the Father.

Lent begins this year on Ash Wednesday, a day that may feel unfamiliar or even confusing to some. If you grew up in a Catholic setting, you may remember ashes placed on your forehead. In Scripture, ashes represent grief over sin. Job sat in dust and ashes as a sign of repentance (Job 42:6), reminding us of our brokenness and our humanity, that we are dust and will return to dust (Gen. 3:19; Ps. 103:14).

In a culture where the self can easily take center stage, Lent redirects our attention to the cross. It invites us to face our sin honestly and remember our frailty. Yet the story does not end in ashes. Scripture tells us that “godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret” (2 Cor. 7:10). Jesus meets us in our repentance and leads us into newness of life.

As we consider how to live more consistently in the life Christ has secured for us, Lent calls us to move from brokenness toward hope. It reorients our hearts from the cross to the empty tomb, remembering that “He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Rom. 4:25).

Here are two reasons to participate in Lent this year, and how.

1. Lent gives us an intentional season of preparing for Easter.
Much like Advent prepares us for Christmas, Lent prepares us for the resurrection. The resurrection is not merely an event. It is a reminder that God is making all things new (Rev. 21:5). Too often we overlook how deeply the empty tomb should shape our daily lives, yet Scripture reminds us that “without the resurrection, our faith is futile” (1 Cor. 15:14).

Lent invites us to die to ourselves, to lay down desires, cravings, and passions that pull us away from the life God calls us into (Luke 9:23; Gal. 5:24). It is a season to consider what it means for those old patterns to fade so that new life, joy, and peace in Christ might rise on the other side (Rom. 6:4).

Lent reminds us that we live in the tension of the already and the not yet, and that tension is filled with hope. We still experience brokenness now, yet through the resurrection our future is already secured (1 Pet. 1:3–4). Because of that, resurrection hope meets us in our suffering and reminds us that evil and pain are not our final story (Rom. 8:18).

During Lent, we learn to stand where the disciples once stood, holding grief and wonder together as we move toward the joy of that morning when the empty tomb changed everything (Matt. 28:8; Mark 16:8; Luke 24:12).

2. Lent gives us the opportunity to remember how hungry for God we really are.
After Jesus fasted and prayed in the wilderness for forty days, He began His earthly ministry (Matt. 4:1–4). In those weeks in the desert, Jesus experienced hunger, loneliness, and temptation, yet He remained sinless and faithful to the Father (Heb. 4:15).

Observing Lent is not easy. Giving something up for a season exposes how attached we can be to comfort or routine. We may even feel “withdrawal symptoms” from whatever our normal fix may be. He reminds us, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4).

Why give something up? Fasting is more than simply giving something up for God. It is meant to grow in us a deeper hunger for God. Probably the best book on fasting I have ever read is by John Piper called A Hunger for God: Desiring God through Fasting and Prayer. He writes this on fasting:

“The final answer is that God rewards fasting because fasting expresses the cry of the heart that nothing on the earth can satisfy our souls besides God. God must reward this cry because God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”

“...fasting, for Ezra, was not only an expression of humility and desperation; it was an expression of desiring God with life-and-death seriousness. ‘So we fasted and implored our God.’ Fasting comes in alongside prayer with all its hunger for God and says, ‘We are not able in ourselves to win this battle. We are not able to change hearts or minds. We are not able to change worldviews and transform culture and save 1.6 million children. We are not able to reform the judiciary or embolden the legislature or mobilize the slumbering population. We are not able to heal the endless wounds of godless ideologies and their bloody deeds. But, O God, you are able!’”

In other words, giving something up for Lent is not a way to try to get something from God. It teaches us how desperate we are for God and for him to do what only He can. Learning to depend on Him is the sweet spot of the Christian life (John 15:5).

