Do you ever feel stuck in your spiritual life?
I mean, you're trying hard and you are doing
all the right things, but it's like, where's
God? Where's the power? Where's the presence?
Where's the love? And you just can't figure out
what's wrong. I've been there. And today I want
to share some things I've learned to help you
get unstuck. Thank you for being with us for
this edition of Living on the Edge with Chip
Ingram. Chip serves as our Bible teacher for
this global teaching and discipleship ministry,
helping Christians develop an authentic faith.
Well, in just a minute, we'll pick up where Chip
left off in our series, Balancing Life's Demands.
Last time, he explained how hypocrisy can derail
our honest pursuit of a moral, God -honoring
life. Today, Chip will unpack the second threat
Jesus highlighted for us in Matthew chapter 5.
So go there now as we join Chip with part two
of his talk, Warning, Personal Discipline Can
Be Hazardous to Your Health. He said, you have
heard it said, love your neighbor and hate your
enemies. But I tell you, love your enemies and
then listen to this. pray for those who persecute
you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.
And the idea of sons, especially in Hebrew culture,
it has family likeness is the idea. You'll be
like your Father in heaven. He causes the sun
to rise on the evil and the good. He sends rain
on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you
love those who love you, duh, you know, what
reward is that? I mean, don't tax collectors
and sinners do that? And so he makes this point.
He says, I want you to demonstrate to the Romans
mercy, I mean grace. And then now he says, what
do you do to your enemies? You don't give them
what they deserve. Grace is giving people something
they don't deserve. Mercy is withholding what
people do deserve. And so when your enemies do,
he says, I want you to withhold what you would
normally give them, and I want you to overcome.
evil with good. You'll never be more like your
heavenly father than when you love people who
have wounded and hurt and abused and betrayed
you. And do you see, I mean, he is turning the
paradigm of what it means to be an authentic
follower of Yahweh completely upside down. This
is a righteousness that exceeds the Pharisees
because this righteousness is a matter of the
heart. This righteousness requires supernatural
help. This righteousness is not a religious system,
a rigid personal discipline of doing the right
things. And we can do it ourselves. I go to church.
I'm on the missions committee. You know, I'm
in a small group. I give X amount of dollars.
You know, I've got my little checklist. Boom,
boom, boom, boom, boom. And I am doing great.
I must be right with God. And then it develops
two things. Number one, a very tired, weary Christian
with not much joy and usually a self -righteous
person who looks down on other people who aren't
doing as much. Jesus was the most winsome human
being. on the face of the earth. And his life
of love and grace and mercy and truth and strength
and courage caused prostitutes and sinners and
people to be drawn to him like bees to honey.
And it caused people who genuinely wanted to
know God to see the Father as he really is. And
it caused people who were religious and self
-righteous and controlling to want to kill him.
And sometimes I ask myself, if I lived... In
that day, I wonder which one of those groups
I would be in. I tend to read the New Testament
like I'm always one of the disciples. Try reading
it sometime like you're one of the Pharisees.
My righteousness, your righteousness must exceed
that. And so here's the summary. Jesus condemns
external righteousness, spiritual activities.
When it does not flow from internal relationship
with God, true spirituality is always an issue
of the heart. God's love is never dependent upon
your performance. If there's one thing, if we
could be set free, God's love is not dependent
on your performance. I remember early on. I was
helping out with a school, and part of trying
to negotiate some tuition for my kids was coaching
the basketball team as I pastored this little
church. And I had a group of, you know, one of
those big vans, 15 passenger vans. I had the
whole team, and we had about an hour and a half
away, played the game, came back. And, you know,
the highlight for some of the guys was stopping
at McDonald's, you know, on the way home, regardless
of the game. And so I've got about 10 or 12 of
these guys, and we're eating at McDonald's, and
there was a very, very old lady. there. And she
watched these young men bow and pray, and a conversation
started, and just had a little prompting from
God. Wasn't trying to be ultra -spiritual, but
got in a conversation with this lady, and I asked
her about her spiritual roots. Oh, yes, and yeah,
very spiritual, and you know, I love God, and
this and that. I said, well, tell me a little
bit about, would you explain to me, and I've
got all these guys here, and I'm thinking this
is a good window of opportunity. Would you explain
to me how do you develop a close relationship
with God? Because, you know, she had a lot of
jewelry and things that would tell you that she's
very religious. And she goes, oh, yes, yes. And
she was from the old country. I don't know what
old country she was from. Had a little bit of
an accent. But she was from the old country.
