[SPEAKER_00]: You are listening to Blessed and Boston, presented by Anchor DeMedia.
[SPEAKER_00]: In entrepreneurship podcasts for Christians, all about how to make God the CEO of your business.
[SPEAKER_00]: Get ready to be inspired, challenged, but well equipped to live and build your destiny, his way.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey guys, welcome to another episode of The Blessed Embossed at Podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: As promised, we are picking right back up with our book club pick, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer.
[SPEAKER_00]: I put the links to the book in the show notes.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are in part two of the book, part one diagnosed this hurry problem.
[SPEAKER_00]: talked about where it comes from the history of it, why it's a problem.
[SPEAKER_00]: And now we are in part two, which is talking about the solution.
[SPEAKER_00]: In the last chapter that we ended up ended one last episode, we talked about how the solution isn't more time because many of us just wish we have more hours in a day.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the reality is, if we have more hours, we'll fill it up with more things to do and just end up in the same position.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so the author also talked about how we focus a lot on growth and thriving and we don't actually sit in our limitations enough.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I even talked about how I believe.
[SPEAKER_00]: that it is sobering when you sit in your limitations, not in a self-deprecating way, but in a way of recognizing that you really need to be dependent on the law, in a way of realizing that his strength is perfected in your weakness as the scripture says.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we talked about the different limitations that we have as people, as believers,
[SPEAKER_00]: And then we ended with a transition into what the actual solution is, and he said at the end, the answer of course is easy follow Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: And of course this sounds simple, but in a next chapter that we're about to dive into, he talks about exactly what that means.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he starts off the chapter by saying, let me show you what the way of Jesus has to say about the epidemic of hurry.
[SPEAKER_00]: To start Jesus was a rabbi, Hebrew meaning teacher.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, he was more the Messiah and the embodiment of God himself.
[SPEAKER_00]: I deeply believe that.
[SPEAKER_00]: But if you have been a first-century Jew in Jesus showed up at your synagogue once said this morning, the odds are the category you would have put in men is that of a rabbi or a traveling sage.
[SPEAKER_00]: And like every rabbi in his day, Jesus had two things.
[SPEAKER_00]: First, he had a yoke.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not a literal yoke, he was a teacher, not a farmer.
[SPEAKER_00]: A yoke was a common idiom in the first century for a rabbi's way of reading the Torah.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it was also more.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was his set of teachings on how to be human.
[SPEAKER_00]: His way to show their the at times cripply, weight of life, marriage, divorce, prayer, money,
[SPEAKER_00]: Sex, Conflict Resolution, Government, All-Level.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's an odd image for those of us who don't live in an agrarian society, but imagine two oxen yoke together to pull a cart or a plow with field.
[SPEAKER_00]: A yoke is how you shoulder the load.
[SPEAKER_00]: What made Jesus unique wasn't that he had a yoke.
[SPEAKER_00]: All rabbis had a yoke.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was that he had an easy yoke.
[SPEAKER_00]: Secondly, Jesus had apprentices.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's usually translated as disciples, and that's just fine, but I think an even better word to capture the idea behind to amend them is a parenthesis.
[SPEAKER_00]: To be one of Jesus' disciples is to a parenthesis under Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: But simply, it is to organize your life around three basic goals.
[SPEAKER_00]: One to be with Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: too to become like Jesus and three do what he would do if he were you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I remember those WW JD, what would Jesus do bracelets?
[SPEAKER_00]: I know I had a few when I was growing up.
[SPEAKER_00]: The whole point of apprenticeship is to model all of your life after Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: and in doing so to recover your soul, to have the work part of you put back into shape, to experience healing in the deepest part of your being, to experience what Jesus called life to the full, with the New Testament writers called salvation.
[SPEAKER_00]: Keep in mind, the Greek word that we're translate salvation is satiria.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is the same word we translate healing.
