January 17: If It’s Not Jesus, It’s Junk Mail

Affirmation: Enjoy your creativity

“Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.” Galatians 6:4-5 The Message

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Ponder & Personalize:  Recite these verses throughout the day. Think about the next line…”Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Easy to memorize, difficult to do. What do you need to ponder as you put this into action?

”Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything,but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.“

‭‭Philippians‬ ‭4‬:‭4‬-‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/111/php.4.4-7.NIV

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Chasing Whimsy by Bob Goff

                       Jan 17

    If It’s Not Jesus, It’s Junk Mail

“In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made, without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
John 1:1-5
When Jesus was traveling, teaching and performing miracles, people were on the lookout for where He would be. They wanted to find ways to be close by. They cracked the code that being next near Jesus is always a good idea, because where Jesus is, people get healed; redemptive grace-filled things happen and a new perspective on life emerges. It was true then, and it remains true now.

But how do we know where Jesus is going to be? The answer to this question doesn’t need to be a big theological one. It rests on the idea that God is in all things, and nothing happens that is independent of Him. This was the message John was passing along when he said that Jesus had been around since the beginning, and He is in and with everything. The trick for us, then, is to see where Jesus already has been and where he is now.

I don’t know about you, but I get a lot of mail– – – by the foot. What I do first is read the upper left hand corner to see who it’s from. If it’s from somebody, I don’t know or some company I’ve never heard of, I know it’s junk mail and I don’t open it. I just throw it away.

We need to do something similar with the messages we receive in this life. You will know the message coming your way is from Jesus if it lines up with what you read in the scriptures about the big life He talked about. That’s a return address you can trust. Stop reading the junk mail that gets delivered to you every day.

Let Jesus be the focus of your thoughts, and no matter what it is, you’re doing, keep your head on swivel and look for evidence of Him in everyone and everything.

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In a dream, they were warned not to report back to Herod. So they worked out another route, left the territory without being seen, and returned to their own country. MATTHEW 2:12

A meeting with Herod would have been highly dramatic, just the kind of encounter that journalists delight in covering. Yet there is to be no dissipa­tion of the act of worship in satisfying a king's curiosity, but an immediate return to everyday living in "their own country." 

What are some results of worship? 

 

God, connect the deepening and centering of life that I experience in moments of worship with the routines and duties of my weekday hours so that all of life will be glorified by your presence. Amen.