According to a recent survey, we want to reduce
the clutter, the stress, the ongoing chaos of
our busy lives. But the big question is, how
do you really simplify your life? Well, today
we're going to talk about a plan that will help
you cut through the noise and begin to simplify
your life today. Stay with me. You're going to
love it. 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. In just a minute,
Chip will pick up where he left off last time
in our series, Spiritual Simplicity. For the
past several programs, Chip's taught through
1 Corinthians 13, highlighting our need to declutter
our busy lives and embrace an intentional loving
mindset. So if you've missed any part of this
study, it's not too late to catch up. either
through livingontheedge .org or wherever you
listen to podcasts. Well, with that, here's Chip
to share the remainder of his talk in the name
of love. You know what? I wonder what would have
happened if we would have eaten together three
or four times a week. I wonder what would have
happened if instead of being so busy, I actually
blocked off the first 30 minutes of every day
and talked with God so I could keep my priorities
straight. I wonder what would have happened instead
of, you know, two or three hours every night
just to wind down and watching fairly mindless
TV, if I would have spent some time investing
in the things that matter and the people that
matter and giving attention to things that I
know that would last. This is what the Apostle
Paul is saying. He's saying this is how love
responds to misplaced priorities. And then he
gives us a solution. I love the Bible. It's not
just, you know. He's saying, you know, you could
be successful in business or finances or your
kids could get in the best schools, but any success
minus love equals a goose egg. Everything minus
love is a zero. And so what would happen? Just
what would happen if sometime you started a brand
new journey and the new journey went something
like this. I'm not sure what I'll do with the
entire rest of my life. But until I take my last
breath, I'm going to start thinking and planning
and praying and structuring my life, my activities
and my energy and my money around two things,
loving God and loving people. And I'm going to
stop cheating by saying one thing and pretending
it's true. And I'm going to ask, do my finances
and my time and my closest relationships reflect?
But I really love God and love people. And here's
the promise. Love never fails. You'll never have
a regret. You'll never say no to one youth sport
activity or a few more hours at work or one more
deal that you can do where you say, no, this
vacation's planned and we're going to go away.
You'll never look back and go, oh, I wish you
would have done one more deal. But you will look
back with regret. If love's not the number one
priority. And so he tells us how to do it. Are
you ready for this? He says, grow up. So how
does love respond to misplaced priorities? You
grow up. I mean, look what he says. Verse 11.
He says, when I was a child, I talked, I thought,
and I reasoned as a child. But when I became
a man, and this word means a man who has responsibility,
who's at the point in his life that is old enough
to reproduce. So I did a little thinking about,
how kids think or children think, and the word
for child here is a small child. So let me tell
you how children think, and then we'll talk about
how adults think, and then you can ask yourself,
how am I talking and thinking and reasoning like
a child? The word talk here just means what comes
out of your mouth. It's no technical term to
it, but what comes out of our mouth always reveals
what's in our heart. The word... Think here is
that same word that's used in, same root word
as in, remember Romans 12 .2? Don't think more
highly of yourself than you ought to think, but
think is to have sober, fact same word, judgment
as God has allotted to each. It's about processing
and evaluating what's going on and why. And then
the word reasoning here is one of my favorite
words. It's logizomai. It's found in Romans 12
.1. Do you hear it? Logic amai. It means to reason.
It's a very clear, it's reckoning. It's an accounting
term. It's weighing things. Here's all the positive.
Here's all the negatives. Here's the P &L. Here's
what we'll deliver here. Here's what won't. It's
a reasoning matter of fact thinking. And in Romans
12, one at the very end, it says, for this is
your spiritual service of worship. The word spiritual
or reasonable is this word. Now here's how kids
think. Here's how they, when I hear kids talk,
Little kids, they say, I want it. I mean, I did
an experiment, a sociological experiment Friday
night. I had two kids stay overnight in my house.
One was three, and one just turned six. And I
heard, Papa, I want that. I want that. I want
that. Can we do this? Can, please, please, yes,
yes, can, want, want, want, want, want. That's
how kids think. Or how they talk. And then how
they think. Is what? About them. I mean, there's
50 toys on our living room floor. There's two
kids. One kid's playing with, I want that, I
want that, I want, I want. Kids, by nature, they
don't wake up in the morning thinking, I wonder
how I can encourage mom and dad today. You know?
Or they don't walk into a room with other seven
-year -olds and say, hey, anybody feeling kind
of down? Need a little time to talk? Did everybody,
you know, hey, did everyone get their milk? I
want to make sure. I've got two here. You can't
have seven milks and three kids and they fight
over who gets two or three. That's childish.
