When the house is quiet, the television is off, your phone is face down, and everyone else is asleep, where does your mind wander?

Does it replay the day like a courtroom drama, examining every word you said and every mistake you made? Do you dissect conversations, searching for hidden meanings that may not even exist?

Or does your mind rush ahead into tomorrow and rehearse conversations, preparing for worst-case scenarios, or chasing dreams of success and recognition?

Maybe it drifts backward, stirring up old regrets. Moments you wish you could redo. Words you wish you could take back. Opportunities you missed.

What fills your mind is revealing.

Those quiet moments often expose what truly captures our hearts. When distractions fade, the direction of our thoughts often shows the direction of our soul. Downtime is not just empty space, but it is sacred space. It is an opportunity to turn anxious thoughts into prayer, regret into repentance, and restless ambition into surrender.

So tonight, when the world grows quiet, and your mind begins to wander, gently lead it back to Christ. Let your last thoughts before sleep be gratitude. Let your quiet moments become communion.

Because where your mind consistently goes is often where your heart truly rests.

One of the reasons it is critical to recognize the context of a passage is that there are numerous statements made that have nothing to do with you.

In Genesis, there are promises made to Abraham that were meant specifically for him. Throughout the Old Testament, the prophets made numerous promises to the Israelites about their future. Jesus informed the twelve disciples of all kinds of amazing things that would happen to them upon his departure. On top of all that, there are promises in the New Testament for Jesus’ followers, not for humanity in general.

If you do not understand this, you will read the Old Testament, for example, a passage that was meant for Israel and apply it to our world today, totally changing its meaning.

Always ask yourself as you read your Bible, “To whom was this said?”

Quite often, the application is not for you but for someone else. In understanding this Biblically, we can begin to see that we follow a God who speaks and then follows through, even when he is not speaking to us.

My wife and I spent two weeks on vacation in Texas. We traveled without an agenda or a plan. We made each day up as we went along, and it was a wonderful adventure together.

We ate delicious food, visited historical places, shopped in unfamiliar stores, and walked on the beach. We spent two weeks in hotels and didn’t wash our own towels or sheets. At every place we stayed, breakfast was included, and I received no extra utility bills.

On one of the final days of our trip, we checked our phones to discover we were only three hours from home. I immediately turned to my wife and said, “Let’s go home.” To which she responded, “That sounds great.”

Despite all our travels, we love the feel of our own home. The familiar surroundings, our comfortable bed, the safety of knowing the neighbors, and the rest that comes from not having to travel anymore. While it doesn’t have all the benefits of traveling, it holds something intangible that we love.

My Bible reading this week included Hebrews 11, which contained this line about the patriarchs in the Old Testament. “For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” (Heb 11:10)

As I read that verse, my mind made a simple paraphrase: They were longing for home.

Everyone who is a believer understands that this life can offer some wonderful things. But we also long for the day when we will come into the eternal city God has prepared for us. We have a longing for our true home.

There is something in all of us that loves the moral high ground. We want to be right. We like to feel superior. We want to stand above the mess, point to the failures of others, and quietly thank God that we are not like them. It feels safe up there. Clean. Justified.

But the gospel does not allow us to live on that hill very long.

In Luke 18, Jesus tells the story of a Pharisee and a tax collector. The Pharisee stood tall, rehearsing his spiritual résumé before God. The tax collector stood at a distance, beating his chest, whispering, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” The shocking part? The humble man went home justified.

If our own moral standing could save us, the cross would have been unnecessary. The very reason Jesus came was that we needed rescuing. None of us is morally superior to any other person.

This doesn’t mean truth doesn’t matter. It doesn’t mean sin isn’t serious. It means we approach both with humility. We speak truth not as people who have climbed higher than everyone else, but as sinners saved by grace.

The Christian life is not about defending our moral platform; it is about kneeling at the foot of the cross. And from that posture, we are far more useful to God and far more gracious to others.

The safest place to stand is not on the moral high ground.

It is on the grace and mercy of God.

I know of a Church leader who is walking through a season in which they publicly admitted to having sinned. It is an ugly situation, and the list of sins committed is numerous. As part of their healing process, they stood before their Church and confessed their wrongdoing.

Recently, I spoke with their spouse, and they admitted how difficult the whole situation had been for their marriage and family. On the flip side, they went on to say how finally being honest about their behavior had been incredibly cleansing.

This person had carried the weight of their sin and shame for years upon years. This enormous burden was only lifted when they openly confessed to their behavior.

There is a simple lesson in this painful story. Whenever you are carrying the effects of your mistakes in your soul, you need to find a way to confess them. I am not telling you to stand up in Church and air all your dirty laundry. But you do need to find a trusted Christian friend with whom you can share your deepest, darkest secrets.