She says, you need to understand that there is
this great God. And between me and this great
God is this huge boulder of granite. And every
day I get up and God gives me a little hammer
and he gives me a chisel. And I chisel a tiny
piece of that boulder away. And I do it with
a good work here and I do it with a prayer here
and another prayer here and another good work.
And I mean, the lady's like 90. And I said, well,
how's it coming on the boulder? Like you had
a lot of time to work on this one, you know?
And she goes, oh, well, I'm not through yet,
but I just pray and hope desperately someday.
And she began to share a little bit of her life.
And I will tell you, it is one of the simply
saddest experiences ever. She knew a lot of the
Bible. She quoted lots of verses. She was a modern
day. Her theology was the righteousness of the
Pharisees. And that's a vivid picture, but I
think at least subconsciously, there's a lot
of us that think that way. Oh, I miss my quiet
time. Oh, I haven't prayed in a couple days.
Oh, you know, I'm giving X percent, but I ought
to be giving X percent. And there's this unconscious,
oh, I feel okay, and I'm doing okay, and God
loves me when I perform, perform, perform, and
when I don't. Now, we're going to learn in a
second our spiritual activities. You're thinking,
wait a minute, Chip. You just told us, man, you're
giving all these sessions about how important
it is and to be disciplined and all this, and
now you're just messing with my mind, Ingram.
No, no, no, Jesus is. Okay? Everything we've
talked about so far is absolutely true, absolutely
of a necessity. But it's the difference between
doing those things to walk into the house and
meet with a person. than get focused on the driveway.
It's the spiritual activities. And just sort
of a quick FYI, in case it's never got clearer,
because I lived in America, and I went to church,
though it be not a good one. I never heard it.
So just let me take two minutes before we go
on. I want to explain the good news of the gospel
is this. God loves you. And there's no way, no
effort, no good work. no means you can ever have
to earn his favor and there is no boulder between
you. It's a chasm that's impossible to cross.
From the eternity past in the mind head of the
triune God, they predetermined that the son of
God would come to the earth and take on human
flesh being fully man and fully God. Fully man,
he would have the ability to die. Fully God,
he would live a perfect life and his sacrifice
would have infinite value. And after revealing
by his life and his words and his teaching, the
very character of God, truth and grace, it was
preordained from the foundation of the world
that the son of God would be unjustly accused
of many crimes and he would hang upon a cross
and he would hang upon the cross, not for one
single thing that he did, but for the sins of
all men for all time. And as he hung upon that
cross, he would be the offering, for you and
for me, and all the sins of all people of all
time would be absorbed by him. He would become
sin, a sin offering on our behalf. And because
God is holy and God is just, he would, because
he can't see sin for the first time, and this
was the agony, he would take his just wrath and...
pour it on the Son of God so there would be separation.
And Jesus would receive that. And why he said,
my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Because
in that window and moment of time, for first
time in all eternity, your sin and my sin was
paid for completely by him. And he gave his life.
And he now offers a gift to every human being
on the face of the earth that is free. For by
grace you're saved through faith. That's not
of yourself. It's a gift of God, not of works.
At least any man should boast. And then three
days later, not by a dream, not by a prophet,
not by a religion, not by something in the sky.
He would rise from the dead and for over 40 days
have personal interaction with 500 eyewitnesses
documented. And just to throw a little icing
on the cake, God had a number of other people
be raised from the dead and they went around
and talked about what was happening. In space
-time history. And the offer and the message
of Christianity is not be a nice person, go to
church, clean up your morals, and be a little
bit kinder and nicer than other people. The message
is we are lost in our sin. We're separated eternally
from God. I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except by me, Jesus
would say. And he makes an offer to you and to
every single person. Whosoever would believe
in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Eternal life isn't something that happens. after
you die. It is a quality of life where the chasm
is closed. Your sin is atoned or covered for.
You are taken out of this kingdom of darkness,
ripped out of it by faith through his grace,
planted in the kingdom of his beloved son in
the kingdom of light. The spirit of God enters
your physical body. You're sealed with the spirit,
deposited spiritual gifts in you and his purposes
now as Christ lives his life out through you.
That's the gospel. The righteousness of Christ.
And living the Christian life is not hard and
it's not about trying hard. It's impossible.