Two Ways to Observe Lent

1. Fast.
The goal of fasting is not simply giving something up. The aim is to fast in a way that turns your heart toward God whenever you feel absence of food (Isa. 58:6–9). Fasting reminds us that our deepest need is not comfort, distraction, or control, but Christ Himself. It is not about shaking off a bad habit or avoiding something you should not eat like ice cream. It is about reordering desire and sacrifice.

That is the heart behind biblical fasting. Not proving devotion, but cultivating greater dependence. 

In Scripture, fasting is primarily tied to food. While there are moments in the bible of denying self of other comforts, the Bible makes a distinction between fasting and simple self-denial. Food remains central because it exposes how deeply we rely on daily provision.

Hunger becomes a teacher, echoing Jesus’ words in the wilderness: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” God’s Word, His promises, and His presence are our true sustenance, and fasting helps bring that truth into clearer focus.

Biblically, fasting is tied to specific purposes:

• Repentance and Lament
  Nehemiah 9:1–3 – Israel fasts while confessing sin and returning to the Law.
  1 Samuel 7:5–6 – Fasting connected to repentance
  Jonah 3:5–10 – Nineveh fasts in response to God’s warning.

• Grief and Mourning
  1 Samuel 31:13 – Israel fasts after Saul’s death.
  2 Samuel 1:12 – David and his men fast in mourning.
  Psalm 35:13 – David describes fasting in sorrow for others.

• Petition and Preparation
  Ezra 8:21–23 – Fasting for God’s protection and guidance.
  Acts 13:2–3 – The church fasts before sending out missionaries.
  Acts 14:23 – Prayer and fasting before installing elders.

The common thread in each example is dependence. Fasting is a visible confession that we need God more than what sustains us physically. Or as John Piper often describes it, fasting is a hunger for God.

2. Focus.
Lent gives us intentional time to fix our hearts and minds on the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus (Heb. 12:2; Col. 3:1–2). Reading a devotional with a Lent focus can stir our affections for Christ and remind us how much we need Him. We recommend this free online devotional written by Tim Keller before he passed and provided by Gospel in Life. Click below to begin reading.

Daily Lent Devotional

“The supremacy of God in all things is the great reward we long for in fasting. His supremacy in our own affections and in all our life-choices. His supremacy in the purity of the church. His supremacy in the salvation of the lost. His supremacy in the establishing of righteousness and justice. And his supremacy for the joy of all peoples in the evangelization of the world.”
― John Piper

According to the U.S. Treasury, millions of counterfeit bills circulate every year. They look real, feel real, and often go unnoticed. That’s what makes them dangerous. Not because they look fake, but because they look right while something essential is missing.

James says wisdom can work the same way.

As you read James 3:13–18, you'll discover that not everything called wisdom actually comes from God. Some thinking sounds wise, feels effective, and even gains cultural approval, yet it is disconnected from the heart of Christ. Scripture calls us to test the source of the wisdom shaping our lives.

Here's James point: Wisdom does not just solve problems. Godly wisdom flows from a pure heart and produces peace.

James asks a piercing question: “Who is wise and understanding among you?” True wisdom is not proven by opinions, or intellect but by conduct, by a life marked with gentleness, humility, purity and peace. 

Biblical wisdom is not just knowing more. It is seeing life from God’s perspective and living accordingly.

Worldly wisdom grows from self-protection, comparison, and ambition. It traces back to the same lie from Genesis 3: you can decide for yourself what is best. It promises control but produces disorder. Godly wisdom, however, comes from above. James says that what Godly wisdom actually looks like, it's pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy, and sincere. It reflects a heart surrendered to God.

The difference is revealed most clearly when pressure rises. Counterfeit wisdom pushes us to prove ourselves, defend our image, or win the moment. Wisdom from above leads us toward peace, toward reconciliation, toward trust in God’s sovereignty. or as James says towards "a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace." (3:18)

Jesus Himself embodies this wisdom. Though He had all authority, He chose surrender. Through the cross and resurrection, He secured a harvest of righteousness and peace for us.