[SPEAKER_00]: When you're reading the New Testament and you read that somebody was healed by Jesus and then you read somebody else was saved by Jesus, you're reading the same Greek word.
[SPEAKER_00]: Salvation is healing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Even the etymology of our English word salvation,
[SPEAKER_00]: comes from the Latin South as an anointment you put on a burn or a womb.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is what Jesus was all about, healing people, saving them at a so deep level.
[SPEAKER_00]: How?
[SPEAKER_00]: Through a apprenticeship to him.
[SPEAKER_00]: I loved how he made this correlation between disciple and apprentice.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like apprentice is a word that I like because it's more action-based and it shows the true role in responsibility that we had.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like disciple, I think it's so spiritual that we may not
[SPEAKER_00]: fully understand what it means as far as our role as individuals, but when we use the word apprentice and apprentice is somebody who trains under someone who has already mastered a certain credit.
[SPEAKER_00]: When you have a medical resident, they're essentially an apprentice studying under the attending.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you have a law clerk or a legal intern or junior associate, they are training under more senior
[SPEAKER_00]: If you have someone who is an apprentice with plumbing or an electrician, they are learning under individuals who have already mastered the trade so that they can then be able to do their job and do it well.
[SPEAKER_00]: The disciples, they were training on the job.
[SPEAKER_00]: They were following Jesus, watching how he responded to situations, watching how he performed miracles, watching his demeanor, his personality, they had an up close impersonal on the job training.
[SPEAKER_00]: apprenticeship, under him, that then set the foundation for once pentacost happen and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and able to be sent out as we've read an ax when we were doing our Bible on business series.
[SPEAKER_00]: When they were then sent out to spread the gospel, they were able to do so largely because of that apprenticeship.
[SPEAKER_00]: us, and today's day and age, we have the benefit of our apprenticeship not having an end date.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have the benefit of the word of God that we can learn directly from Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have four different accounts of His ministry in each one of the gospels.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have all of this context in the Old Testament that was foreshadowing the Messiah.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have the benefit of seeing once the gospel went forth what the impact was and how the Lord used those who were closest to Him.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have all of this context in all of this, in our training manual, in the Bible.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then on top of that, we have access to the endwelling of the Holy Spirit, who will course correct and guide us and teach us in real time.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I believe if we look at our job as followers of Jesus as apprentices, then we will show up ready to do the work.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know about you, but if I'm a law clerk, I'm not showing up acting as if I know everything.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not showing up asking, can I go stand before the judge and court when I never did that before?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to, if you're a medical resident or an intern, you're not going to show up ready to do surgery.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're not ready for that yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you have, in awareness, you have such an awareness of your limitations, nodding to our last episode that you wouldn't even try that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so if we look at ourselves, I feel as apprentices of Jesus, it will help.
[SPEAKER_00]: develop a perspective that's necessary to keep us humble, keep us obedient and keep us playing our active role well.
[SPEAKER_00]: We will show up with our notebook and pen taking notes, quiet.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not trying to tell the Lord what to do, not trying to get him to move on our behalf, not trying to make him do something, but we're showing up and playing our role.
[SPEAKER_00]: And very clear on who's actually
[SPEAKER_00]: How many times have you gone to pray?
[SPEAKER_00]: And instead of operating in the nevertheless, which means, God, this is what I want, nevertheless, not my will that your will be done.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm talking about when you're often you go and pray and try to make force God's hand and make him do something like God, I'm believing you for X, Y, Z. I declare and decree, X, Y, Z.
[SPEAKER_00]: Father, I speak to this and tell it to do that.
[SPEAKER_00]: and you're utilizing this authority and you're saying all of these things in Jesus' name thinking that you're tapping into his power, but did you check to make sure that what you're talking about is even in his will?
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you open enough to the fact that what you're saying may not be God's will for your life?
[SPEAKER_00]: May not be his will for that particular situation?
