Tuesday Refocus: May 16

“Thankfulness is the fuel for living worship.” - Matt Boswell

Whether attending a corporate worship gathering or living a life of worship - right worship is always a response to God’s revelation of Himself.

I am made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27)

I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14)

I am a child of God (1 John 3:1)

I have Christ as my brother (Hebrews 2:12)

I am adopted by God (Ephesians 1:5)

I am coheir’s with Christ (Romans 8:17)

Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me in (Psalm 27:10)

I belong to Christ (1 Corinthians 3:23)

I am a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)

I no longer live, but Christ lives in me (Galatians 2:20)

The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20)

I am given eternal life in the Son (Romans 6:23)

I am able to share in the inheritance of the saints (Colossians 1:12)

I am given all things in Christ (Romans 8:32)

I am the workmanship of God (Ephesians 2:10)

I have been created in Christ for good works, which God has prepared beforehand that I should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10)

I am a son of God through faith in Christ (Galatians 3:26)

I am buried with Christ in baptism into death, and raised to newness of life (Romans 6:4)

I am a partaker in the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4)

I am being conformed to the image of the Son (Romans 8:29)

Nothing can snatch me out of the hand of Christ (John 10:28)

Lord, may the reality of your heart, and unchanging character be fuel for me to live in worshipful response in song and in the most mundane moments of my life. In Your name, amen.

In response,

AB

November 22: Tuesday Refocus

“Jesus transforms our hearts by service, not by power.” - Tim Keller

The weeks of Thanksgiving into the season of Advent are an opportunity for followers of Jesus to remember once more, “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). All is gift. All is grace.

The arrival of Christ into our world was not marked by power.

It was marked by service. Because, “Even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28).” 

Christ transforms our hearts because He has first served us by emptying himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, humbling himself, and becoming obedient to the point of death (Philippians 2:7-8). Christ transforms our hearts once more when we seek to serve others as Christ has first served us.

Lord, may this upcoming Advent season be a time of heart transformation as we see how You have first loved and served us. Amen.

In service,

AB

Competition

Have you ever felt envious or jealous of someone else’s gifts?

Perhaps they seemed to naturally possess that for which you had to labor?

Or do they exude a confidence and charisma that easily engaged the congregation when they served?

Maybe they had more visible, prominent, or frequent opportunities to lead?

We are prone to comparison. Especially when roles are visible, and gifts are similar. Just because we are followers of Jesus, does not mean that we are free from the trap of comparison and competition. Just because we seek to employ the gifts that God has given for His glory and the good of His people does not mean that our motives are always God-honoring and pure.

If jealousy or envy has surprised or saddened you as they ran hot through your body, you are not alone. Whether serving in the same church, city, or across the internet, we are all tempted to compete by comparison. In the parable of the talents we see that in God’s kindness, providence, and grace, some of us have been given little, and others much. But each is called to invest our talents ‘according to his ability’ (Matthew 25:15). Here are some ways that I am attempting to shepherd my own heart in those moments:

Thank God. For the individual with whom I feel jealous. For their gifts. Their skill. The way that they are using their God-given gifts, and the way that reveals the generosity, and beauty of our Creator.

Confess. To God and to others the natural inclination of my heart is to devalue that which is entrusted to me, to covet what is not.

Practice Gratitude. In confession, I realize that I do not value what God has given. In practicing gratitude, I learn to value what God has given.

Pray. For those with whom I feel jealous, and for myself. All we do is give back to God what always has been His. May we be open-handed toward the one who gives and takes away.

How about you? What are the ways God is teaching you to celebrate the gifts, skills, talent, and opportunities of others? What are the ways that you are learning to grow in contentment, and practicing gratitude for the talents God has entrusted to you?

Two books that I have found so helpful in putting language to the kind of Jesus-follower and leader I want to be are The Prisoner in the Third Cell, and A Tale of Three Kings, both by Gene Edwards. If this short post resonated with you, and you’d like to dig deeper, I highly recommend these books to you.

September 21: Tuesday Refocus

‘Life has no other purpose than to be rendered up to God in adoration and gratitude.’ - C.F.D. Moule

All is grace.

The very breath in our lungs, placed there by God (Gen 2:7).  The beating of our hearts, the movements of our bodies and brains gifted to us by the One who knows the number of our days, and has numbered the hair of our head (Ps 139:16, Luke 12:7).

And what is the purpose of this grace and goodness?  What is the aim of this life and breath and everything (Acts 17:25)?  To glorify God and enjoy Him forever - as the Westminster Shorter Catechism reminds us.

All is grace.

All is gift.

All is given by God to be given back to God in adoration and gratitude.

‘The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein…’ Psalm 24:1

Father, would your lavish grace, goodness, and gift to us lead us to respond to you in adoration, gratitude and surrender.  Because all we do is give back to You what always has been Yours.  In Christ’s name, amen.

