The life Jesus offers isn’t dull—it’s abundant, surprising, and full of joy.

Have you ever been so convinced that you're right, that your view of the world is the absolute truth, that you've blundered into a situation with your mouth wide open, espousing your opinions, your "truth" as you see it, without stopping to listen to others first? Sure, you have. Me too. It never ends well, does it?!

Back in 1520, King Christian II of Denmark summoned Swedish nobles to a so-called "peace banquet" in Stockholm after claiming victory in their war. Now, his advisors warned him to tread carefully but he didn't listen.

Instead, he gave a fiery speech accusing the nobles of treason before having over 80 of them executed in what became known as the "Stockholm Bloodbath".

He thought it would cement his rule. It backfired. Sweden revolted, threw off Danish rule, and Christian lost his throne. If only he'd listened first, instead of condemning publicly, he'd likely have kept his crown—and Sweden.

Proverbs 18:2 A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion. (ESV)

That about sums it up, doesn't it? That Danish king was foolish in how he handled a delicate situation. And, come on, how often have we played the fool by espousing 'the world according to moi', instead of listening first.

We're so certain of our own opinions, we so want to tell the rest of them how things are, that we completely misplay the situation, falling flat on our face.

When we only wait for our turn to speak, we miss wisdom. Listening is the way of the wise; talking too much is the path of the fool.

That's, in effect, God's blueprint for communication: listen first. It's the opposite of our natural instinct—but it's the path to peace and understanding.

That's God's Word. Fresh … for you … today.

As we contemplate the year ahead, we can't think for too long without thinking about our relationships. The good ones. The mediocre ones. And, the downright destructive and hurtful ones too.

It's just so good to be with you again today, looking forward together at the year that lies ahead. And as we think about that year, all the good things and the difficult things that are going to come our way, it is hard to think for more than a few minutes without turning our attention to relationships.

Have you ever though about how many relationships you have? Relationships ranging from absolutely crucial to distant; fantastic to fiasco; blessing to bust. And those relationships it turns out have a huge impact in the quality and the effectiveness of the lives that we lead.

So what if we looked across all those relationships and looked at the ones that are causing us grief and did something about them. What impact would that have on our lives this year?

This week on A Different Perspective we're looking at spring cleaning our lives. Over the week so far we have look at spring cleaning our homes, our finances, our priorities. If you have missed any of those you can listen to them again online at our website www.Christianityworks.com .

There are different sorts of people in our lives and one of the groups of people that we have in our lives are what I have called "Poisonous" people. People who drag us down. People who criticise and abuse and compromise. Recently my wife Jacqui and I met a couple. Here was this married woman behaving improperly without setting appropriate boundaries. It was so easy for us to have friendships and relationships with people who are "Poisonous" people.

There is a great picture of the apostle Paul on the island of Malta. You can read about it in the 28th chapter in the book of Acts in the New Testament. He is picking up some wood and a viper, a snake, bites him on the hand and starts pumping poison into him. And he shakes it off and throws it into the fire.

We all know people like that. People who when we are around them they pump poison into our spirits. I would contend that part of having a healthy life is looking at some of those relationships that in fact we shouldn't even be in. Some of the sorts of people that are so bad for us we need to just say, "I am not just going have a relationship with this person."

You might be listening and say, "But that's not a very Christian attitude to have." I would like to point to you what Jesus said to the disciples when he sent them out. You can read about it in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 10 verse 14. He said

"Look, go into these towns and tell them about the good news. Tell them about Me. If they don't listen shake the dust of your feet and go into the next town." Sometimes there are people in our lives (and in our hearts we know who they are) we are having friendships and relationships with that are just dragging us down. Is it time to spring clean those. Maybe those people are really close, maybe they are husband or wife. Maybe someone is being hard on us and it is hurting us. Well this is my husband or this is my wife, I just can't leave them.

I would agree. It's not time to trash a marriage or our children. That is not what I am talking about. But in that case I just wonder whether it is time to deal with the issues. To try and figure out what I am doing wrong in this relationship. Honestly. Half the time bad relationships come back to what I am doing not what the other person is doing to us.

And also dealing with issues. If someone is always angry with us, if someone is always criticising us, or if someone is always whinging, sure let's love them. Let's encourage them, let's be there for them, but let's speak the truth in love.