When Paul explains it in the book of Romans,
he will tell us the first three chapters is the
problem, chapters four and five is the solution,
then chapters six, seven, and eight are how the
supernatural righteousness is achieved. It's
achieved first by reckoning that you died with
him, you rose to walk in newness of life, that
there's a battle of the flesh and the spirit,
chapter seven, but praise God, there's no condemnation
for those in Christ Jesus. It's the spirit of
God that manifests the very life and presence
of Jesus inside you, and he lives. his life through
you before God, manifesting through your personality
and your life, the righteousness and the life
and the love of God. That's what it means to
be a Christian. And that's what Jesus came and
that's what he was explaining. Your righteousness
must exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees.
And so he condemns external. righteousness if
it doesn't flow from internal relationship with
God. So you got it? Good. Now, let's look at
the second issue he addresses, because you might
say, well, wait a second. You know, that's wonderful.
Grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace. That
feels really good. But what about all those teachings
we went over about spiritual activities and disciplines?
Aren't we commanded to pray? Aren't we commanded
to give? Aren't we commanded to fast? Yes. Jesus'
solution was not to stop spiritual activities,
but to ensure that we do them out of grace and
relationship, not performance and obligation.
It was that we would do them... out of devotion
and see them as what they are. They're just a
driveway. They're just a conduit to get to where
you really wanna go. Giving, praying, fasting,
media fast, scripture memory, accountability
groups, none of that is the deal. They're just
the driveway to get you where Christ can make
his home and have freedom and manifest his life
in your heart. That's what Paul prays. In Ephesians
3, that Christ would take up residence, that
he would dwell, and the word dwell there means
he would feel comfortable and be at home in you.
And by the way, the whole Christian life, one
word, abide. What do you need to abide? I don't
know. I mean, scripture gives us some basics,
but whatever you need to stay connected to Jesus,
just stay connected to Jesus and let his life
flow through you. I mean, if you really want
to get it simple. You're listening to Living
on the Edge. We'll return you to Chip's message
in just a minute, but let me quickly share with
you, God has called us to do incredible ministry
work all around the world. And when you regularly
give to Living on the Edge, you're a part of
what we do. So consider becoming a monthly partner
today. Then visit livingontheedge .org. We appreciate
your generous support. Well, with that, here's
Chip. And what we know is that there's certain
practices that help us abide. They're not an
end in themselves, they help us abide. In chapter
five, Jesus corrects our belief, our misguided
beliefs about performance orientation, self -effort,
guilt manipulation, obligation and duty. Now,
in chapter six, he's going to correct our behavior.
He's gonna teach us, well, how do we do the right
thing, right? But how do we do it in the right
way? And so I'm going to give you a quick overview
here of the first part of chapter 6. And what
I want you to notice here is that what he's doing
here, he's going to say now, in our pursuit of
seeking first the kingdom and his righteousness,
there is also the danger of deception. In Matthew
6, he will give three most common practices of
the Christians, the followers, the religious
leaders of that day. And what he will do is he'll
show you, now look, your righteousness needs
to exceed that of the Pharisees. Let me show
you how to use those practices that does something
to your heart and your relationship rather than
tries to impress people. So here's his application.
Chapter six, verse one, be careful not to do
your acts of righteousness before men, to be
seen by them. If you do, you'll have no reward
from your father in heaven. So when you give
to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets
as the hypocrites do in the synagogue and on
the streets to be honored by men. I tell you
the truth, they have received the reward in full.
But when you give to the needy, do not let your
left hand know what your right hand is doing
so that your giving may be in secret. Then your
father who sees what is done in secret will reward
you. He's not saying here that if anyone ever
finds out what you give, it's a problem. What
he's saying is if your motive when you give is
to make sure people find out what you give, you
got a problem. And he's saying you can have a
reward. Plan A, people think you're hot stuff.
God's unimpressed. Plan B, God thinks you're
hot stuff and in secret wants to reward you and
people don't know about it. You got it? The key
here is our motive. The key issue is our motive.
Giving guards your devotion. Your heart just
always follows your treasure. So if you want
your motives and your devotion to stay true to
God and not an idol, and what did Jesus say?
When Jesus said this wild thing, he says, there's
only really two gods, me and mammon. I mean,
what's mammon? It's materialism. And he says,
you know, you can't serve both. And so giving
isn't like, oh, this obligation. Oh, my gosh,
who made up this 10 % thing? And, oh, gosh, I
went to that seminar. They're into this, what,
proportional giving? My, and I'm doing 10%. It
took me forever. Now they're going 12, 15, 22.
You know, boy, I'll tell you what. I don't know
where these people are coming from. And, you
know, okay, I paid my taxes. Okay, PG &E bill.
