Before I launch into a new Backyard Conversations blog series, I wanted to shamelessly plug my podcast from last week. In that podcast (which you can find on our website under Kingdom Offerings for September 23, 2024), we talk about “wanting more” and we learn that more in and of itself isn’t the problem. It is what we want more of that trips us up. I’m going to play all my cards here and say that anytime you get deceived into choosing more of the world for convenience and comfort’s sake, can lead to trouble. With this trip hazard of more in mind, we should choose wisely in life!

Not sleeping well last night, I found this posted on a friend’s Facebook page:

Marriage is hard. Divorce is hard.
Choose your hard.

Obesity is hard. Being fit is hard.
Choose your hard.

Being in debt is hard. Being financially disciplined is hard.
Choose your hard.

Communication is hard. Not communicating is hard.
Choose your hard.

Life will never be easy. It will always be hard.
But you can choose your hard.

Pick wisely.

Humanity tends to be lazy. Or maybe better said, humanity is interested in the easiest. We seem to be hard wired to disdain the disciplined life. We tend to follow, like water down a hill, the path of least resistance. But, choosing to do what’s easy now doesn’t mean it will stay easy. Typically the fast and easy recipe becomes long and hard. My dad used to say, “The world would be a lot better if everybody did their best to do it right the first time.” Pretty sage advice. But that requires discipline.

The reality is that the easiest path usually breaks down over time and now life becomes harder later. So, while life might be temporarily easier from choosing the easy option, experiencing the “hard” in life is not a matter of if, but a matter of when. And pay attention to this:

Hard now and hard later are not created equal.
Hard later is often much harder!

So now, I want to build on this thought for this next series that I am calling:

Pray Kingdom, Think Kingdom, Act Kingdom

In this new blog series we will look at some famous sayings of Jesus from his even more famous Sermon on the Mount. This world-changing sermon is arguably the best known of all the teachings of Jesus. His challenging words bring definition to living the Kingdom life on earth and are filled with difficult and profound truths. The next time we are together here at Backyard Conversations, we will be reflecting on Matthew 5: 13-14:

¹³ “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. ¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

It is a challenging passage and best understood in the context of first century Israel. We will be unpacking Sermon on the Mount for the rest of 2024. So strap in!

I invite you to . . .

Pray Kingdom: Ask God to direct your heart and attitudes toward Kingdom priorities and Kingdom values. I believe you will be spiritually refreshed and meaningfully directed into daily Kingdom expressions and then yield in prayer to His commandment to love one another.

Think Kingdom: Scripture exhorts us to meditate on the scriptures. I think that means to linger over the words and let them sink in. Think about them, and ‘put yourself’ into the passage. We tend to read past words we don’t fully understand (like the Matthew salt and light passage we just read). When we examine the Scriptures through our ‘Kingdom lenses’ we tend to see them popping out more often and in a more compelling manner!

Act Kingdom: As we move through this series, consider with me the consequences of radically obeying our Kingdom charge. Let us consider together how practically choosing to act in the name of Jesus moment by moment might change not only our world but the heavens as well!

Thanks for joining me in the backyard for this conversation. I am Dave Scherrer, and this blog is a ministry resource of One Hundred-Fold Ministries. You can connect with me by email at dave@100foldministries.org.