Daves’s Monday Blast -April 7, 2025
I have been meeting weekly with a young man (well he is 40ish, but that seems young), married for 15 years, been sober for fifteen years, and been a “believer” for fifteen years. He has 4 children (two of each), has a good job, works hard, but carries a great deal of baggage from growing up in a non-Christian home with a lot of dysfunction. INTENTIONAL men of God know the power of DNA. It is difficult to overcome a non transformed life, impossible in fact, unless one is born anew. “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:17 & 18).
Although my friend has been a believer for quite a few years, his formative years were without Biblical modeling; neither parent was raised with the Word of God. Indeed, generations had lived their lives in the flesh; their DNA was decidedly without faith in Christ. His story reminds me everyday how blessed I was to have grown up in a legacy Christian home; knowing no other way to live. Although I still have my flesh, my DNA is that of a new creature, not having to be subject to that flesh.
As we love to say in the Church, Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship. I find that above all else, my new friend struggles with a lack of healthy relationships. Fortunately, he is now “In Christ” and is desperate to know how to mature his relationship with the Lord because he knows that no human relations can be healthy and whole unless the relationship with God is healthy and whole.
So…our goal as we meet each week is to internalize and then practice four simple disciplines of our faith. Before I jump into these disciplines I would encourage you to read Psalm 119:33 – 40. As always, I am not sharing anything with you that you don’t already know, but within your sphere of influence you have those who either still possess their old nature or have a long way to go to embrace their new DNA. By trusting in Christ as our Savior, and by surrendering to Him as Lord, we enter into a lifelong relationship with the Father. As believers, we have a responsibility to keep that connection healthy. And of course these same disciplines must be applied relatively to our human relationships.
I want to spend a few weeks unpacking these simple truths:
First, we must learn about our new family. In the Bible, God gave a detailed description of His attributes and values. And through Jesus’ earthly life, we can better understand His Father’s divine character. There is only one way this can be accomplished…we must spend a great deal of time in the Word. The Bible contains all we need to know about our Creator God.
I want to comment here that when we get into the Word our goal must always be to discover how God is revealed.
What is His nature, or in other words, what is God like? (Look for descriptive words)
What is His purpose? (What has he done, is He doing, or will He do?)
What does God value? (Eternal before Temporal – Spiritual before Physical – Internal motives of the heart before External behavior)
* I want to thank my good friend Diana Berns for this simple yet profound process of making life about Him and not about us! She has lots of amazing resources on her website J616ROADMAP.org. Her material is second to none!
Second, we should stay in close contact with the Lord through prayer and study of His Word. It is critical that we resist the temptation to put people, work, or pleasure ahead of Him. This is something that we are emphasizing each time we connect. It is difficult to reprioritize this way of living; it is counter – intuitive. Fortunately, his wife grew up in a legacy Christian home and understands this principle: God first, others next.
Next week we will dive into the disciples of obedience and transformation. With Easter nearly upon us, the timing is perfect for this discussion. It is because of His work on the cross that we can experience true transformation.