Paul says when he was a child, he talked like
a child. Want, want, want. He thought like a
child about me, me, me. And he reasoned as a
child. And the way kids reason are called now,
immediate gratification. They, you know, if you
tell them you can have five candy bars a week
from now, or you can have one now, the wrapper's
off of it. They can't even think about five candy
bars later. It's immediate. It's now. I've got
to have it. That's how kids think. How do adults
think? Talk and reason. Well, a kid says, I want.
An adult says, what's needed? What's needed here?
Not what I want. Not what you want. What's needed?
What's best? Kids say, it's all about me. When
you're an adult, what you realize is anything
that works, it's about others. Maturity is thinking
about others, especially for you moms. I don't
think there's probably hardly a mom in the whole
world that gets up thinking, oh, I wonder how
I'm going to spend this day on me today. When
you're an adult, when you walk into an office,
it's about what do these people need? I'm responsible.
You think about others. An adult's reasoning
goes something like this. Two words, delayed
gratification. It's not what this is going to
deliver today. It's what is it going to deliver
over the long haul? What will this behavior produce
next week, next year, five years from now? It's
adults ask the question, not what can I have
now? Adults ask what is needed and what is best
for the longest haul for the most people? What's
wise? What has value? What will deliver? Now,
he goes on to talk about cloudy vision leads
to complexity. And I want to give you and me
a little grace because if you think these messages
are hard to listen to, you should have to come
up with them. I'm serious. I mean, I gotta apply
this stuff. If I don't apply it to me first,
I got nothing to say. And the principle is, notice
what he says. For now, we see in a mirror dimly.
And by the way, a mirror in the ancient world
was not like your mirror where everything was
clear. It was a piece of steel that was brushed.
And so you could see yourself and you could make
yourself out, but it was cloudy. You knew who
it was and it was helpful, but it wasn't crystal
clear. He says now, temporal, in this life, the
way we're living, we see in a mirror, but it's
kind of cloudy. So it's complex. And so it's
hard to know. And some people say this and some
people say this. And then you get busy and you
feel a pull here and a pull here. And there's
competing demands. And there's a demand for this
and a demand for this. And the demand for family,
demand for what? When do you do what? How can
you ever know? And so most of us try and do it
all and not do any of it very well and neglect
our own soul. He says, now we see in a mirror
dimly, but then, he's talking about when Christ
comes back, then we'll see fully. Now we know
and see in part, but then it's gonna be face
-to -face. Jot in your notes, 1 John 3, 2. We
do not know what we will be like, but this is
what we know. When we see him, we will be like
him. When you meet Christ face -to -face, we
will be transformed and we will be like him,
not God. But as created beings, these glorified
bodies, I mean, everything gets clear. And when
it's clear, notice what happens. When things
are absolutely clear, he says, now abide faith,
hope, and love. The greatest of these is love.
Why? One, because it lasts. Faith is trusting
or believing in what I can't see, the promises
and the character of God, but someday faith becomes
sight. Hope is this anchor of your soul, this
certainty that God says, I am coming back. I
have forgiven you. I am in control. And it's
not a wish, it's an absolute hope. But at one
point in time, your hope turns from hope to possession.
You will walk with God if you're a Christ follower,
if you've received his forgiveness. But love
will continue on because when you see him face
to face, what's 1 John say? God is love. We will
love one another perfectly. That's why it's never
ruined. It never falls. When you have a cloudy
vision about your purpose and your priorities,
it produces complexity. When you have a clear
vision about where you're going, why you're going
there, what's important, and how to get there,
it produces love. Now, if I was sitting there
like I've been with this text, and I really wanted
my priorities, and some of these are big issues,
right? I mean, this isn't like, oh, hey, why
don't you pray a couple extra little prayers?
I mean, this is some of you saying, you know
what? I'm not sure I'm in the right job. This
is some of you saying, well, if this isn't the
right job, I don't know if I can continue living
in this community. For some of you, it's like,
well, You know, we're both working and we never
see our kids. Maybe one of us needs to stop.
I mean, for some, it's like, you know, aren't
my schedules nuts? I mean, I intend and want
and, you know, I don't read the Bible. I don't
talk with God much and I can't figure why it's
not working. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. You
know, I know that I could get help from people
and I'd love to get one of those small groups.
I hear it's really great. I don't have time to
make time to love God. To create margin to nourish
your own soul. Some of you haven't taken a day
off in ages and haven't had what's a real vacation
in years. And you know what? You reap and then
you're gonna sow. But what you need to hear is
this isn't like a message you have misplaced
priorities and God is mad at you. What you need
to hear is you're living in a world that's complex
in a place that's fast with a lot of smart people.
And this is your heavenly father saying, let's
call a timeout. I don't want your life to end
up a super duper temporal ice sculpture that
impresses people. And then you get near the end
of your life or maybe even five or 10 years from
now. And the most important relationships and
issues in your life be puddles of water. And
you say, wow, I was successful. My kids got in
this school or I was upperly mobile or I worked
all these hours and they promoted me or I did
this and I did that. And then you just think
and it profited you. Nothing. And then you became
nothing. You're listening to Living on the Edge.
