Does technology influence or control your thinking?

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” —Romans 12:2

A lot of things are influencing our brains today that our parents and grandparents never had to consider. Technology has molded our minds and adjusted our way of thinking. God is providing his people with a heightened awareness of this fact that can move Christians to the forefront of some discussions. Does technology influence our thoughts or actually control what we think? It’s crucial we consider the difference.

First the phone, then the radio, then TV

Alexander Bell patented the telephone in 1876. Twenty years later, the technology for “wireless telegraphy” was patented. Technology has been changing the world for 140 years and continues to do so. 

A telephone was once considered a great luxury, only found in the home of someone with considerable wealth. It wasn’t until forty years later, during the 1920s, that homes were commonly wired with phone lines. I remember when my parents bought a home with a second phone jack, which meant they could have a phone in their bedroom as well as the kitchen. It was the same phone line, but two locations in the house to make calls. I had all my phone conversations in the kitchen, using a wall-mounted phone. I still remember my dad coming home one day in a foul mood because he had been trying to call my mom to tell her he was running late, only to get a busy signal each time. (I had two sisters who used the phone too!) Now, everyone has their own number, their own privacy, and the ability to make phone calls at any moment, anywhere, and leave a message if needed. How has that impacted our marriages, our parenting, and our family time together? What conversations exist because there is no accountability to someone who might overhear? How much time can our kids spend on their phones simply because no one else is waiting to use them? We live in homes that don’t often require us to consider others’ needs. How has that changed us as people?

According to a Wikipedia article, in 1923, one percent of U.S. households owned at least one radio. Eight years later, a majority of homes had a radio, and that number reached seventy-five percent by 1937. I remember my mom and dad talking about the excitement their families had felt when they first bought a radio for their homes. Dad talked about rushing to get all his chores done so the family could sit together and listen to Abbot and Costello, Amos ‘n’ Andy, or Fibber McGee and Molly. The radio also brought news from the war, and everyone had someone they knew and/or loved who was fighting overseas.

The Golden Age of Radio soon transitioned to television. Only about one percent of households had a TV in 1948. That percentage grew to over fifty percent by 1953. Almost every home had a TV set by 1960. It was then that people began to be influenced by more than “words.” People began to dress like those they saw on television rather than those they saw every day. Father Knows Best set standards for family values, clothes, and hairstyles. 

People and families have changed because of technology. Parents, kids, and neighbors used to gather on a front porch each evening to talk. Later, they gathered around a radio to share a program and laugh together. Next, they gathered around a television to talk about the way the stars dressed, cooked, vacuumed, or went to work. I Love Lucy suggested life in the big city and the idea of marrying someone who wasn’t from the local neighborhood or school. The cultural differences were part of the storyline. 

Now, people carry their individual phones in their pockets or purses. We listen to the radio in the car, but we can “stream” only the kind of music we choose to hear. Typically, households have more than one TV, so kids can watch what they want while their parents do the same. And again, we can “stream” only those shows that we choose to enjoy. Sadly, we can watch shows and movies we would never have gone out in public to view and would never have watched with children present. 

Now, we have tablets and computers

We are still a decade away from fully understanding the impact that tablets and computers have had on people. Young families today are navigating these waters, trying to raise their kids while guessing at the impact these technologies will have on their futures. 

How has technology changed us? 

What happens to the family when they don’t share their time? What happens to our minds if we only hear one side of the issues of our day? What happens to the kids when their parents literally do not know what they are hearing, watching, or thinking about? 

Those may be the most important thoughts we will have this week. What happens when technology controls and influences our thoughts and perspective more than God?

God knew this day would come

One of the most miraculous things about Scripture is the fact that it says the same things to people today that it did to every generation of people that has existed. The truth we find in our Bibles is still the truth our great-grandparents and their great-grandparents heard. It might be the only truth that is able to bind everyone together in the future.

God intentionally preserved biblical truth so every generation could navigate the world. His word might be sitting on our shelves, contained in the music we choose to stream, watched on our televisions, and witnessed in the movies we watch. We can also access his word in the phones that we carry everywhere we go.

God is available to us in the same technology that entertains, informs, and influences the world.

Today’s question: Does technology influence or control your thinking?

Scripture taught our grandparents, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7 KJV). Most of us will probably read that verse in a version of the Bible that says something like, “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7 ESV). 

I like the King James version that describes the Spirit-led Christian as a person with a sound mind! Our world could use more of that kind of thinking. The ESV is a direct translation of the words Paul used. 

God gave every Christian the Holy Spirit, the very nature, character, mind, and power that enabled Christ to live a sinless life on earth. We do not speak often enough about the unlimited power each of us has been given to handle the joys, fears, changes, and influences that are part of living on this side of heaven. 

We will all be influenced by the things in this world. That’s why God provided the control of his Holy Spirit in our lives. Anytime you see the words “self-control” in Scripture, you can think of that as “a self, controlled by God’s Holy Spirit.” 

More changes are coming

Consider how technology has changed the world in the past 150 years. Think about how technology has changed you and those you love. Then imagine what changes could lie ahead. The Holy Spirit is the power our Creator God has given to his children so that through us, he can change the world.

Hear the Spirit of God say what he has always taught his kids, “This is the way, walk in it” (Isaiah 30:21). Teach that truth and expectation to all you are able to influence. Technology has dramatically changed our culture, but God’s unchanging Word is for every generation. His truth has always been, and will always be, perfectly the same.

Has God sanctified your imagination?

“We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” —2 Corinthians 10:5

According to AI, most people spend between 2 and 4 hours a day using their imagination. God created us to imagine, so it is safe to say that when we made him Lord, we asked him to be Lord over those thoughts as well.

In Oswald Chambers’ classic, My Utmost For His Highest, the February 10th devotional asks, “Is Your Imagination of God Starved?” Chamber’s words are based on a message he spoke from Isaiah 40. God asks the prophet, “To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? Says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out the host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing” (Isaiah 40:25–26).

