Do the Next Thing | Sunday, March 16, 2025

It is so good to see you all. While you're standing, would you take out your Bibles this morning? If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of our ushers will bring you one. We are in the New Testament of the Bible, in the Book of Luke. If you open about the middle of your Bible and start turning to the right, you'll see the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. We are in Luke Chapter 2, and we're going to pick up our reading this morning at verse 21.

We are moving at hyperspeed through the Gospel of Luke, and we're really going to tear it up today for sure. Luke 2:21 reads, "And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the child, his name was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb."

Now, when the days of Mary's purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord: "Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord." Not only did they present him to the Lord, but they also offered a sacrifice according to what was said in the law of the Lord: a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons.

God, I do pray as we look at this text in the last half of Luke Chapter 2 today. Lord, as we hear sirens going by, would you just be with whoever is receiving medical aid right now? But Lord, as we focus our attention on the Scriptures, would you help us see what it is that maybe you, by your Spirit, want to speak to us?

It is my conviction that when we gather together and read your word, study it, and trust that your Spirit is present, Holy Spirit, you are continuing your work of transformation in our lives, making us more and more like you. So, I pray that in some small but measurable way, you would continue that work of sanctification and transformation in us by your Word and by your Spirit. For we ask this in Jesus' name. And all those that agreed said, "Amen."

Amen. You could be seated. One of the hallmarks, if you will, of the messages that I give from the Scriptures is that I tend to look for connections between what we have in the Scripture text that we're examining and connections to our lives.

Connections to our culture are significant. My messages often focus on culture, history, philosophy, and values, which I believe are very important. They shape us and the church in meaningful ways. My philosophical presupposition is that our culture developed through history as a result of various value sets, particularly those that originate from the Scriptures.

If you examine the current state of our culture, you will see that it is a product of the value set found in the Scriptures. This is commonly referred to as a Judeo-Christian culture. What does that mean? It means that the culture we live in has been shaped by the values we find in passages like those in the Gospel of Luke. I think this is demonstrably true. When you look at Western culture, particularly American culture, in its historical context, it becomes clear that the value set that created this culture has led to many positive outcomes.

For instance, we see higher levels of personal liberty in Western culture. If you compare cultures throughout history, especially in other parts of the world, the liberty experienced by people in the Western world, particularly in America, is distinct. This liberty extends to more people than is typically the case in many other cultures. Historically, if you belonged to the higher or wealthy class, you had freedoms, rights, and liberties, but if you were not part of that class, you did not. This remains true in many places today, but it is not the case in the Western world, especially in America.

In addition to greater liberty, the value set that has shaped our culture has also fostered higher levels of prosperity distributed among a wider group of people. It is evident that more individuals have access to wealth in our culture than in many historical or contemporary cultural settings.

The world today not only offers higher levels of liberty and prosperity, but it also provides greater access to knowledge, information, and education. We have a default in the Western world that everyone ought to be educated. Where does that come from? I suggest that you can trace it back to fundamental values found in Scripture. Higher levels of prosperity, higher levels of liberty, and greater access to knowledge, understanding, information, and education have traditionally led to lower levels of poverty. This has been true in our culture, along with lower levels of disease and mortality. Mortality rates have decreased over time in the Western world.

Yet, there seem to be some negative changes occurring, which is a concern for me as someone who thinks about history, culture, and value sets. When I see these changes starting to take place, it worries me, and you probably feel some of the same concerns. This is a topic that is frequently discussed in popular culture today. We have seen an increase in disease in Western culture—not just physical disease, although that is true—but also a substantial rise in mental health disorders over the last couple of generations. This is a concern for me, and it is likely a concern for many of you. You may have family members who are affected by these issues.

Moreover, it is evident that the prosperity experienced in the Western world has somewhat leveled off. There is an increasing poverty rate and a growing economic disparity that is often discussed in our culture. While prosperity has increased, it has been aggregated to a smaller percentage of people, leading to frustration and concern among many. You hear about this frequently in our society.