Before we continue today's program, let me ask
you, are you in a small group? Well, if so, are
you looking for a new study to do together this
year? Join us after Chip's message to learn more
about our library of study guides, which are
sure to help you and your group grow in your
faith. You won't want to miss it. Well, with
that, let's rejoin Chip for the remainder of
his message. And so you got to grow up. You got
to learn to talk like an adult. You got to start
asking questions like, what's really needed?
You need to begin to think like an adult. What
do the people in my sphere that I'm responsible
for, what do they need? Not what do they want,
not what makes them happy, not if I say this,
will they reject me? Do they need a cell phone
at this age? Do they need to be watching this
or that? Are these the right friends for them
to be with? For some of us, do I need to keep
hanging around this group of people that I find
myself making progress and pulled back away?
Do I need to keep burning two to three hours
a night because I'm exhausted? Do I need to keep
that second glass of wine every night or do I
basically have an addiction? See, this is hard
stuff. Unless we grow up, unless we ask, you
know what? What's wise? What's best? Who do I
really wanna become? What kind of relationships
do I really wanna have? What do you wanna be
known for? What do you really wanna be known
for? I can't think of a greater goal than, and
I'm praying and I've got so far to go, but I
would love, I don't want my kids, adult kids
now, to say, wow, my dad was a busy pastor. I
like my adult kids to say, you know, my dad had
a lot on his plate, but man, I heard from him
every week. He had time for my kids. He really
cared about me. I want my wife, you know, I figure
at the pace that I go, I'll probably go before
she does. I hope so, because I need her a lot
more than she needs me. Man, I hope after I die,
I hope my wife will say, you know something,
he did have a lot on his plate, but man, we had
a rich, deep, he loved me. He loved me and he
loved God. And what I can tell you is I've had
various seasons in my life like you have in your
life where I just had to say, you know something,
I'm gonna have to uncloud my vision and I may
see him part, but if you want, this is a lamp
into your feet and a light into your path. If
you want to get clear vision, you have to be
in God's word. No legalism, no ought or got to.
It is a love relationship. If you want to know
if you're doing the right thing, you need to
talk and talk to God out loud. And when you're
confused, ask him a question and sit quietly
and see if he doesn't give you direction. If
you want to make it in this life and stay clear
and stay on course, it's not hard to do it alone.
It's impossible to do it alone. You will have
to create margin in your life to be with a group
of people to say, I can't love God and love others
by myself. Will you help me? If you want the
kind of family that, you know, is in the back
of your mind that you hope someday, some way
it's going to have, you will have to structure
in times around the table and times for vacation
and times to really talk because you're going
to get the outcomes of what you're structured.
The way you're presently living is going to produce
the continued of what you're presently receiving.
It really is about just loving God and loving
one another. If you'll turn to the last page,
I put our R12 application as being separate from
the world's values because in essence, what I've
really talked about is how to be holy. Holy is
not, that word conjures up for some of us black
robes and candles and people with really big
black Bibles. sometimes weird and mystical. The
word holy, you know what it means? It just means
different. The word literally means something
that's set apart, that it's special. It just
means different. God wants a different life for
you. A better life, a holy life. Is moral purity
a part of it? Absolutely. But he wants something
different for you. I mean, look at the families
in America and the single people in America and
all the pain and all the junk and all the stuff.
He's just saying, I don't want that for you.
So stop being conformed to this world's values
and start not trying hard, but renew your mind.
Say no to some of the movies and some of the
stuff and some of the time and some of the novels
and some of the relationships that keep telling
you you got to look like this and act like this
and earn this much and do this stuff and live
at this pace. And shut out some of that and start
renewing your mind with God's truth. And then
notice, look in your notes. What's the second
half of that verse say? What's his heart? His
heart isn't that you become religious and weird.
His heart is that you might approve or taste
or test or experience his will for you, which
is good, acceptable, and perfect. I jotted down,
when we have misplaced priorities, even when
it's out of ignorance, we end up buying what
we don't need to impress people that don't care.