[SPEAKER_00]: How many times have you prayed and fastened and did all the things that you felt like qualified for the outcome that you wanted and it didn't happen and then you were disappointed and mad at God?
[SPEAKER_00]: Is it God's fault or did you convince yourself that this was his will when it actually wasn't and you'd never even checked to find out and noted difference?
[SPEAKER_00]: I was honest enough to say that we've been in that space.
[SPEAKER_00]: I could raise my hand because I've definitely been there.
[SPEAKER_00]: But when you're in a parenthesis, you show up knowing that you don't know everything and you can keep your ego in check.
[SPEAKER_00]: I remember even this week, my kids are getting ready to go to a new school.
[SPEAKER_00]: My oldest son is going to a new school and then my three-year-old is starting school.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we apply to different schools, my husband and I be doing our research, doing tours and all the things to see what schools we wanted to apply for for our kids.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I had two schools that were top on my list.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love these schools.
[SPEAKER_00]: I saw no issues with them.
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't get any red flags when I was there.
[SPEAKER_00]: And one of them I liked slightly more than the other, especially for my five-year-old.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was a beautiful campus.
[SPEAKER_00]: I really liked all the staff and everybody I met.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was very diverse.
[SPEAKER_00]: The area that we're moving to, where moving soon in the area we're going to, unfortunately, is predominantly white.
[SPEAKER_00]: and I am coming from an area that is predominantly black.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm from PG County, Maryland, which is one of the wealthiest places for black people in America.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so, I grew up here to wear everybody's black.
[SPEAKER_00]: Your doctor's black, your lawyer's black, you're
[SPEAKER_00]: everybody, your class major teachers, like it is such a unique place when you think about it in comparison to the rest of the world and it's such a beautiful place in that way, it definitely got his issues, sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's a beautiful place in that way.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we're moving to a different area that's slightly more affluent and it is very white.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I have an issue with my kids being the only black kids in the room.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not setting my kids up for that type of life, especially in an area like the DC area when it's so much opportunity for diversity.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I was specifically looking for schools that were diverse.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so these two schools, both of them were very diverse a little bit of everybody, which I loved, because right now my kids, all their classmates are black.
[SPEAKER_00]: But now they'll be able to go to school and be around so many different cultures and languages and backgrounds and things like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I believe it'll make them more well-rounded individuals.
[SPEAKER_00]: So one of the schools that was also a dual language school, which may gave it a leg up on the other one for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I told you I'm a five year old as a genius and so I always need to find opportunities to keep him academically challenged and him learning a new language is a great way for us to do that in addition to him being challenged and like the more traditional courses or subjects like math and reading and things like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: So this school, I was really excited about especially my five-year-old going there.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we applied to that school, we applied to our second choice and we put other schools on our list.
[SPEAKER_00]: The kids get matched into two separate schools.
[SPEAKER_00]: One got matched into school number one, one got matched into school number two, and then they were on the weight list of the opposite school.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, my five-year-old, I really wanted at school number one.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the one with the dual language, because I thought that would be great for him.
[SPEAKER_00]: He actually was on the wait list of that one, and got matched at number two, but my three-year-old got matched at that one.
[SPEAKER_00]: So now, of course, the prayer is for a slot to open up at the school so that they can both go to the same place.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want them in the same school ideally.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I caught myself the other day as I was driving to school for myself and I was praying and I found myself saying, God, I thank you that as a spot is going to open up that I said to school's name and in our
[SPEAKER_00]: I heard myself trying to pray my will, what I wanted in my heart and so as I heard myself, I stopped and I said, Lord forgive me, I repent to it and I said, actually, Lord, I thank you that a spot will open up at the school that they're both supposed to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: and I asked him, his will not my own.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thanked him for all in which he knows and I thanked him for having with them in knowledge way beyond my own understanding and all of those things.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I repented and course correct and made sure that my prayer was open ended and also aligned with his word.