The question James leaves us with is simple but convicting: What kind of wisdom is shaping your life? God invites us to ask for wisdom from above, to cultivate hearts rooted in Christ, and to live with a faith that produces peace. 

We live in a world that knows how to talk.

We talk about what we believe.
We talk about what we value.
We talk about what we’re “all about.”

But James asks a question that cuts through all the noise:
Is your faith alive?

Not just something you claim.
Not just something you feel on a Sunday when the song hits.
But something that shows up when life gets real.

James opens his letter by telling us what God is after in our faith: wholeness.
“That you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:4)

“Perfect” doesn’t mean flawless. It means whole, mature, integrated. Not divided. And
James warns us about the opposite:
“A double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:6–8)

Double-minded literally means “two-souled”
One foot in the kingdom, one foot in the world.

So James isn’t giving us religious theory. He’s calling us to a whole faith that lives from the wholeness of Jesus.

In James 2, he makes it plain: Faith that saves is faith that works.

James says there’s a kind of faith that has the right words and the right knowledge, but is still dead. You can say the correct things and still ignore the needy. You can know true doctrine and still refuse obedience.

“Even the demons believe—and shudder!” (James 2:19)

Real faith doesn’t just nod at Jesus. It kneels.

But James isn’t trying to crush you with shame. He’s pointing you to grace. We are not made right with God by works, but by faith in Christ. And here’s what many of us forget:

Grace is not just a doctrine. Grace is oxygen.
Faith is how we breathe it in.

Paul Tripp puts it like this: grace is the nutrients, and faith is how we access those nutrients. And if we aren’t breathing in the nutrients of grace, purchased salvation, joy, new life, and God’s promises, our lives will stay fruitless.

A fruit tree only becomes fruitful when it’s being fed and watered with what it actually needs to grow. And the same is true for you and me. Works are the evidence. The fruit. The receipt of a life that’s been breathing in the sufficiency of God’s grace.

So the question isn’t, “Are you perfect?”
It’s: Is Jesus making you new?

Because faith that saves… is faith that works.

The gospel spreads through shared life

If you were to ask people, “What attracts you to the church?” or “What pushes you away from the church?” most answers wouldn’t be about the music, the preaching, or the building.

It would be about the people.

Too controlling. Too judgmental. Too weird. Too focused on money. Not honest enough. Not welcoming enough.

And here’s the hard part: a lot of people don’t reject Jesus because they’ve truly seen Him. They reject a version of Jesus they experienced through Christians. For many, their view of Jesus has been shaped more by the church’s culture than by Christ’s character.
That’s why Acts 2 matters so much.

At the end of Acts 2, we’re not just getting a history lesson. We’re getting a picture. A blueprint. A snapshot of what happens when the Holy Spirit doesn’t just inspire a sermon, but ignites a people.

After Peter’s sermon, God does a miracle work of salvation, drawing 3,000 people to repent, confess Jesus as Lord, and be baptized. And the very first response we see after their conversion is this: the Spirit comes with power, changes hearts from the inside out, and forms a brand new kind of community.

The Spirit doesn’t just save individuals.
He creates a family.
A new kind of people.
A shared life.
A living witness.

This is bigger than a “church service.” God is reestablishing His dwelling place on earth.
In the Old Testament, you came to God through a priest at the temple, because that’s where the presence of God was. But now, because Jesus is the true and better Mediator, and because His Spirit fills His people, the presence of God isn’t confined to a building.
Now the church is the temple.

Now God’s people are where heaven touches earth.
Now God uses His church to help other people meet Him.

And Acts 2:47 gives us the result:
“And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
The church is built on the Word preached and the message of salvation, and God uses the church not mainly as a service you attend, but as a people you belong to. A community with such gospel depth and Spirit power that the watching world can’t ignore what’s happening.

Here’s the big idea:
The Spirit creates a gospel-shaped community whose shared life makes Jesus visible to the world.