Oswald teaches his readers, “Rouse yourself, take the gibe that Isaiah gave the people, and deliberately turn your imagination to God.”

How do we “rouse” ourselves today, and deliberately ask God to sanctify our imaginations? How would that change our thoughts and creativity if we did? What might we accomplish for God if our imaginations were sanctified, made holy, for God’s great purpose?

C.S. Lewis would encourage us to “baptize” our imaginations

Lewis was the author of some amazingly imaginative books. As a young man, he often enjoyed reading fantasy literature. One day at a train station, he picked up a book by George MacDonald titled Phantastes: A Faerie Romance for Man and Women. Robin Mark Phillips wrote an article about C.S. Lewis’s fascination with the book. Phillips said, “While Lewis found in the narrative of Phantastes all the qualities that had charmed him in other romantic writers, such as the novels of William Morris, there was something else that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. ‘It is as if I were carried sleeping across the frontier, or as if I had died in the old country and could never remember how I came alive in the new.’”

C.S. Lewis found in McDonald’s work, “a sort of cool, morning innocence, and also, quite unmistakably, a certain quality of Death, good Death.” You see, Lewis was still an atheist, and MacDonald was a sanctified Christian. Phillips wrote that years later, after Lewis’ conversion, C.S. Lewis “looked upon MacDonald as his spiritual master, saying, ‘I know hardly any other writer who seems to be closer, or more continually close, to the Spirit of Christ Himself…I have never concealed the fact that I regarded him as my master. . .’”

C.S. Lewis would go on to write books like The Screwtape Letters and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe from his brilliant imagination. In his autobiography Surprised by Joy, Lewis described his discovery of MacDonald as having “baptized his imagination.” 

Has God sanctified your imagination?

If the AI article is correct, we spend a good bit of our day using our imaginations. How then can we give those thoughts over to God?

I have always loved to read a great novel! My second major in college was English, and I was tasked with reading some of history’s best literature. A secret goal of mine has always been to write a “great” novel. I would rather write one Gone with the Wind than a hundred different book series that use the same characters in different circumstances. My favorite Christian fiction writer has always been Francine Rivers. She, like Lewis, came to faith later in life.

Rivers has been honest about her writing before and after her salvation. Rivers wrote popular romance novels under a pseudonym. I heard her speak once, and she described her early work as racy and lacking moral restraint. She met God, and he changed her life and her imagination. Her testimony, which can be found on her website, describes how the Lord sanctified her thoughts. She said, “My main desire as I started writing Christian fiction was to find answers to personal questions, and to share those answers in story form with others. Now, I want so much more. I yearn for the Lord to use my stories in making people thirst for His Word, the Bible.”

Why would Francine Rivers yearn for the Lord to make people thirst for God’s word? The answer to that question is the path to a “baptized” or “sanctified” imagination.

How can you allow the Bible to transform and make holy your imagination?

We can learn a lot from God’s message to Isaiah. Again, God said, “To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? Says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out the host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing” (Isaiah 40:25–26).

Every time we open our Bibles, we can read words on a page, or we can hear God speaking to us from heaven. We can read factual, truthful stories from history, or we can use our imaginations and walk with Paul, Peter, King David, and others. We can imagine how it felt to be Joseph or Mary, holding the Son of God in our arms. We can sit by Jesus in the Garden and feel his agony and shame at the thought of accepting our sins. We can read the Revelation and wonder what it means, or we can read the Revelation and imagine seeing what John saw in heaven.

I’ve been teaching God’s word for a long time. There are times I teach a lesson, and it is factually accurate to the best of my ability. The best lessons I teach are born of the moments I spend stepping into the passage with my imagination. We should feel the moments God’s people felt in our Bibles. We should do our best to bring our Spirit-led, sanctified imaginations to Scripture. 

I am going to teach Paul’s journey to Rome this week. As I was preparing the lesson, I actually began to feel seasick on that boat with Paul! I imagined the terror that those on the ship must have felt. Later, I imagined the wonder they must have felt when they washed up on the island of Crete and later watched Paul shake the poisonous snake off his hand.

I may not ever be able to write my fiction novel, but I will likely want to try. I just don’t yet feel called away from the time I spend writing about God’s truth, from his Holy Word. I enjoy teaching the Bible because I know that when I spend time in God’s presence with the Bible, the Creator God of the universe speaks to me from its pages. 

God can sanctify your imagination through his word

I will close this blog post by sharing these words from Francine Rivers. Her words are my heart as well. She said, “I pray that you will finish my books and pick up the Bible with a new excitement and anticipation of a real encounter with the Lord Himself. May you search Scripture for the sheer joy of being in God’s presence.”

I hope you will begin or continue your journey of allowing God to sanctify and baptize your imagination. Someday in heaven, C.S. Lewis, Oswald Chambers, and Janet Denison will enjoy hearing your thoughts and stories about God’s amazing truth!

A Lenten lesson from the Guthrie family

“He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High.” —Hebrews 1:3

Christians around the world are beginning the Lenten season, a time of spiritual preparation for Easter Sunday. Different denominations have different traditions for this season, but the purpose is the same. How can we prepare ourselves to deeply honor and worship the One who carried his cross and accepted his pain-filled death for the sake of our sins?

I have often thought about the fervor of the nation, even the world, for any breaking news about the Guthrie family. As I write this article, Nancy Guthrie has not yet been found, and no suspect(s) have been arrested. I’m seeing fewer stories about Nancy’s abduction now, and while the interest is still high, the fervor is likely to wane until there is new evidence or more conclusive resolutions in the future. I’m praying that news will precede the publication of this article.

Regardless, my Lenten lesson remains the same.

I was thinking about and praying for the Guthrie family when I had a new thought. I considered the fact that this article would be sent out on Ash Wednesday. My previous thoughts and prayers for the Guthrie family led me to some new thoughts that inspired this post.