[SPEAKER_00]: so that I can be sober enough to hear whatever he has to say next.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why that same day?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm talking to a family friend, and I'm telling her about the kids getting accepted into these different schools.
[SPEAKER_00]: She has experience with both.
[SPEAKER_00]: and told me that the school that I had number one on my list has some serious concerns, and I'll just leave that there, as far as specifics.
[SPEAKER_00]: But she was sharing with me these things that I had no idea.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if I would have just prayed my will, and let's say Kuma said dinnerly a spot was to open up for both of my kids to go there.
[SPEAKER_00]: I might have taken that as, oh, Lord, thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me send my kids there.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then I send my kids there in our face with something that's fundamentally an issue for me as far as a school environment goes.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I would have been confused.
[SPEAKER_00]: God, why did you let me do this?
[SPEAKER_00]: Why did you let them go that girl know you had this, your mind so fixed on this is what you want it.
[SPEAKER_00]: You came to him in title him as in the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: You came to him in title.
[SPEAKER_00]: You came to him trying to force his hand.
[SPEAKER_00]: You came to him not with ill intention.
[SPEAKER_00]: But that doesn't erase the fact of what was going on.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're praying what you want versus me and open to his will.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I believe that the Lord was able to highlight some things that I didn't have access to.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was able to give me information through a family friend that I otherwise may not have found out about until my kids were already enrolled.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I was so open to his will.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I say all of that to say,
[SPEAKER_00]: When we are focused on being a princesses, like I love how he used this term because I just personally believe that it highlights the job at hand.
[SPEAKER_00]: When we focus on being a princesses, how we go about life is different, how we go about our day-to-day, how we make decisions, how we pray, all of these things are different.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the byproduct of that will be the pace,
[SPEAKER_00]: and less of the hurry and the rush and anxiety and the stress and the doing too much in all of the things.
[SPEAKER_00]: Going back to the book, the author brings up Matthew 11.
[SPEAKER_00]: Specifically, where it says, come to me all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
[SPEAKER_00]: Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble and heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
[SPEAKER_00]: He says, okay, let's read it one more time, even slower.
[SPEAKER_00]: Breathe deeply, don't rush this part, God has something for you in this moment.
[SPEAKER_00]: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
[SPEAKER_00]: Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble and heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
[SPEAKER_00]: He paraphrased or also wrote the paraphrased and the message version that says, are you tired, worn out, burned out on religion?
[SPEAKER_00]: Come to me, get away with me and you'll recover your life.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll show you how to take a real rest.
[SPEAKER_00]: Walk with me and work with me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Watch how I do it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Learn the enforced rhythms of grace.
[SPEAKER_00]: I won't lay anything heavy or ill fitting on you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Keep company with me, and you'll learn to live freely and lightly.
[SPEAKER_00]: He says this is an invitation for all tired, the burnt out, the stress, and all those stuck in traffic and behind on there to do lists.
[SPEAKER_00]: Reaching for another cup of coffee just to make it through the day.
[SPEAKER_00]: He says in her bus fee article how millennials became the burnout generation and Peterson commenting that burnout isn't a place to visit and come back from.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's your permanent residence.
[SPEAKER_00]: what used to be the isolated experience of a New York day trader or emergency run physician is now the reality for most people.
[SPEAKER_00]: Peterson offered a critique of the $11 billion self-actualization industry and the inability of a spot A to fix our problems with burnout.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yet after a lengthy diagnosis of our generation, the only attempt at a solution she had to offer is democratic socialism and unions.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are beginning to understand what else is and is not something in oxygen facial or treadmill desk can fix.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have nothing against unions and I'm fine with democratic socialism, but I highly doubt they will be even more effective against burnout than essential oils.
[SPEAKER_00]: That was funny.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus' invitation is to take up his yoke, to travel through life at his side, learning from him how to shoulder the weight of life with ease, to step out of the burnout society, to a life of soul rest.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now this sounds great, but let me call off the elephant in the room.
