Healthy life. Peaceful life. Wealthy life. Joyful life. Do any (or all) of those describe you in your life? If not, my first question is: Do you love your neighbor after you love yourself first?

Yeah, I said after you love yourself first.

I started thinking about something I wrote somewhere around 10 years ago after I read the second half of Paul’s letter to the Philippians this morning. It ties in very neatly to the letter he wrote to the Galatians, too. And it’s an ongoing thread through his writings. So, how did you answer the question?

If you answered “yes”, then the next question is…do you serve one another? After all, it’s only when you serve others that you can achieve a healthy or peaceful or wealthy or joyful life.

Sure, you can choose to serve yourself. And you can choose to expect others to serve you. But that kind of expectation won’t take you down the primrose path, to say the least. You probably don’t need my help on the subject. but, just in case, here are three things to focus on to help you serve others…particularly if you’re a Christian…

1. Whatever things are true – it doesn’t matter that more and more people in the world wanna say truth is relative and experiential. There are some things that are absolutely true. For example, the morning sun never “rises” in the west. And it never “sets” in the east. Right? Some things are absolutely true, and dependable. Focus on them.
2. Whatever things are pure – I know this can be a difficult area to focus on with so much grit and grime and despicable behavior in the world. But there are pure things. A newborn baby. A blue sky from a mountain top. A genuine love between a husband and his wife. I’m sure you can find other pure things if you look. Focus on them.
3. Whatever things are praiseworthy – Look for some way to compliment someone. It could be as simple as telling your barista how delightful your cuppa java is today. Or tell your mom how nice she looks in her new coat. How about telling your co-worker or employee what a great job they did yesterday? It’s actually difficult not to see praiseworthy things.

Focus on them.

There are several other areas of life you can focus on to improve your circle of influence. I’ve shared them here on my website. But I want you to know how your focus can change how well you serve one another. If you’re only focused on the mistakes other people make, you’ll never run out of them. And you’ll never be satisfied. Neither will they. That focus helps no one…serves no one. There’s a time for healthy critique. But never waste an opportunity to build someone up. Your soul will thank you for it. Because that’s how you love others.

But you can only do that when you love God and then love yourself first.

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I share it with believers who want to focus on the power of God’s love and rightly divide the word of truth. Spend your time reading, listening, and watching good stuff based on the power of God’s love instead of looking for it. And, to show my sincere appreciation for your time and attention, I’ll send you download links to music and The Very First 6 Days (a rhyming book for kids about the creation week) right away. Kids from 3 to 103 can enjoy these fun goodies. Just add your email to the form and let’s connect right away.

Stay tuned,

The post Love yourself first doesn’t make you the worst appeared first on Tony Funderburk.

Just because some authoritative power makes a rule doesn’t make the rule a good one, a just one, or a fair one. In fact, many rules, policies, and laws are downright bad. But you gotta think and ponder and examine to know which rules are good and which are bad. Before you decide to break rules you’d better be sure you’re on the right side.

But is that possible?

Short answer is yes.

Maybe you have a lot of self-imposed rules for your life and/or the life of your loved ones. And maybe it would be a good idea to sit down, today, and re-examine whether they’re good ones or not. Here’s how you can know. If your rule shows your love for someone else, it’s a good one. If it doesn’t show love, or if it actually displays selfishness, it’s a bad one. That’s pretty much it. Simple. Right? Well, that depends on if you know HOW to show love.

So, do you?

If you’re not sure you’re any good at showing and sharing love, then I have another simple answer for you. Would you like the rules, you impose on someone else, imposed on you? If you conjure up a silly notion in your head for how someone else should live and treat you, are you willing to live that way and be treated that way? If not, you might’ve made up a bad rule.

I remember this subject came up in a conversation with a nice couple. I met in Tulsa, Oklahoma years and years ago. I was on the road full-time. And I got a booking at a nice hotel in that area. And that couple came in several nights while I was there. They heard a song I wrote, which I’ll share the lyrics to below. And on my break, we all talked about it.