When I considered the fervor that our world has rightfully felt for the abduction of Nancy Guthrie, I recognized that the enormous interest was due to the horrendous details in this story of injustice. This is a crime story about an innocent, elderly woman. But the story is also magnified in the media because of the popularity of her daughter, Savannah.

My thought: The Lenten season is about the death of the innocent Son of God and the injustice and abuse he endured. How might God’s children work to increase the fervor the world feels for our Lord and our heavenly Father during this holy season of Easter?

How can our spiritual fervor for Jesus bring glory to God? 

How can our lives draw fervent attention to our Father?

I love seeing pictures of Savannah Guthrie with her mom. The love between the two is evident in their smiles. Nancy Guthrie made several television appearances and other prominent appearances with her daughter. The world was able to witness their relationship, and now the world wants to share in her family’s grief, fears, hope, and prayers. Hopefully, one day soon, people will also share in her joy.

Most of us won’t draw as large an audience as the Guthrie family, but we all have circles of influence. Will people see the way God’s children love Jesus in the coming weeks leading up to Easter? 

Jesus was fervently praying in the Garden, knowing the soldiers marching toward him would lead him to his death. Our Lord prayed, “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed” (John 17:4–5). 

Jesus lived to bring God glory with his life, and he prayed his death would do the same. Jesus taught his disciples to share that same purpose when he said, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

Jesus gave his life so that all people could know his Father and live eternally in his Presence. How can we use this Lenten season to join in that holy priority?

How do people bring God glory?

  • “For you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:20). Paul wrote those words to the Corinthians, many of whom were Gentiles who wanted to believe their assurance of salvation gave them the freedom to sin without consequence. Paul made it very clear that obedience to God’s laws would bring him glory and disobedience would not. Jesus paid for our sins to be forgiven eternally. The consequences of our sinful choices often follow us throughout our lives. If we do not glorify God with our choices, we do not honor the enormous price Jesus paid. On this Ash Wednesday, we can consider those who might not want to know our Lord because of our sinful choices. We can pray about that, knowing that we serve a God who can give us second chances.
  • “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (Luke 2:14). The angels said this to the shepherds in the field. It is one of the profound moments in the Christmas story. The angels were not sent to the religious leaders of the day, or even the faithful people camping out in Bethlehem. Could it be that it was the shepherds whose lives and worship pleased him more than many others? Do our lives and worship please God?
  • Peter wrote to the church saying, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). We can use this Easter season as an opportunity to “grow” in both grace and knowledge of Jesus. If we choose to live with spiritual fervor for our Lord, others will take note.

The Guthrie family has paid a high price already

Savannah Guthrie has made her faith in Jesus a very public witness. We should pray for her to have the spiritual strength to continue to do that, speaking through the power and strength of his Holy Spirit. She is in the public eye and as human as anyone else. She and her family will need the prayers of God’s people in the days ahead so their lives can be used to bring glory to God.

The news media’s fervor will shift to other subjects. The media is not our example; Jesus is. How can we maintain our own fervor for the Lord during this Lenten season?

Let’s examine our own spiritual fervor

As we enter the Lenten season, let’s examine our spiritual fervor for Jesus and the sacrificial gift of Easter. God loved everyone in this world so much that he gave us his Son (John 3:16). Jesus continued his earthly ministry through his disciples in the first century. His holy purpose is still achieved through each disciple who will yield to his Holy Spirit. God’s children still exist in this world to bring glory to the Father. How might we do that today?

The only way we can love like Jesus

“Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.” —1 Peter 1:22–23

Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you” (John 13:34a). If we were in the first-century group of disciples and heard those words, we would stop whatever we were doing or thinking in order to hear the words that follow. The word commandment is the opposite of the word “suggestion.” Jesus was telling his disciples that he was about to teach them a spiritual “requirement.” An extra note for disciples today: Jesus’ words were spoken to his disciples in the upper room, a short time before he would go to the cross.

This is Valentine’s week. According to the National Retail Federation, Americans are expected to spend 29.1 billion dollars for Valentine’s Day this year. I could add a few thoughts and opinions about that, but I will leave you to your own! Instead, let me finish the verse above. Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34b).

A commandment only believers can follow

Jesus didn’t issue this commandment to the crowds. This lesson was for his followers, his disciples. According to John’s gospel, this lesson was taught right after he announced to the room that one of them would betray him. John tells us that Judas Iscariot took a quick bite of bread and then quickly left the room. After his betrayer left the room, Jesus spoke his commandment to the disciples who would carry on his work. He said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’” (vv. 31–33).

It was then that Jesus handed his disciples, minus Judas, the new commandment to “love one another as I have loved you.” The reason: only believers would be equipped to obey that commandment.

The word for love in this passage is the Greek word “agape,” which means “the love of God.” Agape love cannot be produced by human beings. People cannot “love one another” like God can love us. Why then would Jesus make this a commandment?

Jesus provided the answer to that question when he said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once” (v. 32). That was difficult for those first-century disciples to understand. In fact, they didn’t fully understand Jesus’ words until after Pentecost.

Only believers can obey Jesus’ commandment because only believers have experienced the power that makes our obedience possible. Jesus was fully God and fully man. His humanity made it difficult for him to accept the last day of his earthly life. It would be the power of God and the priority of his earthly purpose that enabled Jesus to endure his suffering and accept the cross. And it was agape love that enabled him to die for us.

Jesus would die because of God’s love for us, the love that the deity of Jesus was able to share with others. That love can only be received by us as a gift, or a product of God’s Holy Spirit.

Only believers who have been filled with God’s Holy Spirit can produce “agape love.” Only believers who have received God’s love can then give that love to others. The commandment is to receive God’s love so we have it to give. Only then can our love be God’s agape love and bring him glory.

Jesus could give that commandment to those disciples in the upper room because he also knew that his Spirit would enable them to obey it. 

The apostle Peter had to learn this lesson the hard way.

