17 December: Tuesday Refocus

“God is more interested in the workman than the work.” - Warren Wiersbe

Life is as sacred as it is short. The Scriptures compare life to a vapor or mist - here only for a moment (James 4:14). We attempt to make our lives meaningful by following our heroes and historians, social media, and celebrities into earning, achieving, and accomplishing external signs of value, significance, and worth. Even as Christians, we can be tempted to believe that our lives are only as valuable as we have accomplished significant things for the kingdom of God. Yet Scripture teaches that all people are made in the image of God, and therefore their value is God-given, never achieved (Genesis 1:27).

While we are concerned with what we can create to outlast our lives, God is concerned about how we are being conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). We want a map; God wants to walk with us (Isaiah 41:10). We want to see the way; God wants us to hear and know His voice (Isaiah 31:10, John 10:27).

Father, help us to open our hearts and lives to your work increasingly. Help us lay down our external attempts and value, meaning, and worth, for Your glory and our good. Amen.

Amen,

AB

3 December: Tuesday Refocus

“Faith is not opposed to knowledge; faith is opposed to sight. And grace is not opposed to effort; it is opposed to earning.” - Dallas Willard

It is grace that saves us, sustains us, keeps us, and carries us - and this grace is not a thing, but a Person. By grace we are invited to cease striving and know that He is God (Psalm 46:10). And by grace we are invited to fight the good fight, to finish the race, to keep the faith, knowing that we have received grace upon grace sufficient for the troubles of this day (2 Timothy 4:7, John 1:16). 

Father, sufficient for the day is the trouble thereof - but so is your grace. May we rest in that reality today. Amen.

Amen,

AB

26 November: Tuesday Refocus

“Faith is not opposed to knowledge; faith is opposed to sight. And grace is not opposed to effort; it is opposed to earning.” - Dallas Willard

Faith is not blind but is informed by the character of God. As songwriter, Sam McCabe, sings: Faiths a gamble on His faithful history, cause if you want to follow Jesus, you can’t bet on what you see.” As the depth and knowledge of our relationship with God grows, so also does our faith. Faith exists on a spectrum of belief and unbelief, which is why we must make every effort to supplement to our faith and work out our salvation with fear and trembling (2 Peter 1:5, Philippians 2:12).

Father, as we move toward Advent - would you grow our faith and knowledge, affection, and attention in the person and work of Christ? For your glory and our good, amen.

Amen,

AB

19 November: Tuesday Refocus

‘When I want to pursue humility, whatever happens to me is okay…’ - Gary Thomas 

We love humility… in other people. Experiencing humility in others is disarming and magnetizing. But often, we run from or avoid the very circumstances and experiences in our own lives where humility can take root and grow.

“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” James 4:10

Being conformed to the image of Christ means that humility should also deeply mark our lives. Our thoughts of and toward ourselves are based on sober judgment, not thinking more highly than we ought to think (Romans 12:3).

As we move toward the Advent season, one of the realities we are invited to remember is that Christ “…emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:7-8).” And through his humility, he was exalted: “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9-11).”

Father, would we trust that our lives are safe in your hands. That humility in us is a beautiful reflection of your heart and character. In Christ’s name, amen.

Amen,

AB

12 November: Tuesday Refocus

"God patiently waits until we are ready to trust and surrender, In other cases, we genuinely have the desire, but need more time to grow. Even though God's grace moves swiftly, all authentic human growth happens slowly. Little by little, his grace stretches us through holy desires, careful not to break us.” - Fr. Derek Sakowski

In sorrow and suffering we can be tempted to believe that God is distant. But perhaps, these realities for the children of God are not evidence of God’s distance, but of His nearness (Psalm 77). And the good news for the people of God is that God’s nearness is always our good (Psalm 73:28). He is holding our days and our longings in the same hands where are names are engraved (Psalm 31:15, Psalm 38:9, Isaiah 49:16).

Father, thank you that our lives and longings are safe in Your hands. Amen.

Amen,

AB

5 November: Tuesday Refocus

“Few souls understand what God would accomplish in them if they were to abandon themselves unreservedly to Him and if they were to allow His grace to mold them accordingly.” - St Ignatius of Loyola

We live with illusions. We believe that by sheer force of will, hard work, and resolve, we can bend our lives, mold our desires, determine our course, and impose our will on the world. But a soul that is abandoned to the Lord says: I am not my own, I was bought with a price, and, my times are in His hand… (1 Corinthians 6:19, Psalm 31:15).  

What a relief to know that when my world is not how I would make it, there is still purpose being worked in my life by the One who upholds the universe by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3). That he is working all things for my good and His glory (Romans 8:28). What a comfort to know that in abandoning my life, I am freed, in losing my life it is found (Matthew 10:39).   

Father, grow trust in us as we abandon our souls to You fully, daily, again, and again. Amen.

Amen,

AB

29 October: Tuesday Refocus

“If anything good or beautiful is happening, God is in the room and on the loose.” - Curt Thompson

God is so sovereign he can take what was intended for evil and purpose it for good (Genesis 50:20). God is so good that he gives beauty for ashes, gladness for mourning, and praise in weakness (Isaiah 61:3). God is so kind that he makes ‘…everything beautiful in its time (Ecclesiastes 3:11).”

