Here’s a piece of practical advice straight from the Bible: It’s healthy to attend a funeral once in awhile (Eccl. 7:2). That’s not to say that it’s pleasant, but it is healthy for the young, the middle-aged, and the aged to face the reality that it presents us with. Namely, that life is finite. Everyone dies, and knowing that increases our consciousness of how we live (see Psalm 90:9-12).

It’s often not very fun to face reality, but God calls us to do it. He wants us to live with a firm intellectual grasp on the hard facts of existence. And there are plenty of areas where it’s necessary for believers.

• Authentic confession and repentance of sin requires a hard look at what we’ve actually done with our hands and thought in our hearts. 
• Godly family life requires a hard look at our own habits toward our spouses and our children, and it also occasionally demands that we face the reality of their lives (e.g. not making excuses for our kids, etc).
• Biblical money management calls us to face the reality of how we use our money. Are we living beyond our means? Are we slaves to debt? Are we using money mainly for our fulfillment or for God’s things?

The list could go on for a long time, but our job would be the same for each item on it: to face the realities of life, the Bible, God, and ourselves and determine whether they match up as they should. It’s always easier to let life pass us by in a haze of half-awareness, but it’s always healthier to face reality and adjust to live a better life as a result.

- Dan Lankford, minister

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thess. 5:16-18)

The routines of life can be very healthy for us. Routine exercise strengthens the body, routine communication blesses relationships, routine generosity increases our compassion, and a routine day of worship strengthens our souls.

But even healthy routines always come with an inherent challenge: we are tempted to become accustomed to things and take them for granted.

In daily life, one symptom of this is a lack of gratitude. While the Spirit instructs us to give thanks in all circumstances, sometimes the familiarity of each day deadens our spiritual senses to how grateful we could (and should) be toward God.

But every day is full of gifts from him. It is a gift to be part of a loving family. Moms & dads, our kids are gifts from God. It is a gift to have health enough to be independent. A stable job, a comfortable home, a civilized and safe neighborhood, the ability to learn, the blessing of good food… It can all seem so basic, but it ought to routinely nudge our minds to be grateful to the merciful God who has given it all.

And that’s why gratitude makes sense “in all circumstances.” Even small, everyday blessings are good gifts from our Father. And so while there are times when grander things make our gratitude swell, God’s people are defined by simple, everyday gratitude for his many blessings.

- Dan Lankford, minister

Here’s something you can take to the bank: When God’s creatures do God’s will, they receive God’s blessings. This was true of Creation. When God spoke (“let there be light,” etc.) and the universe obeyed, the narrative says, “It was very good.” And when God’s people followed his laws and lived by his wisdom during the time of David & Solomon, he blessed them with riches and power and influence. And when the church lived for Christ in the first century in spite of all the persecution they faced, he blessed them with love for one another, with peace in the midst of suffering, and with growth across the whole known world.

When God’s creatures do God’s will, they receive God’s blessings.

Let’s be clear: that’s not the same message as the Prosperity Gospel. That message says that if you do God’s will, he will give you good health and abundant wealth. It is self-serving religion for those who are seeking blessings. True spirituality is different.

First, the promises are not the same as the Prosperity Gospel. Look back at the examples mentioned above; God’s blessings come in many forms. It’s not all about health and wealth.

Second, and even more importantly, true spirituality is for those who are seeking God himself—not just his blessings. For those who find satisfaction just in knowing him, they will need no other blessing than that. But it is the nature of the God whom we serve that once we are satisfied to enjoy his love and do his will, he will open his hand with abundant blessings. You can count on it.

- Dan Lankford, minister

If the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil was going to be forbidden for Adam & Even, why did God put it in the middle of their world? Why not confine it to an obscure corner of the Garden where they were unlikely to find it, much less see it every day? If it had so much potential to cause their moral failure, why was it so eminent to their existence?