For many, this role has been delegated to therapists and counselors because people are assured of confidentiality. That might be a great place for you to start. But you do not have to go that route. You can find someone to confide in and begin sharing your struggles.

So many of the burdens we carry could be removed if only we embraced the power of confession.

Today, I want to express my gratitude to God for allowing me to live long enough to realize how dumb I was when I was younger.

I said stupid and ungodly things, sometimes in the name of Jesus. I lacked understanding. I lacked grace. I was totally clueless without life experience. And amazingly, God still used me to accomplish his will.

Each day at my office, I begin with prayer. The prayer always starts with thanksgiving. Today, I am so thankful that God allowed me to minister when I didn’t have a clue, and even more that he used me when I was young and dumb.

I am also thankful that he continues to use my life despite my ongoing lack of genuine knowledge. I know that one day I will look back on today and think, “Wow, I was not so young, and I was still dumb, but thanks be to God for using me anyway.”

Seth Godin on his blog shared a tiny little POST that simply states, “No” is a complete sentence, and so is “Yes.”

I loved it, but I felt compelled to add, “I don’t know” is a complete sentence too.

Because of our technology, it is assumed that we need to have an explanation or opinion on everything, especially if you are a Christian.

Honestly, none of us has enough time to read and explore every topic thoroughly. And watching a short video reel or two is not enough research to form a solid understanding. 

It is completely fine, even as a follower of Jesus, to respond to a question with, “I don’t know.”

Every pastor, teacher, podcaster, and small group leader you’ve ever heard (including me) interprets the Bible through their own experience. We try to study carefully and set aside our biases, but none of us can fully do so. Our backgrounds always shape how we understand and apply Scripture.

I once heard a megachurch pastor preach on relationships, and it was obvious his family of origin had deeply shaped his teaching. This happens with every teacher, whether they realize it or not.

This is partly why you connect with some teachers more than others. Their experiences mirror yours, and things “click” when they preach. But it’s also why you shouldn’t rely on just one voice. Different teachers bring different vantage points, and what one misses, another may illuminate. Over time, a variety of faithful voices helps you spot your own blind spots, too.

So listen widely and read closely. Hold every teaching up to Scripture itself, asking God to show you not only what the text means, but what it’s revealing about your own heart.

The man in the video was describing his view of Christian people. He said that he did not go to Church, read his Bible, or pray. Then he said, “I believe in God, but I am not religious like that.”

From what I could gather, he believed God existed and wanted to go to heaven, but he was not doing anything in his life that would normally be evidence of that belief. At his core, he is religious, but not the type who engages in religious activities.

Throughout my ministry, I have met hundreds, if not thousands, of people like him. They are not atheists or agnostics because they believe in God. But there is nothing in their actions that would lead you to think they were Christians. They believe in God in theory, but not in practice. Their faith exists more as a concept than a commitment.

Scripture paints a different picture of belief. Biblical faith is never merely intellectual agreement. It is trust that moves the heart and obedience that shapes the life. Jesus did not call people to believe that He exists, but to follow Him in all their ways.

This kind of faith will always be evident in prayer, Scripture reading, worship, repentance, and love for others. These are not a religious checklist, but are the natural overflow of a life being transformed by God.

Saying “I’m not religious like that” may feel honest, but it also reveals a deeper issue. Christianity was never meant to be a casual belief held at arm’s length. It is a relationship that demands action. God does not call us to convenience, but to devotion. And while none of us follow Him flawlessly, a faith that costs us nothing is not the faith Jesus described.

The question, then, is not whether we believe in God, but whether our lives are being shaped by Him. I want to be religious “like that.”

The old expression is “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” A new one for religious people might be “Don’t judge a Church by social media.”

Recently, my wife and I visited two megachurches on our vacation. If you were to go online and search for a while, you would find some very negative things written about both of these Churches; from the comments on posts, scathing Reddit discussions, to TikTok reels that will tell you everything evil about these Christian communities.

What my wife and I discovered were people who loved Jesus, were welcoming to us, and whose lives were being transformed by the Gospel. We found our experiences to be encouraging and uplifting. We heard people teach from the Bible and loudly sing the praises of Jesus.

While I admit that neither of these Churches is “my style” of community, it was exciting to see all that God was doing through them.

My advice is that before you say a negative word about a Church, you should go and visit. Talk to the people, and ask questions about their faith. Sure, every Church has flaws because it is composed of flawed people, but most of the people I met were genuinely trying to serve the Lord with all their heart and love their neighbor.

God is working in this world in various ways through all kinds of people. Just because they don’t act like you or in a style you like doesn’t mean they are bad people. It simply means there is diversity in the body of Christ, and that is worth praising rather than condemning.