JUNE 3, 2026

 “Never miss a good chance to shut up.” 

― Will Rogers

2 CHRONICLES 10-12

  8But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. 9He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”10The young men who had grown up with him replied, “The people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. 11My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’ ”

JOHN 13:18-38

 34“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”36Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”37Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”38Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!

JOURNAL 

One of the things I keep coming back to is how easy it is to give lip service to something while our actions reveal a completely different reality. Lip service can often be a cover for image control. Sometimes it can even become a subtle form of manipulation, convincing ourselves and others that we are devoted to something when our choices tell a different story. In the end, words are cheap. Actions reveal the true condition of the heart.

That leads me to a question that may be one of the most important questions a person can ask: What is the god of my heart? Not what do I say is important. Not what do I claim to believe. What actually governs my decisions, my attention, my fears, my ambitions, and my daily actions? Because whatever sits on the throne of my heart will ultimately determine the direction and fruit of my life. If approval is my god, my actions will bend toward gaining approval. If comfort is my god, my actions will bend toward avoiding discomfort. If success, money, reputation, security, or control become my god, then my life will quietly organize itself around serving those things regardless of what comes out of my mouth.

Jesus understood this reality when He said that no one can serve two masters. Eventually one will win. One will receive our devotion. One will direct our actions. We may convince ourselves that we can balance competing allegiances, but over time our choices reveal who we truly serve. This is why sin is so dangerous. Sin is not merely breaking rules. Sin clouds our vision, divides our heart, and creates double-mindedness. It causes us to say one thing while pursuing another. It blocks the flow of God's love through us because our attention and devotion are being pulled in multiple directions.

The mission of the Christian life is actually much simpler than we often make it. We are called first to receive the love of God. We acknowledge who we truly are, including our failures and weaknesses, and we receive His grace anyway. Then we become conduits of that love to others. We do not manufacture it. We receive it and pass it along. When God is truly the God of our heart, His love naturally begins to flow through our actions. It shows up in how we treat people, how we serve, how we forgive, how we sacrifice, and how we respond when life becomes difficult.

The question is never simply what I believe. The question is what my life demonstrates. My actions reveal my devotion. My fruit reveals my master. If God is truly at the center, then power, love, and discipline begin to align themselves around Him. The more I surrender my heart to Him, the clearer the conduit becomes. The less divided I am, the more freely His love flows through me and into the lives of others.

1Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 

 ~ PHILIPPIANS 2:1-4