A million things compete for our attention every single day, but which ones really deserve to be looked at? Life as a follower of Jesus will be a mixed bag of joy and heartache, but we always get to choose—do I fix my gaze on the burdens or the blessings?

Paul’s letter to the Philippians is an affectionate thank-you to a church that cared for him at great personal cost. But in characteristic fashion, the apostle shifts the focus from his chains and their sacrifice to the work of Jesus Christ himself.

When God’s promise of eternal life is in our sights, what temporary death to self can steal our joy? Let’s encourage our hearts to perceive the gifts right in front of us, and live each day as a thank-you note to Jesus.

The early church persevered in spreading the good news of Jesus long after he returned to heaven. They continued to worship and serve even when miracles seemed to cease—when all they could hang on to was the memory of his promise that had not yet come true.

Sustained by his spirit and living for his glory, the early church endured the never-ending, often-painful, always-hard work of offering themselves as the hands and feet of Jesus in a world that both needed and rejected him. Are we in the church today willing to go the same distance?

Persevering for others is not a new idea. It’s just a difficult one to live out, day after day, in relationships that test the limits of our love. But we endure because he endured for us. We were worth the cost to Him, so we count others worth the cost to us. And to reach his destination, we must follow his way.

Collectively as a society and as a church, a lot has changed in the past 18 months. In the midst of these changes, it’s important to be positioned for the long-term mission of the Church rather than just maintenance of what we know. To live well in this moment, we need to be firm in our commitment to God and to his purposes in our lives. We need to live confident in Jesus’ ability to transform lives.

Many of us may be looking at the story of our lives and thinking, “I didn’t think it would be like this.” We may be in search of healing and hope. The only way to heal is to work through what is making life unmanageable for you. There are no healthy shortcuts to healing. But God does not want us to do this alone. reGROUP is a place where we can be honest about our personal mess and where we can get the right equipment to assist God in cleaning it up.

Throughout history, we can see that we live in a world hungry for community. Ephesians reads like a love letter to the lost and searching. It’s the summary of the radical and revolutionary redemptive nature of Jesus. It’s a summary of his love—a love that sees you for who you are and loves you regardless of why you think that’s impossible. Even with all of the mess and baggage we carry, he sees us as works of art.

What happens when wayward thoughts turn to unrestrained actions? What happens when selfish and stubborn ideas mix? What happens when we forget what’s truly important? Distractions are found all around. When we get distracted, our motivations ebb and flow with our attention. So what are we to ponder after learning how Jesus’ life changes everything? We can search for clear cut answers left and right, but what we really need is a true center to guide us. When we allow God's love to reframe our reference, it becomes easier to move with direction. The gospel opens up a new and lovely reality, where we can live free only because of Christ.

People use differences to tear each other apart. We have seen this happen throughout history and see it still today. Pride, judgment, and misunderstanding, fueled by the guise of self-sufficiency, rip at the fabric of our woven lives daily. But just like the magnetic pull of the earth, what makes one person different from another flows through the very core of each’s existence. The same threads that break can be pulled back together. What brings people together? Is it love? Patience? Kindness? What is the common, invisible string so many strive to hold tight to? In the letter to the Galatians, we find the importance of living rooted in the gospel and in the way of God’s Spirit. The early church could only thrive once they fully accepted all that the gospel had overcome—superiority was rejected, greed was kept in check, and true unity in Christ was pursued.

The early church moved to be witnesses of Jesus all around them and to the ends of the earth. They shared his story with others—they lived, worshiped, and served, in a way that reflected God’s love. They strived for their actions to reflect the truth, the gospel, that Jesus taught when he was here on earth.

Enlivened by his Spirit and living for his glory, the early church sought to expand the message of Jesus’ hope throughout the land. We see this expansion in the Book of Acts and get a focused picture of the different expressions of the Church through the letters in the New Testament. We see that this expansion is linked to the truth of Jesus. If he came to bring hope to us all, what does it mean to be faithful to him for each of us?

Being a Church made up of many unique people is not a new idea. While there is a practicality to living the gospel as Jesus taught, we can be reminded of the belief in his truths. Rooted in these truths, we can persevere through the trials that come our way. Being the Church is moving to live and love like Jesus—together.

Jesus changed the world through his life, death, and resurrection. For he so loved the world, he died that we may live. He unlocked eternity for us should we choose to follow him with our words and actions. This is what we hear every year on Easter. And it is freeingly good. But hearing and understanding the weight of the story are two different things. Maybe we know all the plot points and can recount the way Jesus’ tomb was found empty, but do we fully realize what that means for our world today?

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." —2 Corinthians 4:16-18

The early church moved to live in the ways Jesus taught while he was here on earth. Led by his Spirit and living for his glory, they were on mission together. Is the present-day Church still progressing forward, toward that mission? Or have we, the collective followers of Jesus, forgotten how to be the Church? Have we lost sight of the spiritual unity God designed for all of us to experience? Being the Church is not a new idea. Though historically followers of Jesus have often tried to agree on the details of a gathering, group, or lifestyle, it is ultimately God alone who unifies us. He sustains and guides us. Being the Church is moving to live and love like Jesus—together.

