As I was observing students in the courtyard of a local high school, I couldn’t help but notice something a bit odd. It was a lunch hour, and the entire administration, security staff, and even a couple police officers were standing and observing a group of about 50 teenagers sitting in a circle. As I moved closer, I realized what was happening… the students had broken into a game of “Duck, Duck, Goose!” What I was witnessing was not a group that was worried about looking cool, but rather experiencing pure, uninhibited joy. The laughter and goofiness brought a smile to my face.

In the world we live in, where money is everything, it is imperative that everyone likes you, and hopelessness and despair is everywhere, we often lack joy. And to top it off, when we do find these minuscule moments of joy, we don’t see it for what it is, and rather we just see it as a second to de-stress.

Times of pure joy are gifts from God. Even though it is sometimes hard to identify these times, we need to give thanks for them, because God wants us to be happy. God gave us the ability to experience joy for a reason. He loves to see us happy! And this love alone is a reason to be happy.

Habakkuk says it best in his prayer when he says, “I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my savior” (3:18).

As you go through the week, look for areas that bring you joy. It could be your favorite football team winning, a little extra time with your children, a silly game of “Duck, Duck, Goose,” or anything that makes you happy, but be joyful and thankful, because God loves you!!!

You know, I got to thinking about it the other day, God does not get nearly the amount of credit that He deserves from us, would you agree? Our every breath that we take is a gift from God that would not be allowed unless He said so. EVERYDAY we have an opportunity to show God our thanks and give Him the credit that He deserves, the question is, are we taking that opportunity?

For so many years in churches I have seen demonstrated the idea that Worship is a 20 minute time where we sing a few songs on a Sunday. Pastors may throw out the scriptures about living a life of worship, however they never put it into practice by changing the paradigm of what the modern church considers worship. Worship is more than a time of singing, worship is more than a lifestyle, worship is a condition of your heart. You will sing because your heart is in the right place, you will live for God because your heart is in the right place, you will give God the credit He deserves and His rightful place in your life if your heart is in the right place. This bears the question, where’s your heart?

I always crack up at people in churches who say things like I just couldn’t get into worship today, or this church has the most “anointed” worship. I completely understand that everyone has their own taste or style that appeals to them, but your worship experiences: whether you are with other people or by yourself, in church or in your bedroom; these experiences are completely and totally what you make them. They are not dependent on other people or any other external circumstance. I recently watched a movie called Never Back Down, which had an awesome theme all throughout it, that theme was “its on me.” In our lives we have to understand that our heart of worship is always on us. We cannot blame anyone or anything else for where our heart is. No matter how terrible we have been treated, how bad our lives have been, or who has hurt us, where our heart is at is on us.

Take an opportunity this week to evaluate your heart and what condition it is in. If its broken, ask God to heal it. If its empty, ask God to fill it. If its bitter, ask God to sweeten it. Get whatever you need to get out of the way to give your heart to God in a spirit of worship. When your heart is in the place of honoring God, the rest of your life will surely follow.

If Christ was here and handing out progress reports for our motives, behavior, attitude and love for our neighbor, how would we grade? Would we make the MASTER’S HONOR ROLE? Would we get an “Outstanding” in attendance? Tardiness? Preparedness? What would our Master/Student Conference sound like? Would He be proud? Would He say we talk more in class when we should be listening more to the Master? Would we have had too many time outs from the Master? Do we do our “Homework”?

I often wonder what Christ thinks of where I am individually, as a husband, father, pastor, friend, neighbor? You know…how am I really doing?

I think that as Christ looks down on His people and His church He often times has some pretty disappointing progress reports to hand out. Are we always loving him and our neighbor?

We all lose sight from time to time, but the more and more we grow the closer we come to being straight A Students. Christ is as good a teahcer and master as there is and many times we fail to look to Him for answers or our education if you will. We would rather read a book about “The book” or see a Dr. Phil you speaks truth rather than the Dr. who is truth. Where are you at? What’s your progress report look like?

Take some time this week and ask Christ to help you evaluate how your doing and where you need to improve. When the challenge is found share it with someone and see if you can be accountable down the road.

Progressing with you…

Mike