In the end, we all agreed to come down to this: “If I don’t want that done to me, I shouldn’t do it to someone else.” Yeah, get together with the ones you love and talk over what’s going on. If you realize the rules aren’t working, somebody needs to say…

Let’s Break Some Rules

We play it all so careful.
We live within our means.
We don’t wear lots of jewelry or ninety dollar jeans.
We do our own repair work.
We water own lawn.
We’ve minimized the risks we take,
But now the thrill is gone

So let’s break some rules tonight…
Incite a riot in our hearts.
Let’s break some rules tonight…
Get someone else to play our parts.
Let’s create some tension;
Go out and grab some danger,
And they make say we look like total fools,
But at least for awhile…let’s break some rules.

We curse those Monday mornings
We gripe about our pay
We say we’ll make some changes
But it just can’t be today.

Chorus…

Well, who’s gonna do it if we don’t?
Who’ll make it better if we won’t?
I wonder…don’t it make you wonder?!

chorus…etc.

© 1987 Tony Funderburk (April 29)

(psst…if you wanna hear an old recording of this song, Tune in to The Power of God’s Love Podcast)

Get Tony’s Daily Devotional delivered to your inbox for free.

I share it with believers who want to focus on the power of God’s love and rightly divide the word of truth. Spend your time reading, listening, and watching good stuff based on the power of God’s love instead of looking for it. And, to show my sincere appreciation for your time and attention, I’ll send you download links to music and The Very First 6 Days (a rhyming book for kids about the creation week) right away. Kids from 3 to 103 can enjoy these fun goodies. Just add your email to the form and let’s connect right away.

The form can be filled in the actual website url.

Stay tuned,

The post Break rules but not like fools appeared first on Tony Funderburk.

By the Grace of God I’ve enjoyed a life filled with music, singing, and songwriting. I’ve been all over the country because of my ability to carry a tune. And I say by the Grace of God because I’ve been a miserable failure in so many other ways…so many times. God never saw fit to take my gifts away. For some reason He still trusts me with them…

Even though I’ve let Him down time and time again.

So, my testimony of conscience, today, is this…

I’ve tried to conduct myself with simplicity and godly sincerity in this world. But I freely admit my shortcomings and count myself in the Apostle Paul’s corner as a chief among sinners.

So, does this mean there should be no boasting and I should throw in the towel? Well, if you take it that way, I wonder if you doubt Paul’s sincerity in 2 Corinthians 1:12-14 when he says “for our boasting is this…” And I wonder if you trust one of the follow-up statements “that we are your boast as you also are ours”.

It’s key to know what Paul is talking about in that passage? Those 3 verses begin and end with words about boasting. But the key is in the middle…Grace of God. And shouldn’t that key always be in the middle of your life?

Here are the lyrics to a song that describes my testimony. If you wanna hear the song, tune in to The Power of God’s Love Podcast

You Are

I’m not amazing. I’m no king.
No, I’m not the God of anything…
Oh but You are. Jesus…You are.
I’m not a savior. I’m not pure.
No, I’m not the One who has the cure…
Oh but You are. Jesus…You are.

You are…the start and finish
You are…the Morning Star.
Your love will not diminish.
You’re the Life Everlasting.
You’re the Rock of offense.
And You’re the Only Source of Truth
Who makes it all make sense.
If they ask who’s gonna mend
This broken world, I’ll commence
To saying You are. Jesus…You are.

I’m not perfection. I’m not near.
No, I’m not the One anyone should fear.
Oh, but You are. Jesus…You are.
I’m not the True Vine nor The Word.
No, I’m not the Amen that we’ve heard.
Oh, but You are. Jesus…You are.

Chorus 3 times © 2010 TF

Get Tony’s Daily Devotional delivered to your inbox for free.

I share it with believers who want to focus on the power of God’s love and rightly divide the word of truth. Spend your time reading, listening, and watching good stuff based on the power of God’s love instead of looking for it. And, to show my sincere appreciation for your time and attention, I’ll send you download links to music and The Very First 6 Days (a rhyming book for kids about the creation week) right away. Kids from 3 to 103 can enjoy these fun goodies. Just add your email to the form and let’s connect right away.

The form can be filled in the actual website url.

Stay tuned,

The post Grace of God for this guy who’s flawed appeared first on Tony Funderburk.