Disciples today must learn what Peter learned

Upon hearing Jesus’ words in the upper room, Peter jumped up to say, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you” (v. 37). Jesus’ response probably seemed harsh when he asked Peter, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times” (v. 38).

We know the rest of the story. Peter couldn’t love Jesus yet like he thought he could. Peter did deny Jesus and was brokenhearted later when he heard the rooster crow and saw Jesus’ face. After his resurrection, Jesus spent some private time with Peter. John 21:15–19 describes those moments with Jesus.

Twice Jesus asked, “Peter, do you love me?” using “agape” for love. Twice, Peter replied that he loved Jesus, but he used the word “phileo,” meaning “friendship” love. The third time, Jesus asked Peter, “Do you ‘phileo’ me?” and Peter said he did. Prior to Pentecost, this was all Peter could offer.

Peter had not yet received the “power of the Holy Spirit” to love like Jesus had commanded. Could it be that Jesus wanted Peter and all his future disciples to understand an important lesson? He needed them to understand that disciples can’t give the agape love we are commanded to give, apart from the Spirit. We must receive agape love from God in order to share that love with others. The truth of that is seen in Peter’s life later on.

Peter loved others as Jesus loved

After Jesus had issued his commandment to “love one another,” he told his disciples, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Jesus makes it clear that other people will know that Christians love God when we share his agape love with each other.

Our strongest witness is love. Not our human love, but our ability to love others with God’s love. Catholic tradition identifies Valentine as a saint because of the way he loved others. But the best example of Jesus’ lesson is the apostle Peter.

One day Peter would be stretched out on a cross of his own, asking the soldiers to crucify him upside down, because he shouldn’t die in the same way as his Lord. His death has been an example to disciples throughout history that our witness is to be filled with agape love, God’s love. Jesus made it a commandment so that we would rely on the power of his Spirit to bring glory to God.

Who do you need to share agape love with for Valentine’s Day?

“Love” will cost the world $29.1 billion this week for Valentine’s Day. “Agape love” cost Jesus, Peter, and many others throughout history their very lives. Buy a few cards and maybe some chocolate for those you love. But for the rest of the year, love should cost God’s disciples a great effort. The world around us will know we love God when we share his love with others. 

Who has the Lord given you a burden for as you read this blog post? How will you share God’s agape love this week?

Why should we strive to think like Jesus?

“For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.” —1 Corinthians 2:16

I enjoy watching a lot of news, but each hour I spend doing so requires significant effort on my part. I’m learning to watch the news while making the effort to think about it the way Jesus would. I love the tagline for my husband’s Daily Article: “News discerned differently.” That tagline could be a spiritual guideline for all of us.

Television and internet news should now be considered forms of entertainment. Walter Cronkite has left the building. The cultural failures of the past decade are causing a lot of upheaval and restructuring for television networks today. Most news anchors are simply props, reading content produced by one side of an issue or the other. Truth has been exchanged for influence. 

Because we can no longer expect to hear objective truth from a news source, we are tasked with discerning truth for ourselves. Everyone must accept the fact that we can no longer listen to a news anchor and know what to think and believe. There could be a few Walter Cronkites hired in the future if viewers and voters value and demand that type of reporting.

Until then, how should we be influenced by the right people? How should we view every news story we read or hear? 

The answer to those questions is provided in God’s Word. We must strive to know what the Bible says, to obey God’s commands, and to live with God’s values. We need to choose to think like Jesus, our Lord.

Charlie Kirk tried to think like Jesus

I focused last week’s blog post on Erika Kirk’s recent interviews about the upcoming worship services for TPUSA, the ministry her husband began. One of my favorite things about Charlie Kirk was his thoughtful use of blunt, biblical truth. 

Charlie Kirk wasn’t a perfect teacher, but I admired his efforts. Every Bible teacher, myself included, will trip over their personal motivations. Jesus didn’t have that weakness.

Jesus is the only perfect teacher we will ever know. His Holy Spirit was his great gift, given to empower God’s children to think his thoughts. The Holy Spirit should be the most powerful influence we seek, because he can help us think like Jesus. Paul told the believers in Phillipi, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). The verses that follow in Paul’s letter illustrate the many ways the Holy Spirit will cause us to think like our Lord.

How can we think like Jesus?

Paul told the believers in Phillipi:

  • Even Jesus, “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped” (Philippians 2:6). We cannot think like Jesus until we realize we cannot think God’s thoughts on our own. We live in a culture that pursues the wisdom and ideas of intelligent people and forget that God bluntly said, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” (Isaiah 55:8). How will you step away from human ideas to seek God’s thoughts today?
  • Jesus, “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:7). While Jesus lived “in human form,” he chose to humble himself “by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (v. 8). When Jesus chose to become a human being, he understood he would need to recognize that his humanity would require his complete submission to God’s direction. Jesus begged his Abba Father to spare him the suffering on the cross, but he was willing to obey whatever God’s perfect holiness required. Our own perfection will one day, in heaven, be the result of the humility Jesus understood was required for all humanity. Jesus took on flesh in order to be our example. How do you need to humble yourself today?
  • Jesus lived in human form to be our holy example. “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (vv. 9–11). We will think like Jesus when we humbly submit our ideas to our “highly exalted” Savior. He is, once again, fully God and no longer fully man as well. Any thought the Holy Spirit of Christ authors in us is perfect wisdom. Every other thought must be considered as possibly human.

Let’s pray for Romans 8:28 out of the daily news

The apostle Paul wrote Philippians while under house arrest in Rome. Some “news anchors” of that day said Paul should be viewed as shamed because of his imprisonment. Many teachers of that day taught that people should view Jesus the same way because he had gone to the cross.

After Saul of Tarsus met Jesus on the road to Damascus, he was compelled to repent and to align his life with God’s good purpose. We wouldn’t have the church growth from Paul’s missionary work if Paul hadn’t learned to submit his plans to God’s. We wouldn’t have the book of Romans and the rest of his theology in our Bibles if Paul and the early Christians had refused to think like Jesus. 