[SPEAKER_00]: How many of you read this invitation of Jesus and think?
[SPEAKER_00]: I think I'm a follower of Christ as far as I can tell.
[SPEAKER_00]: But honestly, I am tired.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am worn out.
[SPEAKER_00]: I live with a low-grade fatigue that rarely goes away.
[SPEAKER_00]: And honestly, I am a little burnt out on religion.
[SPEAKER_00]: What gives am I missing something?
[SPEAKER_00]: He says, hidden in plain sight is what can be called the secret of the easy yoke.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he quotes an author that wrote this about Matthew 11.
[SPEAKER_00]: In this truth lies the secret of the easy yoke.
[SPEAKER_00]: The secret involves living as Jesus lived in the entirety of his life, adopting his overall lifestyle.
[SPEAKER_00]: Our mistake is to think that following Jesus consists in loving our enemies, going to second mouth, turning the other cheek, suffering patiently and hopefully, while living the rest of our lives, just as everyone else around us does.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a strategy bound to fail.
[SPEAKER_00]: What he's saying here is simple but profound.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you want to experience the life of Jesus,
[SPEAKER_00]: you have to adopt the lifestyle of Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought it was interesting in this quote from the Buzzfeed article where she said burnout isn't a place to visit and come back from.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's our permanent resident.
[SPEAKER_00]: What does that sound like?
[SPEAKER_00]: A dwelling place.
[SPEAKER_00]: Who is supposed to be our dwelling
[SPEAKER_00]: It is an indicator that we are residing somewhere that the Lord never wanted us to live.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have made up our dwelling outside of the comfort of the arms of our Father.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have moved out of our parents' house and we need to go back home.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if this book is not anything else for you, if this episode is not anything else for you, let it be a call to come back home, an invitation to come back home.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I love how he said here that if you want to experience the life of Jesus, you have to adopt the lifestyle of Jesus and talk about how a lot of times we,
[SPEAKER_00]: do the Jesus like things and then we go back to living, however it is that we want to live.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think that it is emphasized enough in Christian spaces that our relationship with God is not compartmentalized.
[SPEAKER_00]: When you live somewhere, you live there.
[SPEAKER_00]: We operate in obedience to the Holy Spirit, always not just on Sunday, not just when we're quote-unquote doing the right thing, not just when the Lord leads us to do something specific.
[SPEAKER_00]: But we're following Jesus when we wake up and brush our teeth, when we're getting our bags ready for the day, when we're checking our emails, all of that.
[SPEAKER_00]: should be done subject to the Holy Spirit.
[SPEAKER_00]: All of that should be done following Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's so easy for us to go in and out.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I believe that the Lord is inviting us away from that, so that we could truly find rest in Him, comfort in Him, where we could lay in His arms and learn a new level of closeness and experience a new level of closeness with Him.
[SPEAKER_00]: I find myself saying too often when people ask me questions like, how do you manage, I was asked as recently, when I was speaking to a group of young girls and they had asked, how do you manage the social media space as a Christian, when everything is essentially so worldly?
[SPEAKER_00]: And I get questions like, how do I become a Christian entrepreneur?
[SPEAKER_00]: How do I insert something with Christian as the adjective?
[SPEAKER_00]: And those questions often bat, bat for me a little bit because it's like, well, we're Christians.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're followers of Christ.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're men and women of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: So everything that we do should be marked with his finger, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: No.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not intentionally trying to be a Christian podcaster.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am a Christian who has a podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am not intentionally trying to be a Christian or lying.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am a Christian and I show up that way because that is who I am.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am a follower of Jesus and he don't get left nowhere.
[SPEAKER_00]: So my point is when that's your lifestyle.
[SPEAKER_00]: When you have a commitment to him, there aren't these different compartmentalized spaces.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not hard to show up as a Christian anywhere because that is just you.
