Digging Deeper LIVE with Andi and Brian Hale

If normal dads want to do what’s best for their kids, how much more should we expect the perfect, heavenly Father to always do what’s best for his kids? Jesus made this point to another audience filled with good folks like you and me. He said, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11).

Jesus starts his teaching on prayer by clarifying how he wants his listeners to view the God to whom they are speaking. Because your view of God will determine your practice of prayer. And your practice of prayer will reveal your view of God.

But Jesus doesn’t just tell us that we are talking to a God who is “Father,” so we know he is willing to help. He also tells us that we are talking to a God who is “in heaven,” so we know that he is able to help. “In heaven” isn’t meant to communicate distance; it’s meant to communicate competence. Because God is “in heaven,” he is unstoppable.

Jesus is connecting the identity of the one we are speaking to in prayer with the God who “is in heaven and does whatever he pleases” (Psalm 115:3 CSB); the one for whom “all things are possible” (Mark 10:27); the one who easily brought about every miracle we find in Scripture. His power is unmatched and unending. And he never needs a break when he does more in a moment than we can do in a lifetime.

Jesus wants us to know from the very beginning that we are speaking to a God who is endlessly capable and eagerly willing to do what’s best for his kids. He wants us to have so high a view of God’s power that we really believe he can make a difference in our inner thought life, health, relationships, finances, work life, and more, and a high enough view of God’s love that we really believe he is eagerly working to do what’s best in our lives.

Do you view God like this?

How do you know what your heart really thinks about God’s ability or willingness to help you with your problems and plans? Look at your prayer life. If you are daily asking God for help, you have a heart that believes in God’s ability and love. If you aren’t asking, you don’t.

When we say that we’re too busy to pray, our lives are saying, “It is more productive for me to get to work than to ask God to help me with my work.” That shows that we aren’t seeing who God is and what he can do rightly.

Jesus designed our prayer life to change our perspective. And at the heart of this change is a change about how we view God, from thinking he is unable or unwilling to help to knowing he is able and willing.

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Relationships

Relationships are a part of all of our lives. Some of them may be healthy, while others aren’t. At times, we may feel closer to people that we’re not related to, and feel distant from those in our own families.

Within these relationships, we get to witness the good in the lives of people we love, but we also have to navigate the difficult—like hurt, betrayal, and frustration (to name a few). And the normal way many people respond when these things happen is to withhold forgiveness, seek revenge, and show no mercy.

When someone does something that hurts or offends us, we often take it as a personal attack. We assume they meant to hurt us, and at times, people do. But, for the most part, we’re just imperfect people who are just being...imperfect.

In addition to how people treat us, we need to examine how we handle relationships on our end. Do we build people up with our words, or do we tear them down? Are we kinder to people who can do something for us in return, or do we treat everyone with honor and respect? Do we typically give ourselves sexually to everyone we date, or are we saving ourselves for our future spouse?

The Apostle Paul shares very specific instructions in Romans 12:9-18 about how we should operate in our relationships. He says we’re called to love each other as brothers and sisters, honor one another beyond what we’d give ourselves, share with others who are in need, and possibly the hardest part...not repay with evil when someone wounds us.

When it comes to our relationships, let’s look at the contrasting ideas we find in what’s accepted as normal and what could be better than normal:

Normal abandons friendships when mistakes are made, but better than normal forgives.
Normal allows insignificant issues to create frustration, but better than normal is patient.
Normal gives in to temptation, but better than normal chooses purity.
Normal argues when there are differences, but better than normal builds bridges.
Normal looks out for self, but better than normal thinks of others.
Normal makes jokes at others’ expense, but better than normal speaks with respect.

Whether our relationships are struggling or not, we know that normal isn’t always a healthy place to be, but it’s more comfortable to us than the unknown. So, let’s choose to be better than normal in how we love and live with the people around us.

Do you have relationships in your life that are unhealthy? Think through the people in your life and how you interact with them. Decide what is healthy and what needs to change to ensure your relationships are honoring to God.

Work

Work is a good thing that God has given all of us. Children work at school and do chores at home. Teenagers train in sports, while others get their first job. Adults work at raising kids, serving others, and running companies. Some of us go to work away from our homes, and some of us don’t. Some of us get paid to work, and some of us don’t. And some of us love our work, and some of us don’t. No matter what we do or how we work, God has given us this gift to provide for our families as well as to make a difference in the world.