Ananias wasn’t thrilled about going to visit the dangerous man named Saul, but he did! The Jerusalem Christians weren’t thrilled with Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles at first, but you and I are likely descendants of those Christians. Will we learn to value and think in ways that call us to God’s good and holy purpose?

You are able to think like Jesus

We must think the thoughts of our exalted Savior today. His answers are the only solutions that will enable his blessings.

God’s answers and his discernment are available to disciples who will humble themselves and submit their thoughts to God’s. The example Christ set for humanity is always perfect truth for our lives. Let’s pursue his humility and access his thoughts as we submit our own ideas to his perfection.

Maybe we will have another Walter Cronkite someday, but even that person’s words will be imperfect. Let’s seek the discernment of Christ as we turn on today’s news and then again when we turn it off. We don’t need to be entertained or influenced by slanted, human ideas. We need to be inspired by God’s perfect thoughts through the Spirit of Jesus.

We are able to think like Jesus. Will we humbly do what is necessary to obtain his thoughts?

Are we making heaven more crowded?

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” —Matthew 28:19–20

Erika Kirk is in the news because TPUSA has announced its new tour of worship events. The name of this tour is “Make Heaven Crowded.” I loved the name and the stated purpose behind these gatherings. The webpage says: “The Make Heaven Crowded Tour is a gospel centered gathering calling people to repentance, faith, and bold obedience to Jesus.”

The event is described as “a powerful night of worship, preaching, and ministry as we believe God will move in hearts and lives.” Attendees are told to “come expectant and bring someone who needs hope.”

I love the title, the goals, and the outcomes the TPUSA organization hopes to achieve. They would like to see revival in this country, especially with young people. There were a few protesters outside the first event in Riverside, CA, but Erika Kirk, in an interview afterwards, said, “As long as I remain obedient to God and abide in his word, and I’m in the jet stream of his will, the opinions of this world mean nothing to me. Nothing.”

Erika Kirk has been through a great deal of trauma over the past several months. That trauma, in God’s hands, is a testimony to the truth of Romans 8:28, for a woman who has been “called according to God’s purpose.” Her husband, the late Charlie Kirk, would be very proud of her today.

I’ve attached a link so you can attend one of these events if you are able. A Fox News report said that Erika Kirk wanted to give people an experience similar to the one at her husband’s memorial service. She said many people had commented on the tangible presence of the Holy Spirit during that service. She wanted to help people experience what those in that service had experienced. I’m prayerful these events will make heaven more crowded.

When people physically experience the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit, they are likely to want to know the One they have experienced. The Holy Spirit is the continued, tangible ministry of Jesus in this world, working through those who will be disciples.

Today’s article is about that. How often do people experience the presence of the Holy Spirit simply because they are in our presence here on earth? Christians, who intentionally allow the Spirit of Christ to make them disciples, bring the Holy Presence of Christ into each place they go. When is Jesus able to continue his earthly ministry through you?

Is heaven more crowded because of your ministry?

What draws a crowd today?

Erika Kirk was well pleased by the numbers that showed up to their first “Make Heaven Crowded” event. TPUSA is hoping to hold at least 29 more of these services and praying each city will experience similar crowds and results. They are skilled at using social media to get the word out, and people are responding. Some will attend out of curiosity, while others will attend seeking Christ. I think the ministry will do its best to ensure that the presence of Jesus is honored and invited into each service. It will be important that Jesus is a tangible reality in the crowds through his disciples.

It will be interesting to see how the media describes the crowds following the subsequent events. The protests will likely grow due to the crowd culture that has developed in our world today. Much has been said lately about this phenomenon. Every crowd can help create a video that goes viral, and many people are motivated by that sense of personal “success.” There have also been many questions and concerns about whether some of these protesters are actually paid to shout, inflame, and disrupt crowds. Scripture cites many examples of Jesus and his disciples experiencing the same thing.

The Pentecost experience sent Spirit-filled disciples into the crowded streets of Jerusalem in the first century, and the world was changed forever.

Will the TPUSA events inspire attendees to make heaven more crowded because they are filled with people who choose to be, or become, his disciples?

Will we enter crowds as his disciples?

  • Every Sunday we enter a crowd at church. Speaking as a pastor’s wife, I can promise you that many of those you see each Sunday are not yet saved, sanctified, and serving God with their lives. Are you actively working to bring the Spirit of Jesus into the church each time you attend?
  • Every sporting event draws a crowd. How will you intend to be a disciple there?
  • Every mall, grocery store, or line you stand in is a crowd. How can you be the presence of Christ there?
  • What crowds do you invite into your lives? How do you create opportunities for Jesus to enter a room and be known by those who attend?

Let’s make heaven crowded

Most of us will create small “crowds” for others to be part of. Will we share TPUSA’s goal and invite people to “come expectant and bring someone who needs hope”? How can God use our homes and lives for his kingdom purpose?

Jesus told his disciples, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19–20).

If we want to spend time with Jesus, we need only choose to be his disciples. Jesus said when we fulfill that calling, he is with us, “always.” 

Jesus is present with those who will work to make “heaven crowded.” How will that thought impact you the next time you head out the door? It won’t be hard to show people Jesus when all you have to do is point to the One who is already and always “with you.”

Let’s make heaven crowded, too. We have all eternity to celebrate and enjoy our forever family, our brothers and sisters in Christ.

How do you live an inspired life?

“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” —Philippians 1:6

What does God’s inspiration look and feel like? How can you know God just inspired a thought or a moment? Why should living an inspired life be our high standard for each day?

Our 2026 will be dramatically different if we take God’s holy standard to heart. Our eternal lives will be dramatically different as well. Whatever God accomplishes through our obedience on earth has eternal value in heaven.

What if we choose to live the rest of our lives for the sake of our lives eternal? How would that standard change our lives today? Does that idea seem impossible? Obscure? Unrealistic? Encouraging or defeating?