Liberties that were once considered fundamental rights in the United States and the Western world are now sometimes referred to as privileges, with varying levels of access to these liberties. These shifts are concerning. We do not know whether the changes we are witnessing are temporary plateaus that will eventually rise again or if we are experiencing a plateau that is cresting.

Going to see a kind of a falling of these things, a downturn. There are plenty of people in our culture who are cultural critics, philosophers, and observers of culture who are concerned that we're witnessing what is called the death of the West. I realized when I talk about these things, and you come on a Sunday morning, that these are the hallmarks of the things I think about constantly. I talk about them, and it may be that these are the crazy musings of a crazy person. You are so kind to come and listen to me discuss these topics, and sometimes you might wonder how this connects to the Bible. I understand that.

In fact, after the first service, a guy came up to me and said he was not sure until the last few minutes of my message how this made any connection to what we were looking at. I hope to show you that these things have some import. Because I talk about these issues, I receive questions like the one I got a couple of weeks ago. Someone in our church sent me a text with a question for the questions podcast. Since I discuss culture and values so much, the question was, "What is the culture of our city?" I think that's an interesting question; it's a good question.

One of the reasons it's a good question is that we have a tendency to think, as Americans, that we don't have a culture. We see other cultures, like the culture of Europe or the culture of Asia, and we wrongly assume we don't have culture. The reason for that is that culture tends to be invisible to us as we live in it. We don't recognize it because it's like the air we breathe or the water for the fish that swims in. You just start to not recognize it.

It has been rightly identified that most of the time, you don't see or recognize culture until it is stepped on by another culture. However, every one of us has a culture—a culture that was developed within our family. You have a family culture, a culture that was developed by the society in which you live.

Now, you definitely saw this. How many of you are married this morning? Lift up your hand if you're married. Okay, you are married. You married a person who had a different family culture, and you discovered very quickly that they do things differently. For example, they might put the toilet paper on wrong. The original patent for toilet paper goes over the top on the outside, just to let you all know. I have some friends here who agree with that. But you got married, and you married someone from a different family culture, and you realized that they...

Do things differently, and you recognize there's a different culture. We have a family culture, a culture of our society, and the city that we live in. It's a good question: what is the culture of our city? A couple of weeks ago, Mark and I talked a little bit about it on the Questions Podcast, but I've been thinking a lot about it. What is the culture of our city?

Interestingly enough, there have been formal research studies conducted by people working on higher-level degrees who actually study these sorts of things, such as sociologists. What is the culture of Southern California? You don't really need to get into the weeds of those studies; you can just observe a number of things that influence the way we think and behave, which are realities of where we live here in San Diego.

Let me give you a few things that help us understand these aspects, and I will try to bring it into Luke Chapter 2. I promise we'll get there. One of the factors is that we live in San Diego County, which is pretty spread out. We have different areas: suburban areas and maybe urban areas. As a result of being spread out, you can almost do nothing without a car in our county. My wife and I put more than 20,000 miles a year on our vehicles each; it's just crazy. We feel like we're driving all the time.

Now, we have four kids who are all basically teenagers, and it feels like we're Uber drivers all the time. Sometimes we even have to involve "Grandparent Uber" in this as well. My dad actually calls himself "Grandpa Uber" because we just call him and dial a ride, saying, "Grandpa, we need your help."

We live in an area where we're spread out, so you have to drive everywhere. Additionally, we live in a relatively populated area; 3.4 million people call San Diego County their home. Being spread out and highly populated means that as you're going from place to place, you're probably going to be stuck in traffic. You feel that kind of pressure because you have things to do.

We are in a "hurry up and wait" culture, which is a part of our overall culture. Again, we don't recognize it until someone identifies it. We find ourselves pressed for time. Does this sound familiar to anybody?

San Diego County culture is a part of a larger American culture, and American culture has some key factors.

American culture has been highly focused on productive endeavors for mass production for the better part of the last 880 years. It's a big part of who we are. As a result, we constantly feel like we have a lot of things to get done. We have to be productive to accomplish those tasks, but we're spread out and highly trafficked. This creates a pressure to get things done because we have so much to do.

