3 Daily Habits to Filter Your Life through Jesus’ Love
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- Updated Jun 24, 2021
Legs aching and lungs burning as we meandered through the valley of our hometown, the water flowing out of a hose at the corner gas station tasted like heaven. That pit stop refreshed us before we faced the final mile uphill towards home. We laughed and crouched down to avoid being seen as coach’s big van rolled by to assess our progress.
These days, filtered water tastes better – preferably from a glass or a straw – but back then, that musty old hose was an oasis!
Before we embrace salvation in Christ, we are akin to the Egyptians wandering through the dry desert, souls parched and dehydrated. Christ Jesus, Living Water, refreshes and restores our lives. God is faithful to guide us in sifting through all there is to learn about who He is. Faith in Christ isn’t a one-click process. It’s the journey of a lifetime.
When we confess our belief in Christ Jesus, we are taken from darkness and into the light, and begin the process of refinement, called sanctification. During this process, we learn to follow the Holy Spirit’s leading on our lives. God’s Word, when we obediently seek Him there daily, begins to permeate our hearts. His truth becomes our guide and guardrail. The more we submit to God (turn things in our lives over to Him), the more His will penetrates all we do, and who we are. Through the perspective of Yahweh, we gain clarity about who and Whose we are. As we follow Christ, we become more Christ-like.
Seeing Things with a Filter
Social media filters adjust the way we see ourselves, and others. The filters can be fun! But they can also be scary. Filtering things in a false light can be a slippery slope of deceit. If we spend too much time looking through wacky filters, we start to see everything that way.
My favorite filter on one of the social media apps has a voice changer. Everything I say sounds hilarious through it! Which is great fun, until I’m sitting in the car pick-up line trying to steal some quiet moments to read …and hear the funny-filtered version of myself reading the text! Or, when that same funny voice is the one I am actually thinking in! The filters of the world are deceitful.
They can easily overtake the clarity of what is true if we are not careful.
There are three simple things we can do daily to make sure we are filtering our daily lives through the purifying Truth of God. We want His will for our lives, because His plans are greater than anything we can ask for or imagine (Ephesians 3:20)! Much lies outside of our control in this life on earth. Horrible tragedies, sicknesses, and losses happen to all walks of people because of the evil and sin in the world. We can take three simple daily steps to live the full life Jesus died to give us. This world, for Christ followers, is temporary. When this life fades to black, for Christ followers, we will arrive home, in heaven, for eternity. Our hope is in heaven with Him (1 Peter 1:3-4).
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1. Pray
Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, “pray continually” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). From the moment we wake to the time we fall asleep, the Bible advises us to pray. It’s not a legalistic command, but a comfort blanket. He is always there, listening and watching. Psalm 91 reminds us of the army of angels at God’s command to protect His own. There are very real evils after us in this world. It’s important to remember the power of God .
When we pray to God, it’s safe to bare our souls. His love for us is the greatest love story of all time. God chose to send Jesus to sacrifice His life in the most brutal way, to free us from the consequential death of our sins (Romans 6:23). Through Christ, we embrace freedom, peace, and forgiveness.
In His great mercy and compassion, Scripture tells us God is close to the broken hearted (Psalm 34:18), and He hears our prayers (psalm 34:17). Prayer, especially when we pray the Word of God, is a powerful weapon. Prayer is simply talking to God. In fact, when we can’t find the words, Scripture says the Holy Spirit translates our cries to God (Romans 8:26).
2. Read the Bible
Scripture says if we seek God with all of our hearts we will find Him (Jeremiah 29:13). The Bible is a big, intimidating book at first glance. The musty old pages of the Bible passed back through the rows of my private grade school didn’t seem like a guidebook to life back then. But after decades of pouring through those pages, the same passages breathing new life into my heart over and over again, I now know the word of God is a part of my very soul.
Over time, as we walk with the Lord through this life, we prefer not to see things but through the clarity of His perspective. We crave the wisdom He has for us before we walk out into the world and try to solve problems and face giants on our own. The author of Hebrews wrote,
“The word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
Timothy wrote:
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
The very Creator of the Universe speaks to us through His Living Word! One day at a time, we have the grand opportunity of coming close to God through those ancient words, and connecting with Him intimately as He applies it to our everyday, modern lives. It’s miraculous, because God is the God of miracles – not coincidences. When we sit down with God’s Word, we can pray because the Holy Spirit helps us to understand it properly, and apply it faithfully.
The power of the Holy Spirit helps us to interpret, recall, apply, and remember the Truth of God’s Word to our everyday lives. Why would we want to read and apply God’s Word? For the peace and joy we are promised in the full life Jesus died to give us.
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3. Serve Others
Faith doesn’t sit still. We may get quiet to pray and stop to study God’s Word, but our lives are an active example of the work God is doing in us. From inside to outside, we become more like Christ, daily. God created us to bring glory and honor to Him. Even Jesus came to serve, not to be served (Matthew 20:28). We unlock a great joy by serving others in His name.
The world is set to a selfish default. As Christ followers, we choose instead to see beyond ourselves, praying into our place in the world and daily tasks the Spirit leads us to. God purposefully places people in our lives, sometimes to serve us in love, and sometimes for us to serve them in love. I believe both simultaneously exist in our daily lives, both opportunities to serve and to receive love. Love is reciprocal, flowing through us by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Christ is Living Water. That same hose behind the local gas station that once tasted so refreshing, now waters others as we tell of its location. As new freshman joined the team, the upperclassmen were anxious to show the newbies the delight of sneaking a break to be refreshed and rejuvenated before the last mile-climb uphill.
We serve others in a variety of ways, through many different gifts God the Father knit in us before we were born. The purpose of our lives is no secret to the Father. He knows us, and sees us through the purity of who He created us to be.
When one of my daughters has a tween fall-out with a friend, it’s my joy to lead their conversations in grace and forgiveness. I know, as a wise old adult, what they don’t yet know. Watching their eyes light up as they witness the power of love, forgiveness and grace over bitterness, unforgiveness and blame is amazing. Choosing not to be offended, but instead, “how can we be Jesus to this person.” Sometimes, we have to recognize conflict for what it is – the enemy’s lies and attempts to isolate – and choose the harder work of love instead. We have a job to do, after all: The Great Commission. To love people for Jesus. When we seek to serve others everyday, we can ask, how do I love them for Jesus?
This is how we serve one another. This is how are faith moves. We pour the wisdom of God, which He fills our hearts with daily, out to the ones He has given us to disciple in faith. We work hard with the gifts and talents He has given us, trusting Him to open doors and expand our territory according to His will. We may never know the extent of the love we have sprinkled around on this earth. We are unable to see from a heavenly perspective all the purposes God has for every obedient act of faith.
His ways are greater than our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. These three daily habits help us to filter our lives through the love of Jesus.
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Related Resource: Listen to our FREE podcast, Reframed: The Power of Perspective. In each episode, Carley provides practical techniques for identifying and reframing negative thinking patterns. Listen to an episode below, and check out all of our episodes on LifeAudio.com.
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