Acts 2:42–47 shows us three marks of the church the Spirit produces.

1) The Spirit forms a devoted people (v. 42)
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (v.42). This wasn’t casual Christianity. Devotion wasn’t a way to earn God’s love, it was a response to God’s love. The gospel rearranged their lives around Jesus, His Word, His people, and His mission.

2) The Spirit produces a shared and awe-filled life (vv. 43–46)
Awe came upon every soul, and God worked powerfully among them (vv.43–46). They gathered in large settings and in homes. They shared meals, needs, laughter, burdens, and prayers. In a world where loneliness runs deep, the church became a place where people were known, loved, and restored. Sometimes God restores awe through we.

3) The Spirit Sends Us Into the World Through Visible Shared Life (v. 47)
Verse 47 shows us the outward result of an inwardly formed church: “praising God and having favor with all the people.” Their worship was visible. Their joy was visible. Their generosity was visible. Their love was visible. And God used what people could see to do what only He can do: save.

They had favor with others not because everyone agreed with them, but because their lives had credibility. They were known for humility, not superiority. For generosity, not manipulation. For love, not drama. And as the gospel became visible through ordinary people living an extraordinary shared life, Luke says, “the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

Acts 2 isn’t telling us, “Try harder to be a better church.” It’s showing us what happens when the gospel is real, the Spirit is present, and God’s people live like what they already are in Christ: a devoted people, a shared people, and a sent people.

And church family, this is still God’s plan to reach the world: not just through sermons and programs, but through a gospel-shaped community whose shared life makes Jesus visible.

Once Jesus recenters His disciples on the Father’s plan, He gives them what they need to live faithfully in the meantime.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses…”

Jesus doesn’t hand them a schedule.
He gives them a promise.

Mission doesn’t begin with strategy. It begins with power.
Relying on the Spirit’s Power.

This is not about getting more of the Spirit. If you are in Christ, you already have Him. This is about living under His authority.

The issue isn’t supply.
It’s surrender.

You don’t need more of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit needs more of you.

The early church didn’t advance because they were impressive. They advanced because they were dependent. A church motivated by God’s glory doesn’t run on hype or hustle. It runs on the quiet, faithful power of the Spirit of God.

Living as Witnesses
Jesus says, “You will be my witnesses.”
Then He ascends.

As the disciples stare into the sky, angels ask, “Why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus… will come in the same way you saw him go.”

We are witnesses to two unshakable realities:

1. Jesus has accomplished salvation.
2. Jesus is coming back.

A witness doesn’t invent the truth. A witness tells what they’ve seen.

We testify that Jesus died for sinners.
That He rose victorious.
That salvation is by grace.
That lives are truly changed.

And we live with our eyes forward, anticipating His return. That expectation reshapes everything. How we endure suffering. How we steward time and money. Why we choose generosity over consumption and eternal fruit over temporary comfort.

Most kingdom investments don’t look impressive in the moment. They look like ordinary obedience. Showing up. Giving faithfully. Sharing the gospel again. Serving when no one notices.

But Scripture is clear: nothing given to God is ever wasted.

When your life is invested in the reign of Christ, it never ends in loss. It always ends in glory.

Glory Always Moves Outward
What ultimately took Jesus to the cross was not first us.
It was the glory of His Father.

“For this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” (John 12:27–28)

And yet, in the wisdom of God, we are the gracious beneficiaries of that glory-driven mission.

When God’s glory captures us, it never leaves us turned inward. Glory always moves outward. It sends. It witnesses. It advances the kingdom.

So as we step into a new year, may we be a people who trust the Father, rely on the Spirit, bear witness to the Son, and live ready for His return.

May we be motivated by God’s glory
and moved into God’s mission.

As we step into a new year, there’s something clarifying about the calendar turning over. A fresh page has a way of pressing honest questions to the surface.