But if you are having a tough day and if you just feel like grumbling, and you're with me, I will empathise with you, I will counsel you, I

God’s love is shown most clearly when our different gifts work together.

None of us likes making mistakes. And when we do, the last thing we feel like doing is owning up, dealing with the withering looks of blame from others. Better just to sweep things under the carpet or blame someone else!

In 1961, the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba was a disaster. US President John F. Kennedy had approved the plan to overthrow Fidel Castro but when it failed spectacularly, those around him pointed fingers at the CIA, the planners, and even the exiled Cubans. But JFK?

Well, at first, he hesitated. Had he taken full ownership from the beginning, trust in his leadership might've soared. Instead, the delay in admitting fault dented his credibility. When he did finally accept the blame, it helped repair his image—but by then, the damage had been done.

Look, it takes courage to accept responsibility for our mistakes – a courage that Adam and Eve clearly lacked when God held them to account for eating a piece of fruit from the one tree that He'd forbidden.

Genesis 3:12-13 The man said, "The woman you put here with me gave me fruit from that tree. So I ate it." Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What have you done?" She said, "The snake tricked me, so I ate the fruit."

Neither of them took ownership, and so sin entered the world. Have you ever wondered how things might have played out differently had they fessed up and asked God for His forgiveness? The mind boggles!

When you make a mistake, take responsibility instead of digging yourself into an even deeper hole. And ask God to forgive you.

That's His Word. Fresh … for you … today.

Balance – if only we could get some balance back into our lives. It can be tough can't it? But the way we spend our time – well it comes from the priorities we set – deliberately, or unknowingly.

It's just great that you can join me again today. I was driving along in my car just the other day. And I drove past a newsagent. You know how they have the newspaper headlines on the signs outside the store? One of the headlines said this ... "Money or family". Ouch! That really hits a raw nerve with a lot of people. Balancing work and family.

Just after that I ended up having breakfast with a man visiting from another city and during the breakfast he received a phone call from his son's teacher. There was a problem with his young teenager. You could see it on his face, as he talked. The tension, the feeling of being torn between being away from work and spending time with his family. He travels a lot you see. The balance can be so hard to get right.

Maybe we need to spring clean our priorities?

This week on ADP we are looking at spring cleaning our lives. I know it's now spring, but it is kinda the beginning of the year and we are looking forward to all the good things that could be happening this year.

And I just wonder if it's not a good time to look at some of the rubbish, some of the baggage that we carry around and say, "Why don't I have a spring clean. Why don't I get ride of some of this stuff, so that I'm not carrying its weight around all during next year."

Today I would like to talk about spring cleaning our priorities. So many people are looking for a miracle from God. I wish God would do this, I wish God would do that. If there is a God why does he let this happen in my life. And yet they are not dong their bit in managing the basics, the mundane things that God leaves up to us.

They want to feel good about themselves yet their house is a pig sty. They wonder why when they walk in they feel depressed. They want to be a real giver and help the poor, but their finances are a disaster. Today I would like to look at getting some balance into our lives.

"But Berni you don't understand, I don't set my priorities, I have all these other things going on". Don't give me that. We can claim to be a victim of our circumstances. Or instead we can come to grips with this basic reality. My priorities in life are mine. And your priorities in life are yours. When our life gets out of balance, it's because of the way that we are prioritising what we do.

It's the setting of our priorities that dictates how we spend our time. After all, my diary is mine, I am the one that puts meetings and work and things into my diary. And you diary is yours. And we can claim to be victims, but the answer is it is up to us.

"But Berni you don't understand, my boss expects me to work long hours and to do this and to do that". Well maybe you need to educate your boss. Maybe it's time to draw some boundaries and some lines and say, "Well you know, I have to have sustainable life. I have to spend time with my teenagers. I have to spend time with my wife or my husband". And if your boss can't be educated maybe it's time to find a different job.

"No, no you don't understand, I have a huge mortgage; I have this house that I am paying off. I need the money… I have to … " Do you need the big house? Do you need the big mortgage?

You know we look at all these things in our lives and this is a given, the house is a given, the mortgage is a given, the job is a given. Maybe it is time to change jobs.

Maybe it is time to take control and set priorities and say, "My family is important to me. My kids are important to me, and maybe if I take a different job and earn a little bit less money, and maybe live in a house that is a bit smaller or closer to work, maybe I will have more time." Maybe it is time to re jig the priorities.

