God’s design for our lives is that prayer, reading, worship and meditation be used as life expressions to grow in love and intimacy with the Father. Isn’t that why we’re all here anyway, to be closer to Him?

We all need to find that path; to choose mercy over deserved punishment. After all, when Jesus gave us the gift of salvation, we didn’t deserve it either.

Life isn’t about money, comfort, school or pleasing people. Life is about Jesus. Soon, you and I, like a mist in the wind, will vanish. Why would you want to give your whole life to anything or anyone else besides Jesus?

Perhaps having “faith like a child” really means we are intended to ask questions and dig deeper while simultaneously delighting in the processes we have only begun to understand. Maybe curiosity and delight in beauty are pleasing to God.

In the end, this is what we are supposed to do: Like Paul, we are to take every thought captive. Legalism is based on pride and personal conviction. Lordship, on the other hand, is based on love and obedience founded on Biblical conviction.

From a spiritual perspective, churches are held together with the Spirit of God. But that togetherness does not come automatically. According to the apostle Paul, we are called to be one body, but that calling implies a certain amount of human responsibility.

Though I’ll continue to fight against my own personal imperfection, I’m going to really pour my energy into fighting for everything that is holy, good or has soul. I want to be defined by the things I believe in rather than the things I am against.

If the world and everything in it is God’s, and if God is still interested in the ongoing creative work of upholding and directing all that is, then perhaps we can learn to laugh like He does.

One of the root problems with this “finding the next big thing” phenomena is that we are confusing want and need. Just because we want something doesn’t mean we need it. And just because we want it, doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to get it.

How will you respond when Jesus asks, “You do not want to leave too, do you?” At the crossroads, be sure to take the narrow path; it’s not popular, and it’s not easy, but it is the road that leads to true and eternal life.