• What are we really living for?
• What’s shaping our priorities?
• What’s driving our decisions?

Those questions don’t just help us set goals. They reveal what’s forming us.

For some, last year carried big hopes, and this year feels a little underwhelming. For others, last year was good, and now you’re wondering what comes next. A new year has a way of surfacing both fresh questions and unresolved ones we never quite dealt with.

That’s why, as a church, we’re slowing down. Not to drift. But to be re-centered.

Our vision as a church is: Multiplying gospel-centered disciples who glorify Christ in all of life.

But before we talk about vision, we need to talk about motivation.

Acts 1 meets us with a far bigger question than, “What do I want this year?”
It asks, What is God doing in the world, and how do His people live in light of that?

We Need Orientation, Not Just Inspiration.

We live in a deeply individualistic culture, where a new year often becomes about personal goals, plans, and progress. Those things aren’t wrong. But Jesus never calls His people to build small, personal kingdoms. He calls us into something far larger.

Before Jesus sends His disciples, He recenters them.

They ask Him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
It’s a reasonable question. They’ve seen His power. They’ve watched Him die. They’ve encountered Him risen. Surely now is the moment everything gets fixed.

Jesus responds:
“It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.”

He doesn’t deny the kingdom.
He redirects their expectations.

In other words, God has a plan.
He is not late.
He is not absent.
He is not confused.

We are obsessed with knowing what’s next because, deep down, we believe certainty equals safety. But Scripture reframes that instinct. What we call delay, God often calls mercy. What feels slow to us is redemption still unfolding.

God never asks us to carry what we don’t have the authority to change.
Many of us live like anxious passengers, gripping imaginary brakes, tense at every curve.

The problem isn’t awareness. It’s pretending we have control we were never given.
Anxiety is what happens when you try to drive from the passenger seat.

A church motivated by God’s glory rests in God’s sovereignty instead of demanding control over God’s timing.

What Is the Glory of God?
The glory of God is easier to recognize than it is to define.

Scripture helps us here. In Isaiah 6:3, the angels cry, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts,” and then say something unexpected: “The whole earth is full of his glory.”

The glory of God is the holiness of God made visible.
Holiness on display. Holiness going public.

God is eternally holy. And when that holiness is revealed in ways His creation can see and savor, the Bible calls that glory.

That matters because God does not renew people, churches, or cities randomly. He renews them for His glory. Renewal is not self-reinvention. It’s Spirit-empowered re-orientation.

When our lives are motivated by God’s glory, we are freed from the exhausting need to control outcomes.

We trust the Father with the times and seasons. We walk forward with confidence, not because we know the future, but because we know the One who holds it.
Before we are ever moved into mission, we must be motivated by glory.

In 1947, a Bedouin shepherd was herding sheep near the Dead Sea when one wandered into a dark cave. Curious, he did what teenage boys have done for thousands of years. He picked up a rock and threw it into the darkness.

Instead of a dull thud, he heard something shatter.

What looked insignificant turned out to be one of the greatest archaeological discoveries in history. Inside ordinary clay pots were the Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient Scriptures preserved for centuries. God used a broken pot to reveal eternal truth.

That story sets the tone for how God often works.

When God wants to reveal something eternal, He frequently hides it inside something fragile.

This is exactly what Isaiah points us to when he calls the coming Messiah “Mighty God” in Isaiah 9:6. When we hear that name, we naturally imagine strength, dominance, authority. We expect power to arrive loud, fast, and overwhelming.

But Isaiah’s vision refuses to play by our definitions.

The Mighty God does not arrive with a clenched fist. He comes as a child. Vulnerable. Dependent. Weak. And if you follow that story all the way to the cross, you see that His path of strength runs straight through suffering.

This is not a contradiction. It is the revelation.

Jesus is our Mighty God, whose strength comes through weakness.

