The "5 & 1" Challenge

The only way to become the kind of person God has created us to be is to have a relationship with God, where we talk to Him, listen to Him, obey Him, and become like Him. Through Jesus we know God, we love God, we "hang out" with God.

As we do this, we will often easily reject sinful, selfish, nasty attitudes of envy, pride, etc. When you are really absorbed in a relationship with another person, "in love", you naturally want to make them happy and you naturally avoid those things that are going to hurt them!

The key to loving God - and to being transformed by His love - is developing a thankful heart.