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My message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God.

1 Corinthians 2:4-5 (New Living Translation)

My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.

1 Corinthians 2:4-5 (New International Version)

But the Message came through anyway. God’s Spirit and God’s power did it, which made it clear that your life of faith is a response to God’s power, not to some fancy mental or emotional footwork by me or anyone else.

1 Corinthians 2:4-5 (The Message)

You will live in joy and peace.
The mountains and hills will burst into song,
and the trees of the field will clap their hands!

Isaiah 55:12 (New Living Translation)

You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.

Isaiah 55:12 (New International Version)

So you’ll go out in joy,
you’ll be led into a whole and complete life.
The mountains and hills will lead the parade,
bursting with song.
All the trees of the forest will join the procession,
exuberant with applause.

Isaiah 55:12 (The Message)

That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.

Galatians 5:26 (The Message)

Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Galatians 5:26 (New International Version)

Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.

Galatians 5:26 (New Living Translation)

The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.

2 Peter 3:9 (New Living Translation)

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

2 Peter 3:9 (New King James Version)

God isn’t late with his promise as some measure lateness. He is restraining himself on account of you, holding back the End because he doesn’t want anyone lost. He’s giving everyone space and time to change.

2 Peter 3:9 (The Message)

Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.

Romans 3:24 (New Living Translation)

We are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Romans 3:24 (New International Version)

Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ.

Romans 3:24 (The Message)

by Jon Walker

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15 HCSB)

When Jesus speaks of love, he allows no room for sentimental fantasy or momentary emotion. He sees love through the eyes of the Father, and from this point of view he deeply understands that true, eternal, godly love is bold and strong, but also painful, messy, and sacrificial.

A love of this strength and magnitude can only take root in the soil of abandonment. We abandon our rights, our thoughts, and our schemes. It was this total and uncompromising abandonment to God that led Jesus to say and do only what the Father told him to do. (John 14:10) It was this uncompromising abandonment that led him to the cross.

If we are to become just like Christ, then we also must be abandoned to the Father. We must line up with the thoughts and plans of God so closely that we appear to be “at one” with him, just as a married couple, deeply abandoned to each other, appear to live as one. Through abandonment, we walk so closely with God that, when people see us, they see the Father at work.

Jesus is teaching this abandonment when he says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” In other words, he’s not demanding that you be obedient; rather, he’s telling you that love for him should compel you to embrace his purposes.

The Jesus way is that you obey God’s commands because you love God, not because you must obey God. By actively pursuing the purposes of God, you worship your Creator.

This also gives you a Christ-like perspective on the daily details of your life, turning every decision into a moment of adoration for God. When you let someone else take the parking space, when you stand behind a promise that proves more costly than you imagined, when you extend hospitality to the cranky neighbor next door – these are moments of worship to God because you are choosing to be obedient to his purposes, rather than doing things your own way. Even choosing not to sin becomes an act of worship, as it brings you into closer alignment with God’s commands.

What does this mean?

· As you face decisions today, ask God to show you which path will be an act of worship to him. Then (I know this is easier said than done), move where he tells you to move.

· As you take this step, keep your eyes sensitive to God’s grace and presence in the moment. Do this throughout the day, keeping a log so you can track your movement toward oneness with God and his purposes.

O my son, give me your heart.
May your eyes take delight in following my ways.

Proverbs 23:26 (New Living Translation)

My son, give me your heart
and let your eyes keep to my ways.

Proverbs 23:26 (New International Version)

Dear child, I want your full attention;
please do what I show you.

Proverbs 23:26 (The Message)

The very best thing you can do is to enlist freely and decidedly in the army of the Lord. Surrender yourself into the hands of God, that your will and ways may be guided by the One who is unerring in wisdom and infinite in goodness. To withhold yourself from God is to rob God of that which is His own. The Lord has need of you, and you have need of the Lord.