God’s strength is not displayed by avoiding weakness, but by entering it. The incarnation teaches us that God reveals His power on His terms, not ours. We do not get to choose what God redeems or what He uses to shape us. We can resist what is out of our control, or we can learn to trust that God is working through it.

In many ways, we are like those clay pots.

On our own, we are ordinary. Cracked. Fragile. Yet inside us lives the greatest treasure imaginable. God’s Spirit has made us alive. His Word has taken residence in our hearts. Still, most days we feel more like broken containers than vessels of glory.

That is often because our focus drifts.

We fix our eyes on what is still wrong with us instead of what God has placed within us. And what you fix your eyes on you naturally become.

When we our focus is on our weakness, that becomes our identity.

But Scripture tells a different story. Weakness is not your disqualification. It is the stage God uses to display His power.

Dave Harvey puts it this way, “God breaks the pot to free the power.”

The apostle Paul captured this truth when he wrote, “I carry death, so that the life of Christ may be manifested in me.” The suffering we endure, the limitations we cannot escape, and the circumstances we did not choose are not obstacles to God’s power. They are often the very means by which the life of Christ becomes visible.

This is why the image of Kintsugi is so compelling. In this Japanese art form, broken pottery is repaired with gold. The cracks are not hidden. They are highlighted. What once looked ruined now tells a story of restoration.

That is how Jesus, our Mighty God, works in us. He does not avoid brokenness. He enters it. And through it, He reveals a strength the world has never known.

Jesus does not ask you to be unbroken. He invites you to bring what is broken to Him.
You may feel like a cracked pot. But inside you lives resurrection power.

Jesus is our Mighty God, whose strength comes through weakness.

And that is not just theology.
That is hope.

Christmas has a way of holding joy and ache in the same breath. Laughter fills the room, yet someone’s absence is louder than the music. Gratitude rises, but grief lingers close behind. That tension is exactly the kind of moment Isaiah speaks into when he declares that the promised child will be called Everlasting Father.

Isaiah is not addressing people who have life neatly figured out. He speaks to a people living in fear, chaos, and uncertainty, asking the same questions we ask today: Is God paying attention? Has He forgotten us? And God’s answer is not an idea or a program. It’s a Person.

We live moment to moment. We interpret life through what’s most recent or most intense. Hope in the morning. Anxiety by dinner. And before we realize it, we begin to view God the same way. When prayers are answered, we trust Him. When He feels silent, we wonder if He’s distant. But Scripture reminds us that just because God feels quiet does not mean He has stopped working. If God is faithful in eternity, He is faithful in your moment.

Jesus went before us to secure our eternity, so we would never face the temporary alone.

That’s why Isaiah’s language matters. “Everlasting” doesn’t mean Jesus simply lasts a long time. It means He is the source of eternity itself. And calling Him “Father” tells us how He rules. Not with distance or domination, but with care, presence, and affection.

Jesus shows us what this looks like in Luke 15. As religious leaders complain that He eats with sinners, Jesus reveals the heart of the Father through the story of a lost son. The younger son runs far from home, chasing freedom, only to find emptiness. When he finally returns, rehearsing his apology, the father runs to meet him. No punishment first. No lecture. Just compassion, embrace, and restoration.

That is the Everlasting Father. A Father who never stops looking. A Father whose mercy doesn’t expire. A Father who would rather lose dignity than lose His child.

But Jesus doesn’t stop there. He introduces the older son, who stayed close to the house yet far from the Father’s heart. He obeyed, served, and kept score. And still, he missed joy. Both sons were lost. One through rebellion, the other through religion. And the Father went out to both.

This is the invitation of Christmas. Not just to come home from obvious sin, but to come home from striving, earning, and proving. To stop trusting temporary saviors like control, approval, or success. And to rest in the lasting love of the Everlasting Father.

Because Jesus has secured our eternity, we can trust the Everlasting Father in the temporary. Whatever season you’re walking through, His hold does not loosen. His presence does not fade. And His invitation still stands:

Come home.