While our work is a gift from God, sometimes we can develop an unhealthy relationship with it (just like with money). For example, some people overwork themselves to the point of burnout, which may lead to serious health issues. Other times, we may struggle with underworking, whether by choice or due to circumstances out of our control. Working hard and resting well are both incredibly valuable, but ultimately, we must find a better than normal viewpoint and work ethic when it comes to how much we produce.

Let’s take a look at the difference between what normal and better than normal can look like in our work lives:

Normal finds its identity in a job, while better than normal knows who we are in Christ.
Normal chooses workaholism, while better than normal knows when to say “no.”
Normal accepts exhaustion, while better than normal values rest.
Normal looks for ways to avoid difficult work, while better than normal perseveres.
Normal sees what we do, while better than normal sees purpose in how we work.
Normal does the bare minimum, while better than normal works with integrity.

The people who live on this planet are unique and diverse. Regardless of how we work, the point is that we choose to work hard at whatever we do. The best way to do this is to see ourselves working for God.

In all the work you are doing, work the best you can. Work as if you were doing it for the Lord, not for people. (Colossians 3:23 NCV)

No matter what our work schedules and tasks look like, let’s consider Jesus to be our employer. Yes, we should work hard to do our jobs well and honor our earthly employers. But placing Jesus at the forefront of our minds is even better because we can then honor Him by working hard and resting well.

In what ways do you feel healthy, and in what ways should you make changes? Spend some time thinking through your work life.

Money

The world is full of things competing for our attention. Everywhere we look, we see things that seem to call out to us saying, “Buy me!” or, “You need me!” Material possessions can lure us in so strongly that we start purchasing things that may not have been on our financial radar. And before we know it, we’re in a toxic relationship with money and possessions, and we don’t know how to get out of it. This is “normal” living for many people.

This normal way of spending and managing our money doesn’t leave us in a good place. For example, it’s normal to spend every bit of our income and not save any money for emergencies. It’s also common to go into debt and never pay things off. It’s “normal” to think that as long as we can afford the payment, we’re good.

The Bible actually has a lot to say on the topic of money. In fact, it’s one of the most talked about subjects in the entire book! A couple of things the Bible tells us about money is that it won’t satisfy us (Ecclesiastes 5:10), and that when wealth is gained quickly, it’ll dwindle quickly (Proverbs 13:11).

In Matthew 6:19-24, Jesus teaches about money and warns us against accumulating worldly “treasures.” Instead, He challenges us to acquire “heavenly” treasures, because they never end and can never be destroyed. Jesus tells us that our heart will follow where we’ve placed our treasure. His final and most powerful exhortation to us is that we “can’t serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24 NLT).

We can keep doing what we see displayed in most of the world, or we can make changes and live better than normal.

Normal focuses on accumulating, while better than normal gives to others.
Normal allows money to lead, while better than normal seeks to be led by God.
Normal keeps 100% of our income, while better than normal trusts God with 90%.
Normal doesn’t think ahead, while better than normal lives by a plan.
Normal is enslaved to debt, while better than normal saves to pay in full.
Normal thinks of today, while better than normal invests for the future.

Money isn’t a bad thing by itself, but when we allow it to be our god, it can wreak havoc in our lives. The money we earn should be something we use and not something that uses or controls us.

What if we adjusted our normal mindset to have a better than normal one? Spend some time thinking through your relationship with money and see what needs to be changed.

What is normal?

Normal means conforming to a standard, type, or regular pattern. The term normal usually refers to something that’s typical or natural and something that most people do, and abnormal appears to be the opposite. With that in mind, we’ll define normal in the following way: behavior that is typical, expected, and adjusts to a standard that society has put in place.

But with the amount of people who live on planet earth, is it even possible to say something is normal? What may be normal in one culture may not make any sense in another.

At times, our idea of normal gets hijacked, which causes us to panic and not know how to respond. “When will things go back to normal?” is a question we ask when things stop feeling normal or when we’re in a challenging season where the end date seems unattainable. But eventually, we get our feet steady and we say something like, “Well, I guess this is our new normal.”

What’s so appealing about normal after all? Well, we usually know what to expect, and we find comfort in it even if it’s not good or healthy. But, comfort doesn’t always equate to health. So, what if we chose to look for a life that is beyond that concept of normality? What if we pursued a life that is better than normal?

As followers of Jesus, we’re called to live differently. The world tells us to follow our hearts, but we know that our hearts can be deceitful. The world says to have the perfect body, but we know that godliness should be our goal. The world tells us to put ourselves first, but we know that living a life where we give to others is more rewarding and kind.

In this Plan, we’ll look at some of the ways that normal just doesn’t cut it. Instead, we’ll learn how to change the way we live and leave the status quo behind for a better than normal life.