Abundance Through Obedience
When you think of the good life, what picture comes to mind? Where are you? What’s happening? These kinds of questions are being asked and answered in our minds all the time, whether we’re aware of them or not. Everyday we’re pursuing the life we believe is worth living, but most of the time we don’t stop and clarify exactly what that life actually looks like. We simply live, and an unconscious conversation plays itself out through the myriad of decisions we make every day — from the simplest, such as when to get up or what outfit to wear — to the more complex, such as responding to a rude person or searching for a new job.
We tend to believe that it’s the major decisions that reveal our image of the good life, but interestingly enough, research has shown that isn’t true. It’s the little things, the small decisions that have the greatest impact and reveal the true picture. James Clear’s best selling book, Atomic Habits, explains this reality in detail; in fact he argues and illustrates how getting 1% better everyday is the key to developing life change that lasts.
I bring up Clear’s book not simply because it’s been so helpful to me (it has been!), but that it’s a confirmation of ancient wisdom that actually finds its home in the teachings of Jesus. In the greatest sermon ever preached, Jesus recounts the myriad of simple, daily decisions that if we make by the power of his Spirit in our lives, it will lead us into a life that’s truly worth living. Abundance, he argues, comes through obedience. A life worth living isn’t measured in dollars, square feet, or dinner menus, but in grace, love, winsomeness, and forgiveness. These qualities are forged by making a decision each day to follow the way of Jesus, obeying his wisdom. Not always being perfect, just getting 1% better.
That’s how he ends his Sermon on the Mount — not with an altar call or seven verses of Just As I Am. Rather, he tells a story about 2 builders. One builds on a foundation of stone, the other on sand. Both builders face trials and storms, but only one’s house survives. Jesus said that a foundation of stone is built, not by hearing or even agreeing with him, but obeying him.
That’s our goal at Broadway, to be a church full of disciples who obey, who choose to get 1% better each day, one decision at a time. We aren’t perfect, but we’re pursuing the one who is, learning to find that abundant life through obedience. In this issue of By the Way magazine, we invite you to explore some of the ways we’re trying to do just that, and we’d love for you to join in with us!