Most people wear their wedding rings wherever they go. The rings symbolize a marital bond every moment of every day. We need to keep that same mindset for our faith relationship with God as well.

There is never a room we enter, a conversation we have, or a moment of our day when we are not joined with God through Christ. The Holy Spirit “marks” us as belonging to God, and he indwells us permanently after our salvation.

Our daily witness is our most important sermon to preach. The people we work with should witness Christ in our lives. Those we sit near in a restaurant who hear our conversations should detect our faith. Those we pass on a walk, those who serve us in public, and those who meet with us at church should see genuine faith at work in our lives.

We will all have moments and days where we fall short of that high goal, but, thankfully, we all have God’s grace. Sometimes our strongest witness is actually apologizing to someone for not treating them as we should have. God can use honest humility, almost more than anything else, to reveal and redeem his own character within us.

Paul said that “whatever” we do, we can do it all for the glory of God. We serve a holy God, and our calling is to live in such a way that others can learn to love God and live for him for themselves. Pleasing God is wisdom. What a privilege we have to live this life for the glory of our great, Almighty King!

Sometimes, although rarely, our disobedience pleases God. It’s not our disobedience to God, but it’s placing our obedience to God ahead of any ungodly choices the world might seemingly require.

After Pentecost, Peter and the other apostles were actively sharing the gospel, performing miracles, and making a huge impact on the city of Jerusalem. A great number of believers were being added to their numbers. Scripture says the Sadducees rose up and were “filled with jealousy” at all they saw (Acts 5:17).

The Jewish leaders arrested the apostles and put them in a public prison. During the night, an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors, sending the apostles to the temple to continue sharing the gospel. When the high priest called for the apostles to be brought before him, the guards went to the prison cell and found it locked and empty. They were told they could find the apostles back at the temple, preaching. When the men stood before the high priest, he questioned them, angry that they had disobeyed his command not to preach the gospel message of salvation. 

Peter and the other apostles responded to the priest’s reproach, saying, “We must obey God rather than men.” They then shared the gospel message with the high priest! The apostles knew they were standing before the same group of leaders that had arranged for the death of Jesus, yet they bravely refused to let fear keep them from their calling to share the gospel. They could not obey those men without disobeying God.

It was their choice to disobey these men that actually pleased God. Pleasing God is wisdom. Are you spiritually prepared to stand against the will of men if that’s what is necessary to obey the calling of God? If so, God is pleased with your wisdom.

Some of the most important sacrifices we make as Christians are simply the results of walking through our lives as led by God’s Holy Spirit. Some of the best opportunities we have to serve Christ come about simply because we are living our daily lives in tune with his leadership.

Each day we see people we can share something with. They might need our help in a significant way, but usually it’s just providing the help someone needs at any given moment. God gives us chances every day to “do good” in some way. You might hold the door for an older person and allow them to go ahead of you in a line. You might stop to pick up something a person has dropped and return it to them. If you find yourself in a conversation with someone, you can ask God for his words to speak to them. 

Sometimes “sharing what we have” is a financial decision, but often it’s just the decision to care about another person ahead of our own agendas. A tired mom in the store might need a word of encouragement or just a smile from another mom who gets it. Someone might be running late and need to push ahead to stay on time. We can get angry, feel slighted, or offer grace instead of criticism. Truthfully, we have all been that stressed, tired, or frantic person at some point.

The author of Hebrews said we shouldn’t “neglect” our opportunities to do good in this world, sharing what we have and living with the attitudes, choices, and compassion that honor Christ and please the Lord.

Most of the rewards we receive in heaven won’t be for what we perceive to be significant or great. Instead, the vast majority of our heavenly reward will be earned by living our daily lives in such a way that we please God. Pleasing God is wisdom. What opportunities will the Lord give you tomorrow to serve others and wisely please God? Live aware, live for God, and live for his good pleasure.

“For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God.” —Ecclesiastes 2:26

Wanting to please those we love is natural, and it should be natural for Christians to want to please their heavenly Father. Scripture contains everything we need to know to understand how we can live a life that pleases God.

God is a perfect and holy Father who always wants the best for his children. He is pleased when his children live with his high and holy standards. King Solomon spoke of the blessings that God loves to pour into the lives of his children. Solomon said that when God’s children please him, he gives “wisdom and knowledge and joy” as his reward.

God wants to bless his children and was careful to describe the life and character he is able to bless. Scripture also makes clear that God cannot bless what is wrong or sinful. King Solomon said the sinner has a life filled with “gathering and collecting.” Solomon paints a picture of a life filled with striving and work but lacking the peace, joy, and contentment God wants to provide.

