Pocket god?

I have been wrestling with this stuff for the past year and friends let me tell you, Timmons needs some heart work done!  If you’ve ever wondered what the condition of your heart is like, take a survey of your emotions, relationships and what/who you worship. 

Last week I invited you to make a list of the people and things that have shaped your heart, and I shared mine with you. These things have shaped how our hearts view God, ourselves and others. And as Jesus said in Luke 6, we live out of the overflow of our hearts. How our hearts have been shaped, dictates how we live and who/what we worship.

For example, every night we pray with our kids and ask Jesus to protect their dreams. Often they come into our bedroom terrified or wake up the next morning with stories filled with fear. After awhile, how does this shape how my kids see God? What happens when something comes up later in life and they really need help? If God didn’t ‘work’ for them in their dreams, why should they really trust Him with these bigger things? These things ultimately shape how we worship or respond to God.

A key word here is worship.  

Worship is RESPONDING to ALL THAT GOD IS with ALL THAT WE ARE.

We respond to the utter generosity, kindness, mercy, power, forgiveness, abundance and love that God has for us. We worship out of a heart of gratitude and respond with our posture and life to His goodness towards us. So then what’s the disconnect? Why do we have such a hard time worshipping all week long?

The problem is our hearts believe incorrectly about all that God is and also about who we are in light of Him.  My kids have the idea that when they pray for things and God doesn’t answer them in the way they wanted Him to, that He is untrustworthy.

When God didn’t heal my cancer diagnosis, the obvious next step was to not trust that He was good or trustworthy. These thoughts and emotions towards God led to some rough seasons when we took our worship elsewhere. But is that the kind of God that is worth worshipping? Is a god that does exactly what we want and can fit in our pocket worth giving our Full Attention to? No. And could He be working something beautiful in us through circumstances when He doesn’t answer or fix things the way we want Him to?

The first commandment is to have NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME. This could be seen as arrogant and egotistical. Like, God towering over us saying “WORSHIP ME SUCKERS OR ELSE!” But this week it hit me that this Commandment was more for us, than to fill His narcissistic needs.

He said that there should be no other gods before Him because THEY DON’T WORK. When Jesus invites us into seeking first His Kingdom where He is King and at work for our good, this also bears the same conclusion. Guys, don’t seek other things to worship and give your attention to because THEY DON’T WORK. Jesus’ way works. He as King in our daily lives works.

When you wake up in the morning, what’s the first thing that you go to? Here’s mine:

• In my unhealth: phone/craigslist/instagram...worry, schedule, go mode. 
  • I don’t trust God’s involved or cares and or ?

• In health: I write an X on my wrist and pray, “Jesus what do you have for me today? Open my eyes/heart to what you’re doing!

Here’s our 10000MINUTES Practice:

• Breathe In: JESUS
• Breathe Out: YOU HAVE MY ATTENTION

Practice this with me all day long...from the time you wake up till you go to bed!

Text “10k” to “55678” if you want weekly text reminders to your phone. We’ll be sending out a few encouragements a week to help you practice Jesus all week long!