God would not author a standard for our lives without making it possible. The Lord told his people multiple times, “Be holy because I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44–45). It’s easy to hear that phrase and think of God as an idealist, rather than a realist. A lot of people look at Christians today and think the same thing about our faith in God.

God called us to be holy and taught us how to make holiness possible. The Old Covenant explained God’s laws and had a sacrificial system that provided people a way to repent and return to God and his holiness. The New Covenant gave us Jesus, “the way, the truth, and the life,” so that through faith in him people could be made holy. Then God provided a way for Jesus to indwell our lives through the Holy Spirit. We are holy because we have God’s Spirit. 

How can we act like the people we have been reborn to be? Answer: We choose to live an inspired life. 

How do you live an inspired life?

You can use the question above as a spiritual exercise for knowing God and his voice. 

First: Don’t just read the question.
Second: Take a minute, right now, to seek God’s face and ask him, “How do I live an inspired life?”
Third: When you truly want to hear his answer, read the familiar verse below as if God is answering you, only you.
Fourth: Ask your Father: “How do I live the life you have inspired?” 
Now: Hear him speak his answer, in his voice – to you:

“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:28–31).

God says:

  • How is it you don’t know me yet! I am the “I AM.” I am your everlasting God, the Creator of everything. “I AM” sufficient for whatever you need for every moment of your life.
  • “I AM” always here for you, and I always understand your every need.
  • “I AM” always able and willing to provide you with the words, the wisdom, and the strength you need to live a blessed, holy, inspired life.
  • “I WILL” inspire your life if you will just wait on me and rely only on the perfect love and leadership I provide.
  • “I know the plans I have for you” (Jeremiah 29:11). Do you want to know my plans?

Did God’s voice impact your heart?

It should break our hearts to hear our Father say, “Have you not known? Have you not heard?” God gave the world the Bible so everyone could know him. God gave the world Jesus so that everyone could be made holy through faith. God gave the faithful the right to become his children and provided his Holy Spirit so we could always be near him and hear him. How is it that this world, and so many of his children, still don’t rely on his inspiration?

God cannot inspire our lives until we trust his perfection and love. God’s inspiration requires the realization that our ideas are the product of imperfection unless his word inspires them through his Spirit.

He inspired Paul to tell Timothy, and all of us, that “All Scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). Every time we study Scripture, we are reading God’s inspiration. The words we read are his voice, breathed into our lives as our inspiration and power to live a holy life.

Have you not known? Have you not heard? 

Is your heart broken by his voice and his need to ask those questions of you today? 

God can inspire you right now

God’s people will change the entire world if we allow the great “I AM” to inspire the moments and choices in our lives. We need God to revive our witness so others can know our Abba, the great “I AM.”

I closed my Bible study last week with this quote from Henry Blackaby, showing how God can inspire revival in his children:

“Revival is a divinely initiated work in which God’s people pray, repent of their sin, and return to a holy, Spirit-filled, obedient, love-relationship with God.”—Henry Blackaby

God will inspire revival when he is able to inspire his children. How well do you know the great “I AM”? How well do you know Scripture as his holy and perfect truth? How faithfully do you follow the personal leadership of his Holy Spirit?

God will inspire and enable us to be holy, because he is our holy Father and wants his children to be like him. Let’s “mount up with wings like eagles” and soar through the rest of our lives, inspired to live only for the standard and plan our perfect God has set before us.

We can all learn from Yancey’s confession

I grieved learning about Philip Yancey’s eight-year affair with a married woman. My initial feelings were anger and frustration that a great author and my teacher in so many ways had compromised his very effective ministry and witness due to a lengthy affair. Then I read the letter of confession and admission that he sent to Christianity Today. I was surprised by how quickly the feelings I had at first melted away. I encourage you to take the time to read it.

Yancey’s book, What’s So Amazing About Grace, was a needed teaching in my life. I can honestly say that nothing about his affair removes a single word of truth from that book, and maybe from any other book he has written or sermon he has preached.

Yancey isn’t accountable to us. He is accountable to God, and his letter of confession to Christianity Today reads like a thoughtful, Davidic confession. That’s what I want to talk about in this article today.

What can all of us learn from Yancey’s mistakes, and especially from his confession?

Are you sick of sexual sin?

Before I write another word, I want to say clearly and bluntly: I am married to a preacher who has never been anything but faithful to me and our marriage vows. Don’t spend any time reading between these lines and wondering about that. We have been married forty-five years and counting. I jokingly tell people (even previous pulpit committees who were looking to hire him) that I have always told Jim, “If you ever have an affair, the last thing you need to worry about is losing your ministry!” I just think it’s good to be blunt and honest about most things! “Vengeance is mine,” says the Lord, but it’s good to let your spouse know you are next in line.

I am blessed to be married to one of the straightest arrows you will ever know. That said, I have accused Jim a few times over the years of prioritizing his relationship with a church over his relationship with me. Almost every preacher’s wife who is reading this article is nodding her head and shouting “amen” right now. Truthfully, ministry wives (and husbands) are just as called to the ministry as their spouses. They give a great deal of themselves to the churches they serve, but in return, they receive many blessings.

One of the biggest problems we encountered in our pastoral ministry was the staff members who fell into the area of sexual sin. When a person in ministry falls, it impacts everyone and everything he has accomplished while on staff. Satan is a brilliant economist. When a Christian leader falls, many of those they have ministered to also fall. That’s why I wanted to write this article. 

Are people in ministry more prone to sexual sins? 

I am not a counselor or statistician, but we have dealt with this issue a lot more often than I would have thought. We have learned a few things along the way. I read a great article from a Pentecostal minister that is worth reading. We should pray for everyone in a position of public ministry. Each day, they arrive at work with a target on their backs. Ministers don’t need to wonder about that; they need to know that. Satan is after those in ministry and desperately wants them to fall. Almost everyone in ministry is gifted by God to do their work.

Here are my thoughts on the “why” those targets exist.