[SPEAKER_00]: So the point that the author is making here is again, if you want to experience the life of Jesus, you have to adopt the lifestyle of Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: a lot of times we want to ask God to help us with whatever when the lifestyle is already in text is already written.
[SPEAKER_00]: You could reference it at any time.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you want to know how to live like Jesus, open up the Bible, go to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have the blueprint, we just have to follow it.
[SPEAKER_00]: The author goes on to tell a story about how some folks who live across the street from him are runners and how dedicated they are to running how they're up early.
[SPEAKER_00]: He sees them in all of their runner gear and they're just totally committed and dedicated to the runners lifestyle.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he talked about how he would like to be a runner and it looks like being a runner is cool, but he's just not willing to do all the things that they do in order to be great at it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he says the reality is, I want the life, but I'm not willing to adopt the lifestyle behind it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's how a lot of us feel about Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: We read the stories of Jesus, His joy, His resolute peace, through our certainty, His unenctious presence, His relaxed manner, and how in the moment He was, and think, I want that life.
[SPEAKER_00]: We hear his open invite to life, to the full and think, sign me up.
[SPEAKER_00]: We hear about this easy, yoke in the soul deep rest and thank God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, heck yes, I need that.
[SPEAKER_00]: But then we're not willing to adopt his lifestyle.
[SPEAKER_00]: But in Jesus's case, it is worth the cost.
[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, you give back far more than you give up.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a cross.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, a death.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's followed by an empty tomb, a new portal to life because in the way of Jesus death is always followed by resurrection.
[SPEAKER_00]: Here's a conviction of mine.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Western Church has lost sight of the fact that the way of Jesus is just that, a way of life.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is not just a set of ideas, which is what we call theology, or a list of do's and don'ts, which is what we call ethics.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it is that, but it is so much more.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a way of life based on that of Jesus himself, a lifestyle.
[SPEAKER_00]: The church tradition I grew up in made much of theology and ethics, but little to nothing was said about the lifestyle.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the lifestyle is where the money is.
[SPEAKER_00]: I remember when I first got saved, if you've been listening to this podcast, I often give the differentiator of when I got saved versus when I got saved.
[SPEAKER_00]: And what that pretty much means is,
[SPEAKER_00]: There was a period where I was young, I would say maybe 16, 17, I was still in high school, and I was drawn to the Lord, and I gave my life to Christ, and I really wanted to live this lifestyle, but I wasn't taught it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wasn't disciples, I didn't have anybody to walk me through with that looks like.
[SPEAKER_00]: I knew I was able to figure out the theology.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had a teen Bible at that time.
[SPEAKER_00]: that kind of broke down things and related it to where I was.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had the ethics, the mask, I call it, of all the do's and don'ts of being a Christian, but I did not have the tools to live the life and so I didn't.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it wasn't until later where I decided to give my life to God for real and adopt the Christian lifestyle.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I've done that since then.
[SPEAKER_00]: But as he's saying here, a lot of times we're not taught the lifestyle part.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think we need to get more of that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it is my goal with this podcast that we cover that.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is why I intentionally, this is a business podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: I intentionally choose books that are not about how to prosper.
[SPEAKER_00]: I intentionally choose books that are about the disposition, the lifestyle and the focus and dedication on the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: and then discuss it through the context of entrepreneurship.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it is very easy for us to go straight into, okay, how do I obtain this and build that?
[SPEAKER_00]: But that's not gonna be helpful.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no shortage of information on that.
[SPEAKER_00]: What is needed are tools to be able to live the lifestyle.
[SPEAKER_00]: because no matter what the Lord is called you to do, for as long as you have developed a lifestyle of following him, it is well.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it is not well just in the outcome, but it's well in the process, too.
[SPEAKER_00]: Nevertheless, he goes on to say, your life is the byproduct of your lifestyle.
[SPEAKER_00]: By life, I mean your experience of the human condition.
