More and more these days, I love mercy.

As I have heard it defined, grace is getting what we don’t deserve, while mercy is not getting what we deserve. Those qualities don’t really mean much to a culture where right and wrong and truth have morphed into what feels right for me and what my truth is.

But I know in my own life that there have been times when I deserved to be cut off in relationships. I deserved to be dropped. But I saw grace and mercy instead. That’s why I love those things and want to show them as much as possible.

You can’t really have grace and mercy without truth. Otherwise, you just end up with enabling and enduring. But in Jesus, we get 100% grace and truth. We get kindness that leads to repentance and discipline that leads to joy. We find mercy in times of trouble when we’re able and willing to admit that we’re in trouble.

May we always have softened and merciful hearts.

May we be that hungry for God.

May we be more hungry for God than for actual food.

May we be more hungry for God than for the next streaming series.

May we be more hungry for God than for our own spouses and significant others.

May we be more hungry for God than for any of our political causes.

May we be more hungry for God than the next new car, new house, new job promotion, or new pay raise.

May we be more hungry for God than for our own lives.

May we be so hungry for God that we confess that nothing else in all the world will satisfy but God and God alone.

“…everyone you meet today is fighting a battle & needs courage.

Needs help to live ‘in courage.’

Needs someone to encourage with words that give strength for their battle.

‘Gently encourage… & reach out for the exhausted, pulling them to their feet. Be patient with each person, attentive to individual needs. And be careful that when you get on each other’s nerves you don’t snap at each other. Look for the best in each other, and always do your best to bring it out.’ 1Thess5:13MSG

Because the thing is: Every breath’s a battle between grudgery & gratitude. Give thanks — & you win joy today!

#PreachingGospelToMyself#GiveThanks#LookForTheBest” (Ann Voskamp).

Really that’s it. Everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about, as are you. In this life, no one is completely whole. We are all broken in some way, but some wounds and scars are more visible than others. So be kind.

Remember it was the kindness of God that first led you to repentance. Not brow-beating or stern lecturing. It was kindness. Not passive acceptance or permissiveness, but kindness that leads people to be better than they were before. Kindness that brings about a change of heart that leads to a change of behavior. Kinda like repentance.

If you live in grudgery all the time, people around you know. If you live in a constant state of gratitude, people around you will also know. One turns people away from God, while the other leads them to want to know Him more.

So be kind and live gratefully. That’s all.

“The greatest honor we can give Almighty God is to live gladly because of the knowledge of his love” (Julian of Norwich).

It’s not living right in order to win God’s favor and approval but because we already have it. It’s not about living gladly in order somehow to earn God’s love but because we know that He loves us already.

For those who belong to God in Jesus, we can say that we are truly and deeply loved. We can live gladly out of the knowledge of that love. We can inspire and compel others to want to know this love by how deep our gladness is over God’s love.

May we never take for granted that this God, Maker and King of the Universe, has set His affections on us and is truly in love with us.

Some of you thought your life would look different by this point. Maybe you thought you’d be married by now. Or still married at this point. Maybe you dreamed of having children and haven’t yet. Or maybe you thought you’d be settled into a lucrative career inching closer to retirement.

And then you wake up and look at the life you have.

You have a choice to be bitter over what could have been or to be thankful for what is. You can lament all those might have beens or rejoice that you are still alive and blessed with so much that you take for granted. And yes, I am preaching to myself.

You can’t go back and redo the past. You can’t go forward and manipulate the future. All you can do is live in the here and now, trusting the God who was and is and is to come to lead you through paths of righteousness to a good destination.

Bloom where you’re planted. Instead of always wondering why the grass is greener somewhere else, try watering your own yard and making your own life better. Maybe get God out of that co-pilot seat and let Him lead. And trust that He knows what He’s doing.

“Dear Lord, you are the first of the just. You lived the righteous life. It is because of you that your heavenly Father keeps this world in existence and shows his mercy to us sinners. Who am I, Lord, to expect your love, protection, and mercy? Who am I to deserve a place in your heart, in your house, in your kingdom? Who am I, Lord, to hope in your forgiveness, your friendship, your embrace? And still this is what I am waiting for, expecting, even counting on! Not because of my own merits, but solely because of your immense mercy. You lived for us the life that is pleasing to God. O Lord, you are the just one, the blessed one, the beloved one, the righteous one, the gracious one.