Pleasing God is wisdom. When we live a life God is able to bless, we have positioned ourselves to receive his blessings of wisdom, knowledge, and joy.

“And whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.” —1 John 3:22

The apostle John was called the beloved disciple. He loved Jesus and others. When John wrote his letter to the churches he had shepherded, he made sure they understood how to please God with their choices. 

John told them, “Keep his commandments and do what pleases him.” God gave us his laws and his teaching so that we would be able to live a life that pleased him. When we live in obedience to his word, we will want those things God most wants to give to us. We will pray in and for his will rather than in and for our own. And we will receive his blessings for our lives.

Pleasing God is wisdom. How will your life please God tomorrow and in the days to come?

We have spent the month of July thinking about God’s priorities and the wisdom and guidance those thoughts provide. We know that if something is important to God, it needs to be important to his children as well. Why then do we so often allow the world to dictate our values?

Priorities are spiritual motivators. There are so many things in our lives that require our attention. Very few people are able to live a monastic lifestyle fully focused on the Lord. 

The pace of life in Ephesus would rival the pace of any major city today. Paul told the Ephesians to “look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of time, because the days are evil.” Each day is to be lived carefully aware that the world moves at a pace that doesn’t leave time for God or for his best use of our time. The days that are “evil” are the days we spend walking the world’s agenda rather than God’s.

Paul then gave the Ephesians, and us, some great advice. He warned the early believers not to be foolish and then advised them how to stay close to God. He said, “Understand what the will of the Lord is.” The key to not living a foolish life driven by the world’s priorities is to know God and understand what he most wants for our lives.

When we made God our King, we gave him the right to govern our choices. When we asked Jesus to be our Savior, we also invited him to be Lord of our lives. God is all powerful, all knowing, and ever present in our lives. His authority is unique because it is always motivated by his perfect love. Submitting to God’s will is easy when we realize his priorities are a product of his perfect knowledge and his character of love. That’s why it is foolish to live with the world’s priorities rather than God’s.

God has a schedule for each day. We know that God’s priorities are wisdom. May our goal be to walk every day led by the perfection of God’s wise plans and praying as Jesus taught us to pray, “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

It has been said the most important word in the twenty-third psalm is the fourth one. “The Lord is my shepherd.” If the fourth word isn’t true, then the rest of the Psalm can’t be true.

We aren’t saved because God gave us the gift of salvation. We are saved because we personally choose to receive the gift God gave. Our relationship to God is a personal decision and a personal priority. We don’t return God’s love until we choose to. Genuine love is freely given.

God wants to be our shepherd so he can care for us, protect us, and lead us. He wants us to have the things we need. He plans to provide those things. He is a good, good Father. 

If the Lord is your shepherd, you can rest in the security of knowing you are cared for, protected, and led by God’s Spirit. You are God’s child, and your life will always be his high priority. 

Do you choose to return his love by making him your highest priority in life?

Do you make the personal decisions that honor his plan for your life and humbly submit to his perfect guidance? Your best life is found in belonging to God’s flock and following your divine shepherd.

Our personal relationship with God needs to be our personal priority. We cannot serve “two masters” and say, “The Lord is my shepherd.” God’s priorities are wisdom, and our priorities can be our wisdom if we allow ourselves to be led by our Shepherd. 

Wisdom is making your personal relationship with God your personal priority. The green pastures and still waters ahead will be your personal reward as a result.

Even two- and three-year-old children rebel against being “bossed around.” If you are a parent, you have probably heard one of your children say, “You’re not the boss of me.” Why did God create us with free wills when he knew we would want to use them in the wrong ways?

God could have created us as robotic believers who knew nothing except how to obey. God could have limited people’s ability to sin. Why did God create us with the right to choose while knowing we would choose wrongly?

God created us to love him and to love others. Love is a choice, so we were created with the ability to choose. We could not have a personal relationship with God, or with anyone else, if we didn’t have the ability to make choices. God is love, and we were made in his image.

That’s why God’s perfection requires a sacrifice for sin. God knew sin couldn’t exist in heaven or heaven wouldn’t be paradise. Paul wrote, “You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men.”

Who is the “boss” of us? The One who bought us. He didn’t want us to be led or controlled by anything less than his perfect, loving will for our lives.

Exercising our free wills in this world is normal. Actually, the world applauds those who do. It takes spiritual strength to choose to submit our wills to our heavenly Father. We serve whomever we follow. God wants us to follow him.

