March 24: WHEN YOU LOVE JESUS, YOU'LL DISCOVER YOU LOVE BEING LAST IN LINE.

Affirmation: I choose to be authentic. I let go of what other people think.

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Ponder, Personalize, Practice: Today put this verse into practice and make it your lifelong goal. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Each day ask God to show you His plan. What good works does God have for you to do today. Keep your eyes, mind and heart open.

Ephesians 2:8–10 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. 

Wholehearted Guidepost from Brené Brown 

Cultivate Play and Rest, Calm and Stillness. 

Let go of exhaustion as a status symbol, productivity as self-worth and anxiety as a life style. 

Worthiness doesn’t have prerequisites.
“If we want to live wholehearted lives, we have to be intentional about cultivating play and rest, and we must work to let go of exhaustion as a status symbol and productivity as self-worth.” -Brené Brown

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Mastering the 7 Decisions from Andy Andrews 

The Joyful Decision 

5. TODAY I WILL CHOOSE TO BE HAPPY.

Happiness is a choice. I am enthusiastic about each day. I am alert to its possibilities.

I will become the master of my emotions.

I will greet each day with laughter. I know that enthusiasm is the fuel that moves the world.

The world belongs to the enthusiastic, for people will follow them anywhere! My smile has become my calling card. It is, after all, the most important weapon I possess. I am the possessor of a grateful spirit. 

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Reading for Today

Walk in Grace. Live in Love. by Bob Goff

March 24

WHEN YOU LOVE JESUS, YOU'LL DISCOVER YOU LOVE BEING LAST IN LINE. 

So the last will be first, and the first will be last. 

MATTHEW 20:16 

 

Could you imagine what people would think if we had a couple of shouting matches on the fringes of the church parking lot? We should have plenty of arguments at church; let's just argue about the right stuff.

 

Maybe folks would be more interested in filling spots inside if we arm wrestled for the worst parking spots on the outside. We're all creatures of habit. These rou­tines and patterns can free us up from making many of the distracting decisions we would otherwise need to be tracking. This can be good, but there's also a back side to that wave. We get comfortable. We become grafted into our routine. We're on autopilot. We park in the same spot, occupy the same pew, go to the same restaurant afterward for lunch. When any of that gets disrupted, we act like it's an assault on our rights. If we're not careful, our preferences will become the most important thing to us, and it will show. Here's the problem: when we want everyone to defer to us on Sundays, we abandon altogether the whole revolution Jesus started. "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave," He said. 

There's no middle ground with Jesus on this one. Like He said time and time again, to truly follow Him is to get familiar with taking cuts to the back of the line, to coming in last. We ought to be fighting to get the worst parking spots at our churches, not the best ones. And not let it end there. That's what people are hoping to see when we talk about the kind of love Jesus came to give-selfless, irrational, sacrificial love. 

 

How can you get extravagant with your love today? It starts with mixing up some of the routines we've become used to. Every day, we get another chance to shake up the status quo and extend love's border in our lives. Here's how you win in Jesus' reverse economy: Don't settle for the best spots. Fight for the worst parking spots. 

How can you get extravagant with your love today?