What are the “controllables” in your journey with God?

While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which you nursed.” But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.” Luke 11:27-28

Jesus said the things we really are responsible for are hearing and observing the Word of God.

But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. James 1:25

Caution! Motives Matter
It is not merely the act of doing what Jesus teaches but also the motive that leads us to obey that matters

Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’ Matthew 7:22-23

That motive that matters is this: we truly trust Jesus and are convinced He knows how to live this life infinitely better than anyone else.

On the contrary…In reality, something else is true.

We live in an entire misguided culture that Jesus words "On the contrary" speak to.

The blessed Jesus speaks of is the same condition that David describes in the first words of Psalm 23: The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.

…those who hear The Word of God...
Taking in the message, not just hearing or reading the words.

…and observe it.
But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. James 1:22

Growing & Going (G2) Challenge:
If you struggle to intentionally, consistently obey/put into practice Jesus’ teaching on how to live life, there are reasons. As we have been learning in The Good and Beautiful series by James Bryant Smith, those reasons can all be traced back to false narratives – things we have come to believe- that are not true. In this case they have to do with what we believe about obeying Jesus.

This week let’s do the work of identifying any false narratives that are keeping you from consistently obeying Jesus and replace them with truth. This process is best done in community with others. It may be helpful to have a trusted friend or spiritual leader in your life ask you some questions and help you process what you are thinking. Discovering false narrative requires blatant honesty with ourselves and sometimes that’s hard. That’s where a friend can be helpful as long as that friend has your permission to press in and ask clarifying questions and to speak honestly about what they see and hear in you. That same community approach can be helpful in replacing the false narratives with truth. One idea is to bring those things to your G2 Group and ask your group to help identify the truths that can fill in the voids left by your false narratives.