Father, make us attentive to your goodness and beauty around us today. In Christ’s name, amen.

Amen,

AB

22 October: Tuesday Refocus

"Beauty heals, partly because it proclaims that there is goodness in the world and that goodness prevails, or is preserved, or will somehow outlast all harm and darkness...⁠ Beauty reassures us of abundance, especially that God is absolutely abundant in goodness and in life...⁠ Beauty reassures us that the end of this Story is wonderful."⁠ - John Eldredge⁠

Our desires reveal something about who we are, and who we are becoming. That is why I have always been fascinated by the request of the Psalmist: “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple (Psalm 27:4).” The Psalmist knows there is a place where beauty is not mixed with pain and suffering - and that is the dwelling place of God. 

There is a day coming when the dwelling place of God will be with man (Revelation 21:3). We shall see him as he is, and be transformed by his beauty (1 John 3:2).

Lord, hasten the day of your return - let us see you as you are. In Christ’s name, amen.

Amen,

AB

15 October: Tuesday Refocus

"When my little world is falling apart and the dream castles of my ambitions and hopes crumble into ruins, can I honestly declare, 'Surely-yes, surely-goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life'?" - Phillip Keller

Life with God is having our desires transformed (Psalm 37:4). Life with God is recognizing that, ultimately, he is our greatest desire (Psalm 73:25). And if God is my greatest desire, regardless of what happens around me, my life is securing in choosing that which can not be taken away (Luke 10:42). Because my life is hidden with Christ in God, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever (Colossians 3:3, Psalm 23:6).

Father, may we choose the good portion. May we respond to you in faith and joy. In Christ’s name, amen.

Amen,

AB

8 October: Tuesday Refocus

“We love the old saints, missionaries, martyrs, and reformers. Our Luthers, Bunyans, Wesleys and Asburys, etc... We will write their biographies, reverence their memories, frame their epitaphs, and build their monuments. We will do anything except imitate them. We cherish the last drop of their blood, but watch carefully over the first drop of our own.” - A.W. Tozer

King David said he would not offer a sacrifice to the Lord that cost him nothing (2 Samuel 24:24). Jesus said in order to find our lives we must lose our lives (Matthew 10:39). The Apostle Paul said that he no longer lives, but it is Christ who lives in him (Galatians 2:20).

In resource-rich societies (such as ours) we will happily lend our expertise, our money, and maybe even our time to causes we deem worthwhile. But what about our very lives? What of taking up our crosses and following our Savior (Matthew 16:24)? What if following Jesus will take us to places we do not want to go - like, the mission field? Like a simple, quiet, and obscure existence whose faithfulness is seen only by the Father? Like a life of discomfort, free of the ways we distract, avoid, and numb the pain, suffering, and brokenness within and without?

For followers of Jesus, we know that we must die to ourselves. But perhaps the first death is realizing that we cannot choose the place and manner of our deaths. But it is in dying that we bear much fruit (John 12:24). It is in being united with Christ in a death like his, that we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his (Romans 6:5).

Father, we are grateful for the faithful witness of the saints throughout time and history who have given their lives - body and soul, in life and in death - to you. We pray that our lives would be conformed to the image of Christ in His life and in His death, for Your glory, and our good, amen.

Amen,

AB

1 October: Tuesday Refocus

"It is going to be a very long road. Every time I pray I feel the struggle. It is the struggle of letting God be the God of my whole being. It is the struggle to trust that true freedom lies hidden in total surrender to God's love." - Henri J.M. Nouwen

For followers of Jesus, we know that our lives are not our own (1 Corinthians 6:19). We know that our very breath is a gift from God (Acts 17:25). But still we naturally cling to the natural - attempting to exert our will, our whims, and our desires on and over our lives. In prayer we come face-to-face with the God who says ‘“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding (Job 38:4).’ In prayer we recognize that His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). In prayer we realize that our words should be few - because what is there to say when we see the One who inhabits the heavens (Ecclesiastes 5:2)? Prayer is not a battle of wills (mine against God’s) but the enfolding of my will into the One who knows and loves me best.

Father, may we be quick to surrender deeply, fully, completely. In Christ’s name, and the Spirit’s power, amen.

Amen,

AB

24 September: Tuesday Refocus

“Prayers are the life signs of faith. They occur as naturally as the cries of newborn babies.” - Simon Chan

Need lives unashamedly close to the surface for children. This does not change as adults - our needs are buried under layers of pride, self-sufficiency, and fear. Even from God - the One from whom nothing is hidden - we attempt to cover, minimize, or hide our need (Genesis 3:8-12, Psalm 139, Luke 8:17).

It is God who ‘…gives to all mankind life, and breath and everything (Acts 17:25).’ In prayer, we acknowledge that we are people of need. In prayer, we acknowledge that we cannot provide for our deepest needs. In prayer, we acknowledge that it is God Himself that we desire.

Father, may our prayers be frequent, honest, and bold, because You hear us. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Amen,

AB