A Pastor's Perspective 01-16-2024

We have an exceptional calling: a calling to follow Jesus. It is a high calling, and the hight is why some choose not to answer. It must be lowered for them; it is too costly and difficult. However, Jesus does not lower His standards. Instead, those who follow Him discover a power that ultimately comes to aid them in the difficulty and peace similarly. In answering the call of Jesus, we experience the difficulty and cost of following Him, but it is also in the following we experience His power and peace.
   Among the difficult places through which Jesus will lead us is parting with habits that do not represent us well as Jesus' followers—those hurtful, hard-to-break habits that can require enormous strength to break. We will finish our Habits series this Sunday by considering those habits that keep us from following Jesus closely and representing Jesus well. We will look at what it will cost to break this type of habit and what it might cost us if we do not.
   This message will be challenging, but it will not be about guilt. Guilt is a poor motivator, and breaking a hurtful habit needs a more excellent motivator than feeling bad. The momentum needed to break free of a hurtful habit is much like the force required for a rocket to break free from the pull of gravity. And when the force is successfully applied, the rock breaks free, and what was once so weighty now floats. So it is with a hurtful habit successfully broken, when the “weight" comes off there is lightness that comes with energy renewed and redirected.
   We have already covered two of the things most needed to break free from a hurtful habit. We hope you have begun to incorporate them in your life via the last two Sundays' homework: First, knowing who you want to become and be. Second, knowing the habit you will develop that will allow you to pursue that dream.  
   Finally, this Sunday we will consider what we need to rid ourselves of to become what we desire to be to the Glory of God and the betterment of ourselves and those around us.
Looking forward,
Blake