Gas bill, mortgage bill, Jesus bill. Golly. He
said, you missed. Giving is my opportunity to
remind you that I own everything and your breath
is from me. And what do you have that you don't
receive? And your heart is a very precious thing
to me. And so I've instituted this practice that
every time you receive some things, you take
a portion of it. And actually, I'm quite generous
since it's all mine. And I just ask for a portion
of it, not because I need it. I can do anything.
But I'm asking for a portion as sort of this
reminder. For you to take your little claws because
you always want to hang on to stuff and let go
and love other people because I'm the most generous
being in all the universe. I love so much. I
gave my son. And so I want to teach you how to
love. And you know what? You can give without
loving, but you can never love without giving.
And so it's a practice. Not to say, oh gosh,
I'm really making progress. I used to only be
a 10 % or I'm up to 12 .5. You're up to 12 .5?
I'm giving 30 % of my income now. God has more
and more of my heart and I give cheerfully and
I give as a son who says, oh God, thank you.
And all of this, all this is still to bless me
and to richly enjoy? Thank you, Lord. I encourage
you to give from the heart first. Then by the
way, what many of you don't do, pay yourself,
save second, and then live on the rest. The next
practice, he goes to the motive again, the key
issue in prayer. And when you pray, don't be
like the hypocrites for they love to pray. How
do they do it? Standing in the synagogues, on
the street corners. Why? To be seen by men. I
tell you the truth, they've received their reward
in full. But when you pray, go into your room,
It's the idea of the inner room. Close the door.
Pray to your Father who has seen you in secret.
Then your Father who sees what is done in secret
will reward you. And then it goes on and talks
about when you pray and how to pray and the right
way to pray and not babbling. And he gives us
what's now known as the Lord's Prayer. But he
gives us in prayer what? It's, again, motive,
and it guards your discernment. A lot of the
issues you have are discernment issues. What
should I do? I just don't know. And you know
what? No one does but God. And he has an agenda
for you. And we always want someone to tell us
what we ought to do and what percentage should
we give and should I do this or should I do that?
Or guess what? You know what? God wants to tell
you. He wants to tell you. But you got to sit
still. And I pray in the car. I'm going to keep
praying in the car. I practice the presence of
God. I have quick little prayers here. I have
short ones over here. But I have to stop, go
into my inner room, shut off the world, sit before
him, and get clear. And often I pray through
the Lord's Prayer so that it's not just needs
or it's not just worship, it's our Father. It's
relationship. Who art in heaven, holy. This is
who God is. I want your kingdom to come, your
agenda, not mine. I'm going to ask for my needs.
I'm going to deal with relational issues and
forgive anybody you bring to my mind. I'm going
to ask you to guard me from temptation. You know
what's coming today. And I want your kingdom
and your power and your glory. So he says, I
want you to pray, not because if you, okay, I
did it 15 minutes. I'm spiritual. I did it 20.
I did it 25. I pray for an hour every day. I'm
not sure God has a clock or watch up there. I
think he's looking at the heart and the honesty
and the openness and where you say, Lord, speak.
Your servant is listening. Where you're the Mary.
Lord, be it unto me according to your word. Lord,
if you'll show me, I'll do. I need to know. Because
see, the real goal of all those issues you have,
your agenda is you want to know, like me, so
you can do this and do that and know what to
do. You know what God's agenda is? Hanging out
with you. Enjoying you. And the more you rub
up and enjoy him, you won't even notice it happening,
but it's kind of like when Moses was hanging
out with God a lot, remember that? Like 40 days,
no food, no drink, just talking. When he came
down, what was he like? What? He's glowing. Why?
Because you always become like the people you
hang out with. And when you learn to hang out
with God, you just, I mean, it's not like some
mechanical deal. You just become more and more
like him. And so the third area Jesus says about
this internal righteousness, he talks about fasting
and And we pick that up in verse 16. When you
fast, don't look somber as the hypocrites do,
for they disfigure their faces to show men they're
fasting. I tell you the truth, they've received
their reward in full. But when you fast, put
on oil on your head and wash your face so that
it won't be obvious to men that you're fasting.
But only to your father who is unseen and your
father who sees what is done in secret and he'll
reward you. Fasting. is emotive again, and it
provides perspective. It allows you to disengage
from all the stuff and spend that time with God
and try a day or two occasionally so when those
hunger pains come, you drink a lot of water,
and you say, God, I want to be reminded. I want
to be reminded that all the busyness and all
the pull and all the demand, you're just sort
of backing up. And I will tell you, as you do
that, you get perspective. Your spiritual sensitivity
goes up when you fast. And finally, the summary
of this is pretty clear. Spiritual disciplines
are essential, okay? Spiritual disciplines are
essential, but become dangerous when they become
a means to gain the reward of men rather than
deepen our relationship with God. Isn't it amazing
just the heart behind Jesus' teaching here? Do
you need to have personal discipline? Yeah. Do
you need to get your priorities right? Absolutely.