  • God often blesses a person’s ministry for the sake of others, even when he is unable to bless their own lives because of their sin. People line up to tell ministers how a sermon or church program was a blessing to them, making it easy for preachers to think, “Well, God is still using me, so it must not be that bad.”
  • Many in the church treat the person with respect, even if the person is not respectable.
  • Ministry can appeal to the broken who are seeking admiration and respect, thinking that God will “fix them” if only they attend seminary or serve a church.
  • The vast majority of a church staff are called, equipped, gifted, and compassionate people. The weak side of those gifts can sometimes lead to wrong choices. 

And ALL of those points above are true for every Christian, even a gifted man like Philip Yancey.

What should we learn from Yancey’s confession?

  1. Philip Yancey wrote: “To my great shame, I confess that for eight years I willfully engaged in a sinful affair with a married woman.” He was blunt and honest, boldly confessing to God and everyone about his sin. He did not make excuses or explain, hoping to find understanding for his sin. He understood it was sin and that he needed to be forgiven. The apostle John wrote, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). I believe God has forgiven Philip, and that’s how I should feel.
  2. Philip Yancey’s wife said, “I, Janet Yancey, am speaking from a place of trauma and devastation that only people who have lived through betrayal can understand. Yet I made a sacred and binding marriage vow 55½ years ago, and I will not break that promise. I accept and understand that God through Jesus has paid for and forgiven the sins of the world, including Philip’s. God grant me the grace to forgive also, despite my unfathomable trauma. Please pray for us.” James, the half-brother of Christ, told his church, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16). Janet Yancey has asked us to pray for her. I feel called to pray for her right now. Will you?
  3. Philip Yancey also accepted the consequences of his sin. He said, “I am now focused on rebuilding trust and restoring my marriage of 55 years. Having disqualified myself from Christian ministry, I am therefore retiring from writing, speaking, and social media. Instead, I need to spend my remaining years living up to the words I have already written. I pray for God’s grace and forgiveness—as well as yours—and for healing in the lives of those I’ve wounded.” The apostle Paul told us, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap” (Galatians 6:7).

I was so glad that Philip Yancey confessed his sin to so many who have been blessed by his ministry – and confessed with the same honesty we see with King David in the Bible. Even great servants of God fail; they always have and always will. That target Satan has placed on Christians in leadership is dangerous. If you want a powerful witness, then you need to understand that you are accepting that target. 

A powerful ministry requires an effort to maintain a strong dependence on God and a strong effort to walk in humble desperation for the strength only his Holy Spirit provides. When tempted, we are to submit to God, run away from Satan’s ideas, and beg for God’s thoughts through prayer, Bible study, and an overwhelming desire to walk in his ways.

Yancey’s letter is a powerful lesson. How does God want us to apply his confession to our own lives? Pray for the Yanceys, the other family that was involved, and then allow the Spirit to turn your prayer inward. We all have things to confess with a pure heart, and choices to make that will move us toward God’s higher standards. 

Our prayers can prompt the Romans 8:28 of another minister’s fall and bring God glory as we work to help bring about his kingdom purpose. 

Trusting God from the seat of a chariot 

I work hard to maintain my trust in God, but I’m truly grateful for the “chariots and horses” the USA owns. I hadn’t even brewed my first cup of coffee Saturday morning before my husband Jim informed me of the capture and arrest of the Venezuelan president and his wife. Later that morning, we watched the president’s address together.

Whatever your politics are, you can be proud of the strength of our armed forces and their military capabilities. The news Saturday morning reminded me of Psalm 20:7, which says, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” Americans have to work harder than most to understand the importance of that verse. Most of us work to trust in the name of the Lord our God from the seat of a powerful chariot.

Our hope is built on nothing less

Edward Mote wrote that hymn after experiencing his spiritual calling to full-time ministry. He became a Baptist preacher in England and, in addition to pastoring, wrote the words to several hymns. His hymn encourages Christians to trust in nothing less than “Jesus’ blood and righteousness.” The chorus says that Christ is the solid rock where we should choose to stand because everything else is “sinking sand.”

When times are tough, I sing those words with greater depth in my soul than during the easier times in my life. Do you?

The people of Ukraine, the Christians in oncology care or the ICU, or those who struggle each month to pay their bills, probably sing that hymn through tears and fears. Those of us who sing the words from the seat of a chariot probably sing with good intentions rather than deep convictions.

Truthfully, anything we trust more than the character or “name” of God is something less. We are taught to place our hope and trust in “Jesus’ blood and righteousness.” The hymn teaches us to “wholly lean on Jesus’ name.”

How do we keep from building hope in something less?

My son Ryan’s article last week included a quote from former U.S. Senator Ben Sasse. The fifty-three-year-old Sasse recently told the world, “I have been diagnosed with metastasized, stage four pancreatic cancer and am gonna die.” Ryan provided a quote from Sasse that he said, “describes the hope he and his family have found in light of his diagnosis.” Sasse said, “Often we lazily say ‘hope’ when what we mean is ‘optimism.’ To be clear, optimism is great, and it’s absolutely necessary, but it’s insufficient. It’s not the kinda thing that holds up when you tell your daughters you’re not going to walk them down the aisle. Nor telling your mom and pops they’re gonna bury their son. A well lived life demands more reality—stiffer stuff. That’s why, during the Advent, even while still walking in darkness, we shout our hope—often properly with a gravelly voice soldiering through tears.”

That’s what the psalmist meant when he taught us not to trust in “chariots and horses.” This world and all of its possibilities require us to “trust in the name of the Lord our God.” That’s why a Baptist preacher from the 1800s taught us to sing, “On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.”

I regret that I won’t be able to vote for Ben Sasse one day. He didn’t just speak words to gain the Christian vote. His life was a testimony that verified his words and still does. Even today, facing certain death, his “hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.” Sasse’s hope has been rooted in his faithful trust in Jesus for many years, and now his words validate that trust. 

How do we build that kind of trust in God now, before a crisis? How do we fully trust in God instead of lesser things?