One of the identifying characteristics of Americans, as noted by other cultures, is our love for wristwatches. Not only do we love wristwatches, but we also love calendars and to-do lists. How many of you have a to-do list right now? Yep, that's very American. You might think that everyone does this, but they don't. If you find yourself in Mexico, for example, the time constraints of the to-do list, the calendar, and the wristwatch are not as significant. Some of you know this because that's your native culture, but now you've come to this culture and think we're weird. However, it's normal for us because it's part of our culture, which we often don't recognize.

We have calendars, to-do lists, and wristwatches, but we're spread out and surrounded by many people. There's traffic, so we feel this pressure to get things done. Can anybody relate, or is it just me? It's all culture.

A major key about American culture is that Americans have a sense of calling and destiny. Sometimes we refer to this as the American Dream. If you ask a hundred different people what the American Dream is, you might get a hundred different answers. We don't all have the same exact definition of what the American Dream is, but there is something within us that makes us feel we have a purpose and a destiny. We want to achieve something, and we have a vision of it in our minds. That's the dream; that's the American Dream.

Americans are oriented towards trying to achieve whatever this dream is. There is a sense of purpose, meaning, and mission in American culture that drives us. If you are a part of this culture, you feel it. Yet, you're in this spread-out culture with lots of people, which adds to the pressure to be productive and perform. You're on the clock because you have a to-do list and a calendar. Am I talking to myself, or is anyone else here? Yes? Okay, that's our culture. We are driven Americans, and we can feel pressured to get things done. It seems totally normal to me.

Because this is the culture I grew up in, I moved to Germany when I was in my early 20s. Germany has a very productive culture as well, but Germans have this concept called "Feierabend." What is that? It sounds weird to us, but all it means is that around 4:00 or 5:00 on Friday, we are out, and we're not thinking about work any longer.

Where I lived in Germany, everything was closed basically on Saturday and Sunday, which was totally weird to me. Living here in Southern California, nothing ever closes. In Germany, if you don't pick up the things you need for Saturday and Sunday, forget it, because we're not thinking about that sort of thing.

Here was their perspective of Americans: you guys are a bunch of workaholics. I heard that so much from my German friends when I lived there. I didn't realize it until I lived there, but I started to see that we have a different culture. We have this thing called Manifest Destiny and the American Dream. We're on a mission to complete things and be productive. We have time constraints and all sorts of things, so we become anxious about finishing tasks. We don't like things that hang us up; we don't like to be in traffic, and we don't like trivial or meaningless tasks.

I've had a number of conversations with friends in the church over the last several years. They feel like the things I find myself doing just don't feel very meaningful. They'll tell me things like, "I wish I could do the things that you do that are much more meaningful." I think to myself, do you realize that a lot of the things I do during the week look like a lot of the things you do in your corporate work environment? It's meetings, emails, phone calls, and all those sorts of normal activities.

There is this pressure that it has to be more meaningful than this. One of the challenges of living in a culture like ours, or at least the culture as I experience it, is that I find myself sometimes on edge if I don't have something to do. This really became clear to me a few years ago when we experienced the shutdown. Suddenly, all the lists, tasks, strategies, logistics, and plans that I wanted to get done were put on hold, and I felt stressed. It bothered me.

Here's the hard part: I'm not sure that all of this that we experience is quite the way that God intended us to live. I've been contemplating that a lot, especially after what we experienced in 2020. I think a lot of people have been reevaluating the same things. Is this the way we ought to live?

You've probably noticed a number of people you know who have opted out of employment post-COVID. They have said, "I don't want to keep up with that any longer," and are really trying to evaluate their lives and wondering about their choices. This presents a challenge for our culture. I wonder, is the way that we live just cultural, or is there a better way? Is there something that God would want us to learn?