That tree shows us just how close we are to temptation in every part of our lives. It’s a sobering reminder that it is always possible for each of us to make a choice that will ruin us. And if you take stock of your daily habits and daily life, you have surely noticed that the urge to sin doesn’t ever fully go away. Even as time and faith make one sin’s allure begin to fade, another one begins subtly drawing us in. The tree is always in the middle of the Garden, and its fruit always looks at least a little bit appealing.

But let me be quick to add a preemptive correction that may prove helpful for some: the Bible does not teach that Christians perpetually live a hair’s breadth away from accidentally losing our salvation. In fact, in the Garden, while Adam & Eve were only one fruit away from death, the fact is that they did not eat the fruit by accident. God had told them what was right to do, and they chose to do otherwise. It was their choice to give in to temptation. And it is our choice too.

The tree was in the middle of the Garden, and it’s in the middle of our lives too. The choice between life and death is always before us. But God has told us how to choose life. Are you making the right choice?

- Dan Lankford, minister

One of the important qualities found in Jesus’ followers is compassion, caring about other people and their needs. “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3-4).

A compassionate person is not selfish, but rather is willing to sacrifice personally to help others. And he is not concerned about the praise or credit he may receive from helping. His only motivation is to do what is best for another.

The word, compassion, means “to feel with.” If the other person is hurting, he hurts also. If one is lonely, the compassionate person is there to meet that need. A compassionate person rejoices with those who rejoice and weeps with those who weep (Romans 12:15).

Another term that describes this character quality is the Greek word, agape. Translated as “love” in most (maybe all?) of the newer versions, the old King James Version distinguishes between the various Greek terms by rendering agape as “charity.” While that might not be the best word to use in today’s society, it does carry with it the idea of helping others who can’t help themselves because you care about them.

Compassion can be shown in many ways. It might be through a gift, a hug, by spending time with someone or simply through lending a listening ear. Anything that shows love and concern for others is an act of compassion.

- Roger Hills

“What do you do for a living?” It’s a standard question when getting to know someone new because our jobs have an important place in our lives. Working a job is not unique to Christians, but believers are called to work in a unique way. God wants us to do everything with excellence.

Paul instructed the Thessalonian Christians “to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.” (1 Thess. 4:11-12)  He told them in a later letter: “you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day.” (2 Thess. 3:7-8)

Our work—and the quality of it—matters to God. Whether we are employed to teach children, to prepare and serve food, to provide medical care, to build, to administrate, or to mediate justice… Christians ought to be diligent to do all things well, giving God the glory for our best efforts.

And so while it might just seem like good advice, the reality is that if we live out the good news, we will be reliable employees. We will be there when we are expected. We will not leave jobs unfinished. We will look out for the interests of others in the workplace. We will think about contributions we can make to our organization’s goals. We will be honest with our employers’ accounts (cf. Lk. 16:1-13). We will not be idle. As Christians, we will always do good work.

- Dan Lankford, minister

The check-engine light came on in my truck last week. And I did what I think most of us do: deliberately ignored it. When it came on, my first thought was, “Oh no. That could be something really simple and cheap to fix… or it could be something difficult and expensive. If it’s going to be costly, I just don’t want to know. So I’ll just pretend that I don’t even know it’s there.”

One of my college buddies once ignored that light in his car for over three years because he feared what it would cost to fix the problem. Over time, other problems developed. Eventually, when it became practically un-drivable, he took it into a repair shop. They told him that it could be fixed, but it would cost more than the worth of the car.

Do you ever find yourself doing the same thing with your spiritual life? Do you ever read a verse, have a conversation, or hear a sermon that alerts you to a life problem that you should fix? When that happens, what do you do?

Your conscience is like a check-engine light for your soul. When it’s trained by the word of God, it will alert you when something is wrong in your life—even if the problem is a small one. And when that happens, you have to decide if you will address the problem right away… or deliberately ignore it because it might be costly to fix. A word to the wise: your life will work like my buddy’s car—it will be more costly to fix the problem later. So address spiritual issues immediately. Don’t give a spiritual problem time to grow. It will be far more costly in the long run.

“Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” (Jas. 1:14-15)

- Dan Lankford, minister

In this past week’s daily Bible readings, we read large sections of the story of Solomon. It’s a confounding story of what might’ve been: a king who rules God’s people with perfect wisdom but then squanders the chance to fulfill God’s whole plan for the kingdom. He seems to be rising at the same time that he is falling.

One place in the story which embodies this simultaneous rise and fall is in 1 Kings 10:23 thru 11:8. In one breath the writer of 1 Kings says, “Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. And the whole earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind.” This is great news! The king is a voice for God to the Hebrews and all nations! But in the next breath, the writer gives us the foreboding news that Solomon turned back toward Egypt and married many foreign women who turned his heart away from YHWH. And so the whole thing turns out only to be the story of what might’ve been.

Haven’t we seen the same kind of things happen in the lives of people whom we know? Someone becomes a Christian, and their faith seems to take off like a rocket. They are participating in church life, reading the Bible daily, and showing all the signs of total commitment. But then signs of spiritual weakness start to show, and soon their hearts are turned away from YHWH. It’s the same kind of life that Jesus talks about in his parable of a seed that grew up quickly in thin soil and then died out because its roots were weak. All of us need to be reminded: put your faith completely in God. Live by his wisdom. Don’t become a person whose faith might have been great.

One thing that helps God’s kingdom is the blessing of hearing truth spoken by different voices. Some would tout this as a good thing because they believe we should consider all people’s interpretations of Scripture equally valid. I wholeheartedly disagree with that rationale, but I maintain that it’s good for us to hear from various teachers. Here’s why:

No one person is capable of fully plumbing the depths of God’s written word. Therefore, our efforts to dive deeper into Scripture are enhanced when we work together—not to achieve various interpretations, but to achieve a more perfect understanding. I have inevitable blind spots in my search of the Scriptures, meaning that I overlook things—sometimes, important and even obvious ones. This is why I am constantly searching the Scriptures, but it is also why I need others to teach me. The word of God is complete, but my understanding of it will forever be incomplete, and so I need help.

The same is true for all of us. We all need make a regular habit of reading the word, meditating on it, and praying for wisdom from the One who gives to all generously and without reproach (Jas. 1:5). And we need to appreciate the value of hearing what other saints know of God’s will: whether that’s from the pulpit, in conversations over dinner, in Bible class comments, at devotions in our homes, as we talk on the golf course, or wherever. You may be able to teach another, and he or she may be able to teach you. In either case, we are all made better together as we live out the simple, but profound wisdom from Solomon: “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” (Prov. 27:17)

- Dan Lankford, minister

Last year, we talked about having the word of God ingrained in our hearts, our minds, and our lives. It has been awhile, so I wanted to remind all of us to continue pursuing and practicing these simple and powerful routines in our lives. Here are the spiritual disciplines that are highly effectual for ingraining Christ’s way into our lives.

• Prayer. When we talk to God, we build our relationship with him. We cast our anxieties on him because he cares for us.
• Self-examination and confession. It’s easy to go through daily life without ever taking stock of our own hearts. Time spent in honest reflection leads to several healthy realizations—some that spark gratitude and others that lead us to confess our failures to God.
• Fasting. Have you ever eaten so much that you felt sluggish? Sometimes, our hearts feel the same. Fasting helps us to put away the indulgences of our souls and focus on what we need most: God.
• Solitude & meditation. There is great soul-restoring value in quality time spent alone with God in deep thought about his things.
• Sacrifice & giving. Make a way to give in some way that blesses others. They benefit, for sure. But the greater benefit is for you, the giver.
• Study. Take your mind deep into God’s word. Ask questions and find your answers. Grapple with tough concepts. Challenge your personal thought processes against the truth of his word. As your mind grows in knowledge, your heart will grow in faithfulness.

All of these help us to pursue what we seek most: God’s righteousness. And when we hunger and thirst for righteousness, we will be filled.

- Dan Lankford, minister