What are your chariots and horses?

What do you trust in more than God? It’s alright to be grateful for the “stuff” we accumulate in this life. God blesses his children every day. I’ve often said we should choose to live lives God is able to bless. That’s why we study to know God’s word and then obey God’s word. God blesses us when we follow his will for our lives. Sasse’s family is likely struggling to feel blessed right now. It will take an eternal focus to trust God for their present realities.

The single greatest blessing from God is the hope we gain in this world because of the promise we have of heaven. Our eternal lives are insured by our trust in Jesus. Everything else we trust is something “less.” 

I’m grateful for a bank account, good reports from the doctors, family, friends, medical insurance, and a home and church to enjoy. I’m glad to live in a country that embraces freedoms, especially religious freedoms. I’m grateful for the people who enlist and serve in the military to keep us safe. We are blessed to live in a country that has LOTS of chariots and horses. 

We are blessed, unless we trust in those things more than we trust in the Lord our God.

When will our trust in God matter most?

The last stanza of Mote’s hymn reminds us, “When he shall come with trumpet sound, O may I then in him be found; dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne.”

None of us will arrive in heaven “faultless” on our own. We have eternal life today because of the blood of Jesus Christ and our faith in him. We can trust the words of the hymn because we trust in the name of Jesus and the name of the Lord our God.

Everything else is just a chariot or horse. It’s okay to be grateful for our chariots. We just need to make an effort to acknowledge that our chariots are not what we should trust. As we prepare to face God, we should work daily to stand on Christ, our solid rock. The chariots and horses are always something less. They are the temporary things of this life that we will simply enjoy for a little while.

On Christ the solid rock we stand. Everything else we tend to trust is just “sinking sand.” Do you need to hop out of a chariot today? You can trust the solid Rock to be waiting.

2026 – Seeeven

We can embrace 2026 with new meaning if we just attach the number “Seeeven” to the end of it. If you spent any time this Christmas season with a child or grandchild, you probably heard someone say, “Six-seeeven.” Nobody knows what the phrase 6-7 means, but according to an article by Jenna Kruse on our Denison Forum website, “dictionary.com” named “6 7” its official “Word of the Year.” (Jenna’s written a great article about the phenomenon of “6 7” and how it can encourage us to share our faith.)

I heard a recent news report that a couple of fast-food restaurants have actually removed the number “67” from their order lineup because of the commotion it caused when it was called out. Apparently, the typical response to that number is loud and energetic.

If you ask Merriam-Webster what “6 7” means, it calls the phrase “a nonsensical internet slang term and meme, most often used by teens and tweens.” 

I turned sixty-seven last November and will spend most of this year living with a number that is a cultural phenomenon, apparently with no real meaning. But it means a lot to me.

I’m glad to be still alive

According to several doctors, I should be glad to still be six seeeven. I conked my head and developed a brain bleed that continued to do harm for way too long. By the time I actually realized I had a problem and went back to the doctor, I could have had a massive stroke or some brain damage. (I imagine I will be hearing a few wisecracks from close friends and family about that last sentence!)

My son told me that I should be glad I had watched so much Fox News over the past few years. When I asked him why, he said, “Because it shoved my brain so far to the right, it gave me more room for the hematoma to develop.” Honestly, that was my favorite wisecrack. 

I have a lot to be thankful for. Family and friends prayed, and God responded. I will never know this side of heaven all the many ways God cared for me. I truly experienced the truth of Job 14:5 that says, “Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass.”

I plan to enjoy and appreciate every day of my “2026-seeeven” year on this earth!

What “6 7” means to me

I decided to write this article for the new year because of the phenomenon that Merriam-Webster defines as “nonsensical internet slang.” Jenna Kraus also wrote, “Knowing that a meaningless phrase like ‘6 7’ can spread so universally brings encouragement. If it can spread so universally across a nation—and include a wide demographic across racial, gender, and generational lines—what does it say about the possibility of spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ?”

The phenomenon of “6 7” reminds us that, due to the internet, information and influence can spread rapidly around the world and impact the way people behave. Charlie Kirk’s death last year provided the critical reminder that Christianity and choosing biblical standards for our lives can have a far greater influence in this world than many of us had come to believe. 

Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” God already knows everything that will happen in this new year, and he has a plan to rejoice in or redeem all of it. Our spiritual goal for this new year can be to make every effort to follow God’s plan for our lives and serve him faithfully. The apostle Paul said, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

If Paul were writing on the internet today, he might say, “Because of the power and all-knowing character of God, we can say ‘6 seeeven’ to everything else.” 

Will we live this year with God’s priorities?

I have often said or taught, “If it doesn’t matter eternally, it doesn’t matter very much.” Our treasure is being stored for us in heaven. Our eternal family will consist of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Our future is eternal. How do we need to adjust the rest of our earthly moments for God’s eternal purpose?

God has our days numbered already. Until then: 

We need God to “teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). If something isn’t wise, just say, “6 7.”

We need to remember that Paul taught: “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:15–17). If something isn’t worthy of our time and energy, just say, “6 7.”

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6). If it’s something you want more than you want God’s will, just say, “6 7.”

2026 – 7

A couple of months of recuperation have me saying, “6 7” to a LOT of things. I think my sixty-seventh year on this earth has new meaning. There are a lot of choices and emotions to place in our “6 7 file.” There is also a lot to look forward to accomplishing that will have eternal purpose. Everything is either God’s purpose for my life, or I should file that choice in my “6 7 file.” Some things in this world are “nonsensical.” Some things are temporary moments with no eternal significance. Some things are the path to his blessings, while others simply distract us from his plan.

Let’s make this new year one of our best. Our days are numbered, and that’s God’s great gift to us. May our “6 7” file of choices increase, and may our treasure in heaven grow as a result. May this be a great year because we spent most of our days choosing to serve God’s kingdom purpose! 

Happy New Year to all of you.

We serve a GREAT God, and I look forward to spending eternity with all of you!