There is something in the text of Luke Chapter 2 that caught my attention this week in light of that question. As I thought about our culture deeply, I was reminded of something that is not unbelievably novel or profound, but it is important. Point number one: God's view and use of time are dramatically different from mine. I am wrestling with this, and maybe that's a good thing. God's view of time and His use of time are dramatically different from mine. In fact, it is believed by theologians that God exists outside of time, so time doesn't exist for God in the same way that it does for me. I always feel the pressure of time.

To illustrate or highlight this, I want to point out some things in the Gospel of Luke, specifically in Chapter 2. This text was written by a man named Luke, who was an associate or friend of the Apostle Paul. Luke was not a firsthand eyewitness of the life or ministry of Jesus, but he wanted to record or chronicle the life and ministry of Jesus. He essentially worked like a journalist or a reporter, going around and talking with eyewitnesses to understand what Jesus did, what He said, where He went, and where He came from.

In Luke Chapter 2, we have stories about Jesus before He was born and stories about His early life. You might wonder where Luke got this information. It seems likely that he talked to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Tradition holds that Mary lived many years after Jesus' ministry, and it is believed that she spent the last years of her life in Asia Minor, in the city of Ephesus.

Jesus's apostle John took care of Mary. It is believed that the reason he took care of her is that, when Jesus was on the cross, he told John, "Behold your mother." So, John took care of Mary into her later years. She likely lived in Ephesus, and Luke, who was from that same region of the world, Asia Minor, probably spent some time pastoring a church just across the sea from Ephesus in a place called Philippi.

It is likely that Luke had some time to sit down with Mary, and how amazing would that have been? Imagine someone asking Luke what he was doing that day. He could have replied, "I'm going to interview Mary. I'm going to spend some time with Jesus's mom because I want to get the details. I want the deets about what happened. Tell me the story about how this child was born. Tell me the story about his life before his ministry."

We know some things about his baptism and the miracles he performed, but what about all that other time? The Gospels focus on three to three and a half years of Jesus's life, but there are 30 years of time that are largely unaccounted for. You have to imagine that Luke was thinking, "There has to be so much that nobody has talked about. I need to go interview Mary and find out about this."

Here’s the amazing thing: from Luke 2:21 through the end of chapter 2, we have about 30 verses, and this is it—less than seven or eight things. You have to consider that as Luke was having this conversation with Mary and she was recalling some events, he might have wondered about the limited details she provided. She gives him seven little snippets, little vignettes of Jesus's life over 30 years.

When you take the Gospel of Matthew, which also provides a bit more detail about the early life of Jesus, it amounts to less than a dozen things when grouped together. This helps me understand that God's view and use of time are dramatically different from mine. It is interesting to see 30 years summarized in just seven to ten little episodes of Jesus's life.

What do we know? We know that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. We considered this together in the text in Luke chapter 2 last week. Here in the text, we are told that after he was born, Luke was having this conversation with Mary. He asked her, "So tell me, you know the angel Gabriel came and announced to you, 'You're going to have...'"

This child is going to save his people from their sins. His name is going to be called Jesus. Then you have the baby, and it was like you had to hit the ground running. There was probably a ton of stuff to do because you have a purpose, a vision, and a manifest destiny. You have in your arms the King of Kings, the Christ, the Messiah. What was that like?

She said, "You know, it's kind of weird. After he was born, a group of shepherds showed up, and they were really excited to see him. They had just seen that same angel, probably the one that came and talked to me, and they came and worshiped him."

Then what happened? Well, eight days later, we went to the synagogue. Just like every Jewish boy, he was circumcised eight days later, and we pronounced his name Jesus, the name that was given to him by the angel Gabriel. So we had the celebration there.

Then what? About a month or so later, 40 days after he was born, you know, in Jewish culture—because Luke's not Jewish—40 days after the child's born, the woman goes through a time of purification. At the end of that, you go to the temple in Jerusalem. We were living in Bethlehem, so it was only about a 10-minute journey away. We went to Jerusalem and offered a sacrifice.

