As our culture trends more and more self-centered and less and less God-centered, personal desires and feelings rule the day. What makes me happiest in the moment is the new legalism — getting my way CAN NOT be compromised.

A strong indicator of a self-centered existence is being led by FEAR and COMFORT. The comfort piece is pretty obvious (whatever’s easiest, convenient and most pleasurable for me) but FEAR, can be a little more subtle. It’s not like fear of the boogie man, but rather fear of losing my place of significance, fear of what others think of me, fear of my kid(s) not getting attention or getting me attention, fear of being slighted, fear of my dreams not coming true. The Bible puts all these types of fears into a big bucket and calls it “the fear of man.” The fear of man lays a snare… Prov 29:25 We’ve taken the enemy’s bait when we’re ruled by fear and comfort.

An opposite, God-centered way of living, would be by FAITH and for GOD’S GLORY. Here, the trajectory of life is set by 2 things: 1. what’s most faithful to God? (prizing and praising the love of God and others as first priority) and 2. what’s most glorifying to God? What would magnify and make the most of Jesus? His name, not mine. His ways, not mine. We have His righteousness that comes to us through faith Jesus in mind and heart, rather than trying to maintain a righteousness of our own to look good for others.

What are we living for? Fear and comfort or faith and His glory? We can’t suppose it’s just the latter just because we know the right Christian answer. We’re fools if we think an increasingly non-believing world around us can’t distract, erode and derail our devotion.

We may need to repent, and that’s ok. Repentance is normal in the Christian life. Or at least it should be. God’s a God of forgiveness, mercy, and will help us change. He’s not like the world that keeps beating us up even after we’re grieved over our shortcomings. He still loves us and wants to use us. We’re still useful in His sight. He’s always saying “come home” no matter how far we’ve wondered. But what we can’t do is relabel fear and comfort and call it faith and glory. God’s full of grace, but He’s not dumb. At all.

The crazy twist in all this is that the satisfaction and soul level “happiness” everyone is frantically wasting their lives searching for and not finding is available for free and in unlimited supply in Jesus. He says “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”Matthew 11:28-30

Hey, thanks for reading. I know you’re probably just trying to enjoy the weekend and I’m throwing out all this trajectory of life stuff 😆. If you made it this far, I appreciate your time and my sincere hope is that these thoughts put to words made you think bigger thoughts about God that translate into heart level love for Him. For the BEST writing, go to His Word. Here’s some references I had in mind for this post:

📖 Proverbs 29:25 | Matthew 22:37-39 | 1st Corinthians 10:31 | Psalm 16:11 | Psalm 1 | John 12:25