Direct Deposit

The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22, 23 NASB)

After a terrible Friday, a busy Saturday and Sunday, and then a painful Monday, I thought Tuesday might be better. Nope, Tuesday brought its own issues to pile onto what built up on Monday.

But surely Wednesday would be different.

Yes. I woke up to the dog throwing up on our carpet, and then a baby’s leaking diaper. Problems resolved, coffee in hand, I rushed out the door to work, and all the past few day’s issues started whispering doubts and worries in my mind.

Then K-Love’s “Good Morning” song reminded me of God’s faithfulness and the freedom to start the day fresh, armed with the knowledge that His presence and power are constant even in my life’s chaos.

Each morning, we wake up to a direct deposit of fresh compassion and mercy in our bank account. We rise out of bed to face opportunity even if the challenges carry over from the previous day(s).

If you’re not a believer, there’s still a parallel here. Every day you get a deposit of 1,440 minutes to do with as you please. 86,400 “pennies” get added to your account.

What are we doing with these daily infusions of time and grace? Are we taking full advantage and spending them wisely?

Even if yesterday’s problems carry over, I remember that today I have a fresh balance of strength and time to expend, and compassion and mercy to sustain me.

And that always makes for a good morning.

Vanity

For ‘T’ I wrote about theology as a tool to better understand God and our relationship to Him. For ‘U’ I wrote about unity and the need for us to look to others ahead of our own interests. For ‘V’ I will continue the “Jesus – Others – You” pattern of ‘JOY’ and talk about ourselves.

In other words, Vanity.

As worshipers – especially if we’re musicians and singers involved with church worship teams – vanity can be a spirit-killer. It disrupts teams, it affects our emotions and our concentration, it takes our focus off the God we’re there to worship. It’s a problem.

With all the emphasis on self-esteem over the last couple decades, it might sound like I’m saying having some pride in a job well done is a bad thing. That’s not the case. We want to do our best, to excel. But we want to do it with appropriate humility and confidence.

Confidence says I know I’m good.

Arrogance is when we know everyone else thinks we’re good.

False humility says, “I need attention, tell me how good I am.”

Worry has us wondering if our efforts are good enough.

Confidence allows us to play our best, together. Arrogance, worry and false humility focus on our performance and on us as individuals. And any kind of self-centered worship is absolutely wrong.

Vanity means we spend less time going vertical, looking up to God. And we spend little time going horizontal, reaching out to others.

At best we go through the motions, doing what looks good and seems right. But God checks the motives of the heart as well as the actions.

We must always remember why we’re up front leading worship, or why we’re serving others. It’s not about us; it has to be about Him.