A bondservant indentured himself to someone for a price and was, in many ways, “owned” by his master. Our Master bought us himself so we would no longer be owned by the world. Who is the “boss of you”? The Father who bought you and wants only the best for your life.

God’s priorities are wisdom. Aren’t you glad God made your salvation his high priority?

The confident Christian is the one who can know their path has been directed by God. Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done” in the model prayer (Matthew 6:10). The psalmist taught that our steps are “established by the Lord” but then provided a contingency. Our steps are established by the Lord “when he delights” in the way we have chosen.

God cannot lead the person who will choose not to follow. We were created with the freedom to choose, and God honors our free will. God is a good Father and wants nothing more than to provide us with the wisdom and direction we need to walk in his ways. But God will allow us to lead, to wander, and to make different choices as well. A good Father gives advice to his child then allows his child the consequences or rewards for the choices made.

Who can walk with God’s priorities? 

The child who is willing to trust the wisdom of his Father more than his own. 

The child who wants to delight his Father with his choices rather than the child who seeks to delight himself or others.

The child who knows that God directs the paths of those who will in every way “acknowledge” or know God’s priorities are wisdom.

Imagine knowing that your choices have “delighted” your heavenly Father. Imagine the confidence of knowing that the steps you are taking are those the Lord has established for you to walk. All of that is possible for the Christian who values the priorities God has set forth in his word. God’s priorities are wisdom. God is delighted each time you choose to walk in his ways.

The words of Scripture are powerful and life changing. We call the Bible the word of God because it is his message, preserved throughout history, to help people know him as their God. John called Jesus “the Word” because God so loved the world that he wanted us to have his Word in the flesh.

It is easy to become too casual with our Bibles. We are able to consume Scripture in so many ways today. I own coffee cups, dish towels, and coasters decorated with a verse from the Bible. It is good to read the Bible each day and surround ourselves with the words of God. But Scripture isn’t just casual information to know; it is the wisdom and instruction of God so that we can know him and live for him.

Proverbs 8:10–11 reminds us that the most valuable thing we own is our Bible. There are no riches in this world that we should desire more than to know and understand Scripture. God didn’t intend for us to simply read the words; we are called to study Scripture and incorporate each lesson into our lives.

It is possible to know a great deal of Scripture and a great deal of theology and still miss knowing the voice and leadership of God’s truth. The Pharisees and Sadducees had dedicated their lives to knowing God’s laws, but they missed knowing God and hearing his voice when Jesus, God Incarnate, stood in front of them. The same thing can be true in our lives today.

We shouldn’t study the Bible simply for the sake of knowledge. We should study the Bible for the sake of understanding. The author of the proverb said, “Wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.”

God’s priorities are wisdom. God left us his wisdom in his word. The next time you pick up your Bible to read, choose to study instead. Wisdom is knowing what to do with the information you have. We have God’s priorities written on the pages of our Bibles. We have God’s wisdom when we study to understand his word.

One of the most sobering verses in all of Scripture are the words of Christ to the church in Ephesus. Ephesus was a favorite port city of the first-century Roman culture. The ruins of Ephesus are one of the most interesting and compelling sites in modern-day Turkey.

Ephesus was a beautiful Mediterranean seaport where the world and its ideas, cultures, merchandise, and philosophies were meshed together. The architecture was amazing, and the theater, the library, and the homes were among the finest in the world. The temple to Artemis is considered one of the “Seven Wonders of the World.” Ephesus, with all of its glory, was also one of the most decadent cultures of the day.

Paul, the apostle John, and others led the Christian church in Ephesus, and it was considered one of the most important churches in the first century. The gospel changes lives, and many in Ephesus came to know the saving power of Christ through the church and its members.

Yet Jesus, appearing to John on the island of Patmos, told him to write this message to the Ephesian church. That message remains an important message for every believer today. Jesus told John to tell the Ephesian Christians, “I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.”

Love has a way of growing cold over time if we don’t make that love a priority. Life slips in and the combination of good days and bad days begins to redefine what is acceptable as what becomes normal. Jesus told John to tell the Ephesians that they had abandoned what was acceptable and adopted what was normal instead.

Do you love God more today than you ever have? Is your spiritual life thriving with God’s overflowing love, or has it dulled and become an everyday routine? God doesn’t need our love. We need to love God in order to live with his wisdom and priorities. God’s priorities are wisdom. God wants us to return to that “first love” so that we can once again share his priorities.