We listen to what the world says instead of what
God's word says. We assume that the goal in our
parenting is to make our kids successful and
happy instead of holy. We don't live differently
and therefore the great majority of all people
who sincerely love God miss God's best. And the
point of simplifying your life is not to become
some weird, religious, fanatical Christian in
the negative sense is that you could be holy
as God is holy so that you could experience the
very best and that when people would rub up against
your life and your lifestyle and your values
as a single person, as a married person, as people
with kids, they would see a refreshing, peaceful,
deep, connected relationship that flows out of
your time with God, your time with others. And
they would just say something like, you know
something, this world's nuts. How could you say
no to that opportunity? Or how do you balance
your life with all your responsibility? And you
will have an answer that will say, you know something,
I was going really strong and I really love God,
but I came out of denial. And I decided that
I would actually make loving God and loving people
my number one priority, and trust that the hard
decisions and the people that I disappoint, that
God was big enough to take care of that. And
that's my prayer for you. You're listening to
Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. And the
message you just heard in the name of love is
from our series, Spiritual Simplicity. Chip will
join us in studio to share some insights from
today's talk in just a minute. Have you ever
felt like there's never enough time in the day
for yourself, the people you love, even God?
If you can relate, don't miss this series. Chip's
going to challenge the unrealistic standards
and expectations we all feel pressured by. Join
us as we learn how to break free from this demanding
cycle and discover the simpler, more fulfilling
life God has in store for us. I hope you'll be
with us for every part of this study. Before
we go on, here's Chip. Thanks so much, Dave.
Our mission is to help Christians live like Christians.
Here's what I can tell you. I meet people who
go to church regularly. They even are in the
Bible on a regular basis, and they get stuck.
I'll never forget when Steve came to me. I was
rehabbing one of my many injuries. He was a personal
trainer. I had no idea of his background. We
got to know one another, and pretty soon he said,
you're that chip on the radio, aren't you? And
we built a great friendship. He shared and poured
out his life. And he just was stuck in a number
of areas. Finally, after a few months, I said,
Steve, do you know your problem? There's something
in the way you'll never break through unless
this becomes a part of your life. He paused,
looked at me and said, what is it? I said, you
got to have community, Steve. You're not in any
group. You can't do this alone. You're one of
the most disciplined people I've ever met. God
tells us that you cannot change in isolation.
Steve got an early morning Bible study with some
men. Then he began to lead one, and right now
he's leading about three of them. His life has
been transformed over the last few years, and
it was all about one thing. Steve needed a group
centered on God's Word where he put it into practice
and got the love, the support, and the accountability
that he desperately needed. How about you? Push
away all the other demands, and after your time
with God, can I encourage you, Get in a group
or start a group, and we have resources that
will help you grow in Christ, face spiritual
warfare, be a better parent, grow in your knowledge
of the Scripture, because when Christians live
like Christians, they change, marriages change,
families change, churches change, communities
change, and God is glorified. And that's our
mission, and I invite you to join me in it. Thanks,
Chip. Well, we have a growing library of small
group resources on a wide range of topics, and
they're so easy to use. Chip provides the teaching.
Then you'll have time to discuss what you've
heard alongside our helpful study guides. We
also offer some insights for leaders to effectively
lead their groups. If you're not in a small group
yet or looking for your next topic to study,
check out our resources. And as Chip said, for
a limited time, we've discounted all of our small
group resources so you can get into community
today. To learn more, go to livingontheedge .org
or call us at 888 -333 -6003. That's 888 -333
-6003 or livingontheedge .org. App listeners,
tap special offers. Well, before we go, here
again is Chip with a final word from this program.
When you listen today, where did God speak to
you? You know, we talked about growing up. You
just have to flat out grow up if you're going
to receive and give love. And I asked three little
questions. And I want to remind you of these
three questions as we end our time together.
The first one is, what is wise? You know, what's
the wise thing for you? What's the path for you?
What do you need to do? Second, what is best?
What is the very best thing for you? Not what
is good. And third, what do you want to be known
for? At the end of your life, at the end of the
day, people are going to know you for something.
What do you really want that to be? And you're
a smart person. I mean, if tweaking your life,
if making little incremental changes would get
you in the right place and priorities, you would
have already done that. Many of you, this is
going to be one of the most important days of
your life. And you're going to weigh things.
And the Spirit of God is speaking to you. And
you realize you need to get off a committee.
You need to stop working two jobs. You need to
stop some hobby that's fun and that you like
that's eating up your time. You need to just
literally do something radical to get your priorities
in line so that you can love. You can't keep
living the way you're living and doing as much
as you're doing and really love. You may appear
loving. but you can't really love living how
you are. Now, in the end of the message, I put
a game plan. I laid it out very specifically,
but here's the issue. What are you going to do?
My challenge, get before God, ask him, sit quietly,
do what he says, and then write down what he
says and share it with one friend for accountability,
and then watch God work in you and through you.
As we wrap up this program, Living on the Edge
depends on listeners like you to help us continue
encouraging Christians to live like Christians.
So would you consider becoming a monthly partner
to help others benefit from this ministry? You
can set up a recurring donation at livingontheedge
.org or by calling 888 -333 -6003. Again, that's
888 -333 -6003 or visit livingontheedge .org.
App listeners, tap donate. And thanks for doing
whatever the Lord leads you to do. 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.