We're told in the text that they offered the sacrifice of two turtle doves, which takes us back to the Book of Leviticus in the Old Testament. It indicates something about the family of Jesus: they were poor. They didn't have a lot because if you had much, you would offer a lamb as a sacrifice for this child that was born and for the purification of the mother. You would dedicate that child to the Lord. Every firstborn son is dedicated in that way, but the Jewish law said that you could offer two turtle doves if you couldn't afford a lamb. So they offered two turtle doves because they just didn't have much.

He asked the question, "Was there anything else? I mean, this is amazing. There's got to be something more." She recalled to my mind that something interesting happened when we went to Jerusalem to offer that sacrifice. We bumped into this old man named Simeon. In verse 26 of Luke 2, it had been revealed to Simeon by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. So there's this old man named Simeon who lives in Jerusalem, and he would just go to the temple courts and wait there.

For years, it had been told to Simeon, perhaps through a dream or some angelic meeting, that he would one day see the Messiah before he died. He was waiting, and something about this family—Mary, Joseph, and Jesus—as they came to offer their sacrifice indicated to Simeon that this was the one. Can you imagine? This man had been waiting for years for the Messiah, and now here was this child. How strange would it be if you were Mary, holding your little baby, and suddenly this old man, a stranger, walks up, amazed, and takes the baby from your arms?

Simeon came by the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought the Child Jesus to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms, blessed God, and said, "Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation." Interestingly, the name Jesus means "Jehovah God is Salvation." Simeon continued, "You have allowed me to see your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel."

I can just imagine Luke sitting there, mouth open, as Mary tells the story. Luke is probably going to correct me when I get to heaven, but I think I would be asking, "What happened next?"

Well, immediately after Simeon does this, they meet another old person, Anna. In verse 36, we read about Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of great age, having lived with a husband seven years from her virginity. So, when she was very young, she got married, but seven years after her marriage, her husband died, leaving her a widow. This woman was a widow of about 84 years. We don't know if she was 84 years old when Jesus's family met her or if she had been a widow for 84 years. Regardless, she was very old at this point in time.

Here was Anna, and perhaps she and Simeon hung out together; we don't know. But Simeon blesses this child, and Anna, this woman, is also present.

Had been a widow for 84 years, who did not depart from the temple but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. Coming in that instant, she gave thanks to the Lord and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption and salvation in Jerusalem.

Now, in Luke, you're kidding! What did you do next? Well, we went back to Nazareth. In verse 40, it says, "And the child grew and became strong, filled with spirit and with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him."

Matthew's Gospel gives us some more details that Luke's Gospel doesn't. It seems that the family of Jesus, after they went to the temple and met Simeon and Anna 40 days after His birth, probably went back and stayed with relatives in Bethlehem. They were there for some period of time because the Gospel of Matthew tells us that some wise men from the East, whom we call Magi, showed up with gifts at some point after His birth. They probably did not come the night of His birth; just by what we can piece together in the text, it's likely that somewhere in the course of a year or two, as they were with relatives in Bethlehem, these guys showed up and brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

So, Matthew fills in that gap. Then, Joseph is divinely warned in a dream that they should leave Bethlehem, and they leave. The Bible tells us in Matthew that they went to Egypt for a time, but eventually, they got back to Nazareth, the family region or home of Joseph and Mary.

What did they do? We have like nothing. I just imagine Luke asking, "So you're telling me you have the Messiah? Simeon blesses God, the salvation of Israel. Anna says, 'Look, the redemption of Israel.' They're telling all these people, and then you just go back to Nazareth and do what?"

Well, we did what every Jewish family does, you know, the normal things of life. They had more kids. I know some people in the Christian church will have a problem with that, but she didn't remain a perpetual virgin. So, they went back to Nazareth, and what did they do?

Every year, just like every Jewish family, it was their custom to go back to Jerusalem for the Passover. Luke 2:42 recalls to mind a really interesting time when Jesus was about 12 years old. We went to the Passover in Jerusalem, like we always did as a family. The whole big family would make their way down to Jerusalem, a long three-day journey to get there. When He was 12 years old, verse 42 of Luke chapter 2 says they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast.