[SPEAKER_00]: And by lifestyle, I mean the rhythms and the routine that make up your day-to-day existence, the way you organize your time, spend your money.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a saying in business literature that I love, every system is perfectly designed to get the results that it gets.
[SPEAKER_00]: say that again, every system is perfectly designed to get the results that it gets, which means whatever results you're getting, the hurry, the anxiousness, the stress,
[SPEAKER_00]: you have designed your system, your life in such a way that that is the outcome because if you design your life in such a way where you understand and take his yoke upon you because his burden is easy and his yoke is light, you wouldn't have those outcomes.
[SPEAKER_00]: He says, usually this applies to widgets and the bottom line, but I love it for life as a whole.
[SPEAKER_00]: If the results you are getting are lousy, anxiety at a simmer, mal depression, high levels of stress, chronic emotional burnout, little to no sense of the president of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Presence of God and inability to focus your mind on the things that make for life, etc.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then the odds are very good that something about the system that is your life is off-kilter.
[SPEAKER_00]: The way you've organized your morning or evening routine, your schedule, your budget, your relationship to your phone, how you manage your resources of time, money, and attention, etc.
[SPEAKER_00]: He says, honestly, the solution is very, very simple.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you want to experience the life to the full of Jesus, his non-stop, conscious enjoyment of God's presence and world, all you have to do is adopt not only his theology and ethics, but also his lifestyle.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just follow his way.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just take his life as a template for your home.
[SPEAKER_00]: Take on his habits and practices.
[SPEAKER_00]: As an apprentice, copy your rabbis every move.
[SPEAKER_00]: After all, that's the whole point of apprenticeship.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I know you may be listening to this and thinking like, man, that's easier said than done.
[SPEAKER_00]: If I could have done that, I would have done that already.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'll tell you one of my personal quotes is I believe that self-awareness is a secret to success.
[SPEAKER_00]: I say this all the time.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the reason why I say that is because when you are somebody who is self-aware, when you slow down enough to really be able to fully realize and understand what's going on, you can course correct and check yourself.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I was present enough in my prayer to hear myself and hear that I was starting to pray, my will.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I had to catch myself repent and then change course in real time.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, this same for you, there may be a way in which your morning routine goes and you're realizing like, man, it's 3 p.m.
[SPEAKER_00]: I haven't prayed it all today.
[SPEAKER_00]: Did I make room for that?
[SPEAKER_00]: What happened when I woke up this morning?
[SPEAKER_00]: Or maybe you do make time and you go through your devotional and you read your text and maybe you do some journaling and then you get to, let's say, a stressful part of the day.
[SPEAKER_00]: and it's taking you out and you're unable to apply to things that you read in the word and your time with the Lord isn't sustaining you as you would have hoped.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that is an indicator that, okay, how I'm spending the time, but is it quality?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm reading the text, but am I truly,
[SPEAKER_00]: able to digest it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Did I take the time to understand or did I just check this off and it gave me that dopamine hit of completion without fully internalizing what it is that I read?
[SPEAKER_00]: So self-awareness will take you far.
[SPEAKER_00]: Over the years, one of the things that I love to monitor is my reactions to things.
[SPEAKER_00]: because your reactions are usually an honest response to whatever the situation is.
[SPEAKER_00]: So there have been things over the years where I thought that I was healed from, and I wasn't necessarily healed, I just didn't have an opportunity to prove whether I was healed or not yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so something will come up in an hour or a react angry or will make me upset or it will drive some type of an emotion that will indicate, oh, maybe I'm not as healed in this area as I thought I was.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me fast and pray about this again.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me go to prayer about this again.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then the opportunity or something else will happen within this same subject.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't respond the same.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's how I know, okay.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think I'm healed in this area now.
[SPEAKER_00]: So as you go about your week,
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, when we talk about adopting a lifestyle, I believe that this takes time, but I believe that the Lord will honor our commitment and our focus on Him and focus on making the necessary changes.