"Ah but there is so many people that

Sometimes the very people who annoy us are the ones God uses to teach us grace.

Different people have different attitudes towards how they use their time. Some are highly organised, allocating almost every minute of their day to a task. Others, eh … not so much. Whatever. Let's just go with the flow.

Now, to be sure, if you take either of those to the extreme, that's a bad thing. Someone who's over-organised often won't make time for relationships. They're too busy getting things done. And the one who's under-organised typically doesn't get much done at all.

And yet, how we use our time, particularly when it comes to how we treat others in how we use our time, has a huge impact on the respect (or lack thereof) that we'll build with them.

So today, let's focus on one practical way to show our love and respect for others.

1 Corinthians 13:4-5 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others. (NIV)

I want to pick up on that last bit—love doesn't dishonour others. One way to dishonour someone is to be late in showing up. In fact, some people are chronically late, leaving others hanging, waiting around, wasting time.

If that's you, how do you think that makes others feel? What do you think their attitude towards you is going to be? One of respect? I doubt it!

Being chronically late dishonours those around us. Punctuality is one small way to practise love, consideration, and humility. Even more than that, being five minutes early every time tells others that you value them. And that garners their respect.

Love is a verb. It's about things we do. And love doesn't dishonour others. Be early, every time.

That's God's Word. Fresh … for you … today.

Sometimes, our heart can be aching – if only I had enough to give more money to the poor and the needy. And so the next thing we do is go and buy something useless on the credit card. Hmm.

In recent years there's a new word that's appeared in the vocabulary of sociologists. That word is Affluenza. It's about the high social, personal and environmental cost of over-consumption.

The bloated sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that people get from over consumption. Work more, shop more, live less.

The research tells us that actually in the west it is becoming a serious social disease. And yet 24/7 is seems people are going down to the local shopping centres running the plastic through the machines spending it on stuff that in a years time will probably be lying disused at the bottom of the wardrobe. And then you get the credit card bill. It turns out that there is a lot of people that live in a constant state of debt and for what?

Spring Cleaning our lives. I know it's not spring but you know as we look forward to the year its kind of nice to review our lives, to look at different parts of our lives, and think where's some of the rubbish in my life that I can leave behind.

Yesterday we talked about spring cleaning our homes. Now some people want to live a good life and feel good about themselves, and yet there house is a pig sty. And they wonder why when they walk into their home they feel depressed. Sometimes we have to deal with the mundane issues to give God some space, to bring miracles into our lives.

Today I would like to talk about our finances. What does it means to spring clean our finances? Jesus actually talked quite a bit about money. He said:

Where you treasure is there your heart will also be.

Sometimes people read that and they kind of miss the sequence that He is using. Sometimes they read it the other way round, they read where your heart is that's where you'll spend your treasure.

But actually he puts the money first. He says where you spend your money, where you invest the cash, that's where you will invest your emotional energy.

If we invest in conspicuous consumption, what ever that means in each of our lives and our social context, if we buy, buy, if all we want to do is get the new car, get this, get that… that's where we end up investing emotionally as well.

Maybe that explains why people end up feeling so empty when all they do is try and spend money. That used to be me. It used to be so important to me that I had the latest up market car. It used to be so important to me that I had the latest this and the latest that, the best this and the most expensive gadget there. You ended up being bloated but you are never satisfied.

Yesterday on A Different Perspective we looked at the story that we find in the book of Acts in the New Testament, of the apostle Peter being in jail. He's locked up, he's being guarded by Roman soldiers. And in the middle of the night an angel of the Lord comes to him, taps him on the shoulder and says come Peter lets go. Put on your clothes put on your shoes put on your belt and follow me.

Miraculously the chains fall off his hands, he walks past the guards and they are asleep. They get to the outer gate and the gate swings open of its own accord.

There are two dimensions to this story. There's the mundane, there's the angel saying to Peter, "Get up, put your coat on, put your belt on, put your sandals on, follow me." Do the mundane things that you can do for yourself.

And the other dimension is the miracle. The fact that God showed up at all. The fact the chain fell off, the gate flew open. Sometimes we hunger after miracles in our lives and we ignore the basics the mundane. If only we would spend some time getting the basics right. Maybe that would give God some space to bless us with his miracles. We spend, spend, spend. We just spend money.