I pray that your Father, the Father of all people, the One who created me and sustains me day in and day out, may recognize in me your marks and receive me because of you. Help me to follow you, to unite my life with yours and to become a mirror of your love. Amen” (Henri J.M. Nouwen, A Cry for Mercy: Prayers from the Genesee).

It’s not your job to bear the burdens of the world. I think it’s a timely reminder in an age where we are bombarded with news from all over the world literally nonstop. It can be overwhelming if you let it. But you don’t have to.

Jesus didn’t say for you to fix every problem that you see or that you become aware of. He didn’t say to protest every wrongdoing at every possible opportunity. Your shoulders aren’t big enough to carry all the weight of all the suffering in all the world. But His are.

That’s why He said for you and me to cast our cares and burdens on Him and take His yoke of obedience and trust, for His yoke is easy and His burden is light. He said through the Apostle Paul to be anxious about nothing but to pray about everything. Then live as though the answer is already given and the victory already won, because it has been and it is.

I don’t know if you’re like me, but I’m a classic overthinker. If overthinking could be an Olympic sport, I’d be a multiple gold medal winner. But lately, I’ve been thinking . . . . haha . . . and maybe every time I start to go into overthink mode, I could use that as an opportunity to turn it into prayer.

It’s freeing to me that I can share everything with God, not just the “spiritual” and “holy” things. It can be like “God, I’m thinking this way about a certain person, and I don’t know what to do with it, so I give it to you. I surrender this thought to You.”

I think the more we live in the mentality of praying without ceasing, the more peace we experience. Obviously, I don’t mean we spent the whole day walking around with eyes closed and hands folded, bumping into everything and everyone. But the idea of turning every thought into a prayer and constantly offering up short petitions and praises throughout the day changes how you see God, yourself, and your circumstances.

I’ve learned that for me praying doesn’t so much alter my circumstances as much as it alters me and the way I see my circumstances. It gives me the ability to persevere through my trials instead of immediately taking my trials away. It helps me see more of God at work in me and around me.

I read that purity of heart is to will one thing instead of being pulled in multiple directions all the time. I think a prayerful mentality is the best way to have the mind of Jesus, who is the best example of living out of His purpose and calling. May we do the same with the same Jesus who now indwells us.

“Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll have it forever, real and eternal” (John 12:24-25, The Message).

Sometimes what feels like death can actually be a rebirth. When you see the death of a dream, of a career, of a relationship, or of a loved one, it can feel like the end. It feels like there will never be life or hope or joy on the other side.

But when that one seed falls into the ground and dies, it births something far greater than one single solitary seed. It multiplies into something far beyond what you could have ever hoped or imagined. It’s like God takes away your short story and sets you down in the middle of a sprawling novel with possibilities and outcomes you would never have thought of on your own.

“God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.

Glory to God in the church!
Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus!
Glory down all the generations!
Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes!” (Ephesians 3:20-21, The Message).

“No matter the pressures at the end of this week,

let’s just quietly exhale…

and lean into Jesus.

‘Jesus said, “Come along with me.’

Mark 2:13 MSG

Only in Christ can we experience extravagant acceptance without experiencing exhausting performance. Because the thing is? Unless we walk with Jesus every moment, we’ll be driven hard by pride and fear every day.

Relax about the weekend ahead — it’s already okay: you are already loved. Jesus wants to walk with you today — *so you aren’t driven by pride or fear.*

#TheBrokenWay#TheWayOfAbundance” (Ann Voskamp)

As you may have heard before, every other religion is spelled d-o. As in do this or do that, keep these rules, and you will get into paradise. Christianity is spelled d-o-n-e. As in all the work you need to get into heaven has already been done in and by Jesus and all you have to do is receive His free gift of salvation.

It’s not about working for and hoping for God’s approval, but working and living and worshipping out of the approval of God that you already have. One is exhausting. The other is exhilarating. One leads to failure and burn-out. The other leads to freedom and blessing.