Grace,

AB

21 December: Blue Christmas

Life is hard.  It can be unpredictable and often painful.  Jesus reminds us that in this world we will have trouble (Jn 16:33).  2020 has left no one unscathed from the realities of living in a broken and troubled world.  Celebration and suffering can often seem at odds - as if you must ignore one or the other.  I think what Advent teaches us is that we live in a tension between the now and not yet.  We live with longing, expectation, and hope, like people who say ‘all my desires are before You…’ and clinging to the prayer ‘and if not…’ He is still good (Ps 38:9, Dan 3:18). 

A Blue Christmas service often held on the longest day of Winter, is an invitation to hold the tension of loss and expectation.  To acknowledge that grief and celebration can exist together.  To bring every part, good, bad, and ugly to the One who invites us to share our weary, and heavily burdened heart to the One who knows our need. 

Whether your grief is an acute and specific, or a general hum from a difficult year, set aside time today to place all your desires before God.  Pour out your heart to Him (Ps 62:8).  He cares for you (1 Pet 5:7).  Even when grief feels like it will swallow you whole, He will never leave you or forsake you (Heb 13:5).  Our Suffering Servant was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief (Isa 53).  Take heart, nothing goes unseen by the One who loves you, and He has overcome the world.  His first Advent, He stepped into our pain, in His second, He will do away with it once and for all.  

'Come, let us return to the Lord;

    for He has torn us, that He may heal us;

    He has struck us down, and He will bind us up.’ 

- Hosea 6:1

To download a complete PDF of the O Antiphon Advent Devotional, click here.

December 17: Tuesday Refocus

‘God hides His most precious treasures in our most difficult and painful experiences.’ - Jon Bloom

Over the last several years I have more closely followed the rhythms and seasons of the Church calendar.  As a worship leader, it has been helpful in my planning and preparation, as a Christ-follower it has helped me experience the connection to a diverse, global, eternal body of believers. (1 Pet 2:9, Rev 7:9, Is 9:7)

The older I get the more I see and experience the pain of living in a broken, fallen world.  And that is why I love Advent - because I have often asked God, ‘Do You know how hard it is down here?  Do You see how painful it is?’  And Advent reminds me that not only does He see the pain and difficulty, He answers it with Himself. ‘But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.’ (Gal 4:4-5)

Sin and brokenness do not just affect humanity - it is as offensive as it is painful for God.

He pursued relationship, we chose death (Gen 1:26, 2:17, 3:6-7).

We hid, He covered us (Gen 3:8, 3:21).

He came to His own, we did not receive Him (Jn 1:11).

We deserve death, He gives us His life (Rom 6:23).

The One who knit Mary together in the womb of her mother became humanity knit together in Mary’s womb (Ps 139:13, Lk 1:30-33).  The One who saw the sorrow we experience did not stand far off but became the Man of Sorrows - acquainted with all our grief (Is 53:3).  The One who saw us in our sin became sin so that we might become His righteousness (2 Cor 5:21).

Advent is the continuing story of a God who has never had a ‘plan B,’ but has always sought His Son’s greatest glory, and His children’s good.  ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son…’ this is the joy and pain of God Himself experienced (Jn 3:16, Is 53:10, Heb 12:2).

This is the joy and pain of Advent.

’Everything sad is going to come untrue and it will somehow be greater for having once been broken and lost.’ - Tim Keller

Lord, thank You that You do know our sorrow and pain.  From the groans of ‘it’s not supposed to be this way,’ to pain that is soul-piercing, You know and You have experienced it all.  Allow us to approach this Advent season with gratitude, wonder, and worship.  In Your name, amen.

Waiting,

AB

August 6: Tuesday Refocus

‘I do not whip up my will into worship; my grateful heart can do nothing else.’ – E. Stanley Jones

I have never met someone who comes by gratitude naturally – a genuinely grateful heart is hard-fought, battle-worn, and undeterred by circumstance. 

Like the ‘sinful woman’ grateful hearts respond with worship because they see clearly all is grace and gift:

‘Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; that’s why she loved much.  But the one who is forgiven little, loves little.’  Then He said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven’’ (Luke 7:47-48, CSB, Emphasis added)

Fuel your gratitude with the reality of the Gospel:

We deserve death, but we have been given the life of Christ (Rom 6:23, Gal 2:20).

We were enemies, strangers, and orphans, who have been welcomed as heirs (Rom 5:10, Eph 2:19, Rom 8:15, 8:17).

Nothing can separate us from the love of God our Father (Rom 8:39).

Nothing can snatch us out of the hand of Christ (Jn 10:28).

We are never forsaken (Heb 13:5).

God is conforming us to the image of His Son (Rom 8:29).

God is working all things for our good and His glory (Rom 8:28).

He is faithful even when we are faithless (2 Tim 2:13).

We are loved with an everlasting love (Jer 31:3).

Gratitude sends us in peace to worship.

Lord, we confess our entitlement and cynicism.  We are quick to forget that we have all we need in You.  And all things we desire are but warped desires – shadows – of our need and longing for You.  Thank You that You have graciously given us all things.  Form our hearts in the trenches of desire to flow with deep, lasting, immovable gratitude.  For Your honor and our good.  In Christ’s name we pray.  Amen.

With gratitude,

AB