1 Samuel
The prudent person does the expectation first, freeing them for a guilt-free pursuit of desire. Almost every day I have a list in my mind of the tasks that need to be accomplished and the tasks that I look forward to doing. I want to jump in and do
1 Samuel
Outward appearances fool human beings, but they don’t fool God. We cannot immediately know the heart of someone. We can only learn about people as we get to know them and experience their nature. We can create a first impression in milliseconds, but it takes weeks, months, or even
1 Samuel
God is powerful enough to use our rebellion to further His will even when we are determined to give Him no other choice. We think we know better. We can dig in our heels and resist. We can run away like Jonah. But we cannot prevent God’s will even
1 Samuel
It takes time for us to understand what lies within someone else, which is why our first impressions are often incorrect. We use our external senses to make first impressions, primarily our sight and our hearing. While these are useful tools for situational awareness, they are not the best tools
1 Samuel
Following God’s plan doesn’t need to be as controversial as we originally consider. It is easy to assume doing God’s work implies conflict with the world. God’s agenda is different than the worldly agenda, so conflict can occur. But conflict is not mandatory. Sometimes conflict between
1 Samuel
God prefers to look toward hope, not stew in vengeance. This is a noticeably different perspective from many ancient cultures’ perspective on the gods. Many cultures believed the gods sat upon high, looking down in judgment and holding grudges against people who crossed them. Gods were beings who needed to
1 Samuel
Words are cheap; God expects His leaders to do more than pay lip service to their mistakes. Anyone can say they are sorry. People are sorry things didn’t go as planned. People are sorry they got caught. Just because a person utters the words “I’m sorry” doesn’t
1 Samuel
Sin is evidence of those moments when our heart is not interested in pursuing God. Humanity likes to argue in shades of gray. We almost obeyed. We tried our hardest. Obedience, though, is a condition of the heart. Obedience is not measured in shades of gray. We either want to
1 Samuel
One of the biggest reasons we fail to live up to God’s calling and allow sinfulness to persist in our life is by getting distracted with our personal gain. We want to feel successful. We enjoy demonstrations of success: the fancy clothing, the big houses, the bling jewelry, the
1 Samuel
God calls us to be servant leaders. An act of service frequently goes farther in the life of another than we think. We might consider an act of service to be small or easily managed, but the service we perform might be enormous in the eyes of the one receiving
1 Samuel
Leadership based on rash decisions is always doomed to fail. Sometimes a decision needs to be made in the moment and there isn’t time to think and plan. Those decisions, however, are not the pillars upon which a leader should stand. The thrust of good leadership is one where
1 Samuel
Rash decisions often end in situations where disobedience is the natural outcome. When we don’t think through circumstances, we get caught by the unexpected. Once caught, we make more rash decisions. The cycle continues until we get lucky and escape or we spiral to the point of needing rescue.