After the feast, when they had finished the days, the boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem, and Joseph and his mother did not know it. Sometimes you lose a kid; it happens. My parents lost me at the Del Mar Fair when I was five. It affected me for years, and I'm sorry I've never spoken of it publicly until now, 45 years later.

Supposing him to have been in the company, they thought, "Well, he's with us; he's somewhere." You have other kids running around, and they forgot Jesus. They went a day's journey from Jerusalem and sought him among their relatives. "Have you seen Jesus?" they asked. "I haven't seen him." "Oh, I thought he was with you." "No, not with us." When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem seeking him.

After three days, they found him in the temple. Can you imagine being a little frantic on that one? Interestingly, the theme verse of the Gospel of Luke is that He has come to seek and to save that which is lost. They found him in the temple, sitting amidst the teachers, both listening to them and asking questions. All who heard him, the twelve-year-old Jesus, were astonished at his understanding and his answers.

When they saw him, they were amazed, and his mother said to him, "Son, why have you done this to us? Look, your father and I have sought you anxiously." Can you relate to this? Maybe you can. He said to them, "Why did you seek me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father's business?" But they did not understand the statement which he spoke to them.

Imagine Luke having that conversation with Mary all these years later, about 25 years after Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection. She was recalling these things, and you wonder if Luke thought, "There’s got to be more. Do you have some forgetfulness? I realize you're a little old, but there’s got to be more." They went up to Jerusalem when he was 12; this was amazing.

Then, in verse 51, he went down with them and came to Nazareth.

Went back home, was subject to them. Here's an interesting point: His mother kept all these things in her heart. Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

You can kind of imagine Luke saying, "That's about it." God's view and use of time are dramatically different than mine. I mean, we are a people, Americans, that have this Manifest Destiny. We've got something we're here to do. We want to be productive; we want to work towards that. There have to be meaningful things every day that are progressing us towards that goal. We have to get things done. We have books called "Get Things Done" and "Deep Work," and we have to do all this stuff. We have an agenda.

If ever there was a person that had a vision of a destiny for a child, it's Mary. Yet everything was just like the normal things of the day. There were births, weddings, funerals, Sabbaths, synagogues, and feast times—just the normal things. Not a lot of massive fanfare. Not all of it was walking on water, feeding the multitudes, raising the dead, or casting out demons. It was just the normal stuff.

In the midst of the normal stuff, there's a feeling of anxiety, like there has to be more that we need to be doing. We have to do something. Yet, point number two: God's use of time is perfect and purposeful. It's hard for me to level with this sometimes because I feel this American drive, and many of you do as well. I have to do things. It's this pressure that when there's not something to do, I feel anxious about it. I have to come back to this: God, your use of time is perfect and purposeful.

As a Californian in 2025, sometimes God seems painfully slow. Can anybody relate? Yet, it's been said that God is never late, He's rarely in a hurry, and He's always on time. This is one of the ways I know I am very different from God. He is never late, He rarely is in a hurry, and He is always on time. I think that's true, but it...

Sometimes, his use of time drives me crazy as a Californian. As I have been thinking about these things and evaluating them, as so many people have in the last several years, I have been looking at the culture we live in and the world around us. We see a rise in mental health disorders, anxiety, stress, and sleeplessness, which seem to trigger and cause physical maladies and pathologies. All this is happening in our culture, and it makes me wonder if we need to reevaluate how we use our time and our lives.

One thing that stood out to me as I was reflecting on this is found in Luke Chapter 2. Christ had a purpose that was predicted for centuries by prophets. His purpose is being fulfilled in his birth in Bethlehem and is articulated in various ways throughout the Gospels. For instance, Luke 19:10 states that Jesus came to seek and to save that which is lost, which is part of his purpose. In Matthew 5:17, it says he came to fulfill the law and the prophets. John Chapter 10 tells us that he came to give life and that more abundantly, which is also part of his purpose. Additionally, Mark's Gospel, Chapter 10, mentions that he came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

He had this purpose, and nothing was going to keep him from fulfilling it. You would think he would be doing everything in every minute to benefit that purpose, constantly moving forward. Yet, there are 30 years of his life where we only know of little blips along the way. What was going on during that time? There had to be so much more, and it seems to be just the normal, everyday things of life that were all part of the purpose.