Do you need to, I mean, get a handle on your
time and your money? Yes. Do you need to look
at those six things that are misplaced priorities
and say, I need to address it. But you need to
do all that with the righteousness that exceeds
that of the scribes and the Pharisees. have a
final application here. It's that secrecy is
God's method of keeping our motives pure. And
this isn't a legalistic, oh, no one knows. If
someone finds out you're doing this or that,
or someone found out I was fasting, big deal.
That's not the issue. The issue is if you have
a sign, by the way, did you know I'm spiritual
and I'm fasting today? You know, that's what's
being prohibited. It seems like God lets me do
all kind of really silly, dumb things and looking
back now to help other people, I guess. But it
took me a long time to lock in, to really want
to be a follower of Jesus. And then when I did,
I can remember the day I woke up and thought,
I am a modern -day Pharisee. I came up with a
group that was really into Scripture memory.
So, I mean, I memorized hundreds and hundreds
of verses. And then I went to chapters. And then
I went to memorizing whole books. And boy, was
I spiritual. And I remember bumping into someone
who had known me about four years earlier and
really good relationship, liked her, and God
really used her. She was not a believer. We passed
in a common area outside where the school was,
and I said, hi, how you doing? And she said something,
and I said something, and she said something,
and I quoted a verse, you know, appropriately,
being the spiritual giant that I am. I mean,
you got all these verses, you got to use them.
And people got to know how holy you are. So,
I mean, you know, bang, bang, bing. Boom, boom.
Hey, you get a problem, I get a verse. Boom,
boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. I mean, I was bad,
man, you know? So I'm, anyway. So she makes some
comment, and I quote a verse. And then the Spirit
of God speaks to this gal, and she looks and
goes, you know, Chip, I knew you about four years
ago. And you were a really neat guy. And she
said, you know, you just kind of. I don't know
what the right word is, but you were easygoing.
You were fun to be around. You know, I didn't
know much about Christianity, but I remember
thinking, I'm not sure where you're coming from,
but you seem to have a song on your heart. You
treated people in a way. And I thought, you know,
man, if I ever wanted to be a Christian, I'm
not sure I ever would because I'm not sure what
it's about. I think I'd like to be one like you.
And she said, Chip, you know, I just kind of
watch things. And right now. You're just a Bible
spouting person that, you know what, every time
I talk with you, I always leave feeling less
of a person and guilty. And what I realize is
I don't like to talk with you and I don't like
to be around you. And I'm, you know, obviously
aware that her lack of spirituality is, she's
unable to discern the higher things of God. And
you know what? I wish I was joking. When I walked
away, I remember thinking, well, obviously, you
know, she doesn't have the Spirit because the
verse came to me. Those who, you know, don't
know the Lord, the Spirit of Christ is not of
them. They can't understand the things of the
Spirit of God for they're spiritually discerned
and if they don't have, you know. And then I
got almost back to where I was to be and the
Spirit of God said, you Bible -quoting hypocrite,
all you have is a righteousness of the Pharisees.
And you were a driven, focused, disciplined guy,
and all you did is change uniforms from thinking
basketball or impressing people or getting good
grades or making money would make you some money.
And all you did is exchange it for religious
clothes. And during that time, I had a guy give
me a 3x5 card after being at a little training
program for three months. And, of course, I thought
I was doing great because I always got my stuff
done. I had more verses memorized. I did all
that you're supposed to do. And all he did was
give me a card with these two verses. And I thought,
maybe there's a message here. Luke 16, 15. It
says, And just in case I didn't get his point,
he had Galatians 1 .10. Am I trying to win the
approval of men, Paul would write, or of God?
If I were still trying to please men, I would
not be a bondservant of Christ. And I would like
as your little application is go in your notes
a page or two back and then just gaze at those
little tests, your pop quiz. And look at objectives
and look at priorities and look at schedule and
look at discipline and look at accountability.
And now let's look at these through the lens
of how are you doing as those are simply means
to know and love God and deepen your relationship
because personal discipline is a very, very spiritually
hazardous endeavor. You need to be disciplined.
But your discipline can always be just a driveway.