Prayer is talking to God. Prayer is being grateful to God. Prayer is bringing requests to God. Prayer is being honest to God. When we pray, he invites us to put our hope in him. When we seek clarity, we are often met with conviction. When we are honest to God, we come to him with sincerity, trust, and confession. Let us pray with the belief that he is holy and who he says he is—God in heaven, mighty to save, with the power to bring redemption and joy into our lives. Let us approach him with the belief that his kingdom really is coming—on earth as it is in heaven. Let us pray with confidence in his forgiveness and goodness—the confidence that he has our good in mind! When we pray, let us be honest to God.

As we enter a new year, let’s reflect on the past months and look ahead to how we can live out being who God has called us to be in the coming years. Disruption is where God works. Last year, we all faced many disruptions. Our sense of wellbeing was shaken. Though we should grieve where disruption has caused pain and loss, we should not assume that the work of God is to do away with our disruption but rather to lead the way through it. Let’s not wait for things to get better before fully engaging with the work of God in our lives and in the lives of those around us

There are certain universal principles of virtue—love, grace, justice, generosity—that combine to make the best life for anyone and everyone. We each have a unique set of passions and relationships that no one else has ever had nor will have, and doing God’s will with those will be hard sometimes—but it is truly the best. We were created for adventure, but there is no such thing as an adventure without challenges to overcome. We must humbly recognize that we can sometimes mistake our will for God’s will. And we need one another as we seek salvation, comfort, and redemption.

Jesus came to earth for us. That is good news—fear-silencing, joy-inflicting good news! And this good news is that God forged a pathway for you, and that’s what we celebrate at Christmas. Jesus’ arrival changed everything! And following Jesus isn’t about us and what we can do for him but about what he has done for us. He lived the life we were designed to live perfectly and died the death we deserve in order to declare the defeat of sin and death through his resurrection. Jesus came to earth for us because we can’t save or fix ourselves in our mess. But that’s OK. Because he loves us and is gracious to us—and that is fear-silencing, joy-inflicting good news.

The Advent season is the anticipation of our Savior, Jesus. He is the center of grace, the center of faith, and the center of this season. We are in desperate need of Jesus now and forever, just as they were in the time of that very first Christmas. And so we also look to the stories of those God had set in unique places to prepare and welcome his Son. His good news changed the lives of the shepherds, the wise men, Joseph, and Mary. Each of these players is crucial in the story of Jesus. Through their stories, may we find hope, peace, joy, and love—the kinds that can only come from knowing Jesus. As we come to the end of a year full of reasons to forget about hope, peace, joy, and love, let’s stand together in God’s presence, rejoicing in his good news for all people.

Where is God in all of this? Where is God in the tension, in the discord, in the waiting? Where is God in our lives? And where was God in the life of Esther, a woman who won the favor of everyone who saw her but faced so much risk? God is always at work, even when we don’t see him. He is at work even when we don’t see the way out of our precarious present into his promised future. When Esther was uncertain about her peoples’ future, God gave her a providential perhaps. And this same God is with us in this time. God does not make mistakes. The hidden hero in Esther’s story is at work in our story, in your story, too. Though we may be troubled, sleepless, he is there in the miraculous mundane—in every perhaps.

We are imperfect, flawed, and discontent. While we don’t deserve God’s grace, he loves us just because that’s who he is—God is grace. And he offers himself as enough for us, as the greatest sacrifice, so that we may know him as our coming king. God’s grace is an ever-present need in this bittersweet world. By grace, he forgave the very first on earth and by grace, he continues to love us into our future. Grace has to be unearned and undeserved or the transforming work of Christ could not be completed in us. Grace shifts to help instead of harm, and it is the source by which goodness pours forth. Overwhelmed and incomplete, we can believe our gracious God is more than enough. He does not make mistakes. His goodness, his love, his compassion—the fullness of God, our breath of life—it really is all about grace.

What does it mean to follow Jesus? When he invites us to follow him, he is choosing us just as much as we are saying "yes" to him. Following Jesus means being in relationship with him. It means being willing to be changed, to be taught, to be flexible, to be obedient—it means we are willing to be transformed. Following Jesus is a step of faith, knowing that no matter what comes our way, we will still say "yes" to him. And he equips us for and commissions us to a lifelong journey with him.

God is the author and perfecter of our faith. He is the first, the last, always with us. And our identity is rooted in him. We are his creation. So how do we live in the natural outflow of these truths? How do we serve this world that is looking for hope?

Through Christ, in community, with a cause that is greater. We were never meant to live this life alone. Jesus was always a part of the plan. Community was always a part of the plan. Faith in action was the plan—is the plan. And all parts of the plan work in concert with each other to play the symphony of God’s hope and grace.

And regardless of our circumstances, throughout our place in history, we are part of the plan, too. We aren’t just going to church together—we are the Church together. For such a time as this.