Are you telling me that even the mundane things are part of the purpose? Yes, it's part of the plan—the purpose of God in fulfilling his purpose in you and in me. I do wonder if Mary ever had those moments where she thought, "This seems to be going really slow. I thought there would be more to it."

I think that some of Jesus's disciples even thought that during the three years they walked with Him, they would wonder, "When is this going to happen? Come on, You came to do something; You have to do something!" But God's use of time is perfect and purposeful. I have to ask myself, do I really believe that? Can I rest in that? That's the hard part. I wrestle with it.

If ever there was a person who understood or had a vision of the Manifest Destiny of someone, it was Mary as it related to Jesus. There are so many ways in which we can find ourselves impatient, yet God's timing is perfect. She was able, in the midst of that, to wait because God is never late. He's rarely in a hurry, and He's always on time. Sometimes it feels like He moves painfully slow for me because I have time constraints. I have a watch that sends me notifications, constantly reminding me of things.

Perhaps I need to step back and reevaluate. I've been trying to do this a lot recently, trying to determine what's important and reorganize my own attention. I'll tell you, it's been hard for me. Some of you know I have this problem called Twitter, so I turned it off on my phone. We're in this season called Lent; we don't really celebrate that, but I thought maybe I could go for 40 days without it. That's kind of a challenge, but I'll get through it.

It's amazing. Someone asked me a question the other day about something going on in the culture, "Hey, did you hear about this?" I was like, "Actually, I didn't." That never happens! I'm usually up to date because I'm always on Twitter, but now I don't know. You know what? I was okay with that. That was revolutionary and amazing for me.

I'm trying to remind myself, point number three: to wait on the Lord and do the next thing. That's hard for me. Sometimes the next thing is laundry, or emptying the dishwasher, or taking the kids to practice, or a meeting, or a phone call, or hosting a small group. The next thing is all kinds of little, trivial things of life, and in the midst of this...

I'm having to remind myself that God is doing this on purpose. He is still working, and I need to learn to wait upon Him. Can I learn to trust that His timing is perfect and purposeful, even if He views time dramatically different than I do?

I am reflecting on well-known verses that I learned when I was young, verses I committed to memory a long time ago. One verse that I wrestled with a lot is Galatians 6:9: "And let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due season you shall harvest or reap if you faint not." So many of my journal entries from the middle of 2020 until about the middle of 2022 started with that. I would write, "Lord, help me not to grow weary in doing good, because in due season this is going to work itself out."

Another verse that comes to mind is 1 Corinthians 10:31: "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." Can I do laundry to the glory of God? I think maybe. God, help me.

Colossians 3:17 says, "Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." Can I give thanks to God and rejoice while doing dishes or sitting in traffic to go to Home Depot? You all know that if you're doing a project, you might go to Home Depot 27 times in one day because you forgot something.

Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. Lord, help me to learn to wait on You. You can pray for me because I'm not very good at it, and I'll pray for you.

Let's close in prayer. Sometimes, it seems like God is just waiting on me to get to the point, and it feels like an eternity, I'm sure. But Lord, thank You for Your Word, which is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. It cuts deep and sometimes exposes areas of our psyche.

Or internal areas of anxiety and stress that need to be dealt with, Lord, maybe there's a better way that You'd have me to live. Help me to learn that and to walk in it. We have so many pressures that we put upon ourselves, and our culture puts upon us. There are so many things we're trying to do constantly.

Sometimes, it's important to step back and say, "Lord, is this really what You want me to be doing?" Help me to be about Your business, Your work. In the ordinary and the mundane, help me to learn to worship You in it and to give thanks to You through it.

God, do a work in us, we pray. Continue to make us more like You. You're never in a hurry; You're always on time. God, help us to learn. We ask this in Jesus' name. And all those that agreed said, "Amen."