The means can never be an end. God wants your
heart. You're listening to Living on the Edge
with Chip Ingram. And the message you just heard,
warning, personal discipline can be hazardous
to your health, is from our series, Balancing
Life's Demands. Chip will join us in studio to
share some insights from today's talk in just
a minute. Are you exhausted juggling your job,
kids, marriage, and everything else you're responsible
for? Do you wish there was a way to relieve that
stress and live with a little more joy? Well,
in this series, Chip reveals what a balanced
life looks like and how you can rearrange your
priorities around what matters most. Hear how
to experience the joy -filled and satisfying
life God desires for you to have. Now, if you've
missed any part of Chip's teaching, catch up
anytime on the Chip Ingram app. Well, Chip's
back in studio with me now. And Chip, as I listened
today, you know, I couldn't help but think about
the countless people listening right now who
have real needs. As we continue to create new
programming and develop resources that meet those
needs, the expenses of the ministry are a monthly
issue. Take a minute to talk to those who have
considered partnering with us before, but haven't
made that commitment. You know, Dave, really
only about 2 % of all the people that listen
partner with us financially in any way. And I
think sometimes it's because they just don't
think what I could do would make a difference.
But I just want to encourage some of you that
feel like, you know, hey, you know, boy, God's
really using this in my life, but I'm just not
in a position. Maybe you could do something really
small, but God could take your small gift and
do something really big with it. So, you know,
thanks so much and appreciate anything God leads
you to do. Thanks, Chip. Well, if joining the
Living on the Edge team is an idea that makes
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-333 -6003. Take a few minutes to help others
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number again is 888 -333 -6003 or go to livingontheedge
.org. App listeners tap donate. Well, with that,
here again is Chip. As we close today's program,
we've talked about priorities. We've talked about
your motivation. I just gave you a review of,
you know, the role of prayer and fasting and
giving. And here's what I want to tell you. It's
about relationship. I have been through seasons
of my life where I literally memorized hundreds,
hundreds of verses and never missed a day praying.
You know, part of it then is how do you get the
balance? Because the fact is, is that I need
to read the Bible at times when I don't feel
like it. I need to pray when I don't feel like
it and have times of breakthrough. But I have
to avoid this idea that doing those things makes
me right with God or somehow I'm performing.
Now, what I've found is I have literally taken
in my journey with the Lord this approach. I
want my heart connected to you more than anything
else. So what I'm going to do when I meet with
you is what will connect my heart. Yesterday,
I did not read the Bible at all. I listened to
about 35 minutes of worship music, and I sang
out loud, and I enjoyed God. The day before,
I read my Bible a little. I sat quietly. I just
listened to God as I had lots of questions. My
normal approach is I read the Bible, I pray,
I have a little program. But what I've come to
is, what do I need to keep my heart tender with
my Father? And we had family in, and, you know,
it kind of interrupted my time. And some of us
get really uptight because, you know, I'm going
to miss my time. And I had a little granddaughter
come down the stairs just about the time I was
ready to open my Bible. And what I realized was
the greatest thing I could do was put that little
girl on my lap and play with her and talk to
her and love her. Because God always values obedience
over sacrifice. God's always looking for that
which connects your heart, that which loves him
and loves others. And that'll look different
for different people. And I think sometimes,
especially some of us with obsessive compulsive
tendencies, you know, we just get our checklist
and we unconsciously, you know, do so much of
this and so much of that. And the balance is,
is I do need to keep on track, but I need to
give myself permission as I'm on track. crack
to have freedom there. And there's been other
times I've just felt dry. And I've just said,
you know, I read the whole book of Esther the
other day. Well, I don't usually read that much.
I just needed it. I just needed my mind to get
soaked in scripture. So what I want you to hear
is let your heart be open to the Lord, have a
structured plan that you follow. And then inside
of that. Have liberty and get what you need,
just like you would in any relationship, so that
at the very core of why you meet with God and
what you do, you want to ask and answer the question,
what does it look like to give love and to receive
love from your Heavenly Father and to other people?
And you know what? If you do that, I think your
priorities will be right where God wants them.
Great challenge, Chip. And as we close, if you're
looking for a practical way to grow in your relationship
with God, check out the Chip Ingram app. You
can listen to our most recent series, sign up
for daily discipleship with Chip, and more. We
want to help you deepen your faith, and the Chip
Ingram app will help you do that. Well, from
all of us here, I'm Dave Drewy, thanking you
for listening to this edition of Living on the
Edge, and I hope you'll join us again next time.