[SPEAKER_00]: So as you go throughout this week, I want you to slow down enough.
[SPEAKER_00]: clear your mind enough to be able to really pay attention to what's going on.
[SPEAKER_00]: Put alarms in your phone that require you to stop and just like check in with yourself.
[SPEAKER_00]: If something stresses you out or something happens and if you're somebody who's like, let's say the second something happened, you call one of your girlfriends or you call your your husband or whoever you're mom.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tell them, like, hey, I'm trying to practice a lifestyle of living like Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: These are the areas that I struggle with the most.
[SPEAKER_00]: I stress, let's say, about things when they're uncertain.
[SPEAKER_00]: If I call you and I'm stressing about something,
[SPEAKER_00]: Ask me what will Jesus do?
[SPEAKER_00]: Go and find you one of them.
[SPEAKER_00]: WWJD bracelets and put that on.
[SPEAKER_00]: Put WWJD on the background of your phone.
[SPEAKER_00]: Have little notification go off on your phone and ask you something.
[SPEAKER_00]: Send an email to yourself, schedule it out to come to your email every so often.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ask and what will Jesus do.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever it takes,
[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever it takes, one thing I like to emphasize on this podcast is that whatever keeps us from being in alignment with the Lord, we focus on it so that we can get rid of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: We focus on it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean what I mean by that is we surrender it to the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: We identify it, we surrender it so that we can eliminate it and get back in alignment.
[SPEAKER_00]: The author then goes on to say, Jesus realizes that the most restful gift he can give the tired is a new way to carry life, a fresh way to bear responsibilities.
[SPEAKER_00]: Realism sees that life is a succession of burdens.
[SPEAKER_00]: We cannot get away from them, thus instead of offering a scape, Jesus offers equipment.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus means that obedience to His sermons on the Mount, His yoke will develop in us a balanced and a way of carrying life that will give more rest than the way we have been living.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see the genius of Jesus' invitation?
[SPEAKER_00]: There is an emotional and even spiritual weight to life.
[SPEAKER_00]: We all feel it, especially as we age.
[SPEAKER_00]: An easy life is a myth.
[SPEAKER_00]: If not a red herring, the byproduct of an advertising drenched in social media, duped culture, life is hard.
[SPEAKER_00]: Full stop, no comma, no but, no in note.
[SPEAKER_00]: All the wise men and women of history have said as much.
[SPEAKER_00]: No new technology or substance or pill will ever erase humanity's fall.
[SPEAKER_00]: Best case scenario, we mitigate its effects as we advance Jesus' return.
[SPEAKER_00]: But there's no escaping the pain.
[SPEAKER_00]: People all over the world outside the church and in are looking for an escape away out from under the crushing weight to life on this out of Eden, but there is no escaping it.
[SPEAKER_00]: The best the world can offer is a temporary distraction to delay the inevitable or deny the inner scapable.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's why Jesus doesn't offer us an escape.
[SPEAKER_00]: He offers us something far better, equipment.
[SPEAKER_00]: He offers his apprentices a whole new way to bear the weight of our humanity with ease.
[SPEAKER_00]: At his side, like two oxen in a field, tied shoulder to shoulder with Jesus doing all the heavy lifting.
[SPEAKER_00]: At his pace, slow, unhurried, present, and a moment,
[SPEAKER_00]: an easy life isn't an option, an easy yoke is, and that's where the chapter ends, and I think to disagree place to end this episode.
[SPEAKER_00]: This episode is coming out in Tuesday, March 31st.
[SPEAKER_00]: This Sunday, this is Holy Week.
[SPEAKER_00]: and we talk about following Jesus and I think that it's appropriate that this episode is coming out during this week.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I want you to not just let this show be something else that's a part of your routine, but let this episode especially this week drive you closer to him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_00]: So thank you guys so much for listening to another episode of The Blessing Boss that podcast