| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “The end of anxiety and despair” Our Bible verse for today: “You reveal the path of life to me; in your presence is abundant joy; at your right hand are eternal pleasures.” Psalm 16:11 (CSB) Our thought for today: “Live life large” Do you live life large? By that I don’t mean are you a celebrity, or do you own lots of things, or travel to exotic places, or skydive and climb mountains. I mean do you have a large heart that is wide open to the world around you? Do you marvel at creation, enjoy the sunrise, and find joy in each day? Do you welcome encounters with people, have genuine interest in them and their lives, and invite them into your own life? Do you laugh and joke, play with puppies, eat ice cream, make fun of yourself, and make silly noises to giggling babies? Do you live a large life or a small life? Is the world invited in or is it shut out? As we learned yesterday, in Matthew 6:33 Jesus urged us to a life that seeks first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Taken in context with the overriding lessons and themes of the rest of the New Testament, what He’s calling us to do is to live life large. We are not to be small and self-absorbed. We are to be wide open to the world we live in, to the people we encounter, and to the activity of God all around us. We are to be on-mission with Jesus, out in the world, all the days of our lives, embracing life, encountering others, blessing them in the name of Jesus, and being about our Father’s business in this world. Some people shut themselves out from the world and from others. Others just shuffle through their days not doing anything particularly meaningful or helpful. Still others are just sitting around waiting to die. That is a small life and it’s the exact opposite of what God wants for us. If you refer back to yesterday’s devotional you will see my comment regarding the discovery psychologists and counselors have made throughout the history of working with depressed and unhappy people. The most unhappy and least well-adjusted people are those who live a self-absorbed life. They are compulsively focused on their own perceived problems and concerns. The happiest and most well-adjusted people are those who focus mostly on God and on others, and who don’t take themselves or life too seriously. This is the difference between living large or living small. How big is your heart? How open is it to the people and the world around you? I urge you, don’t be small. Live life large. You’ll be a lot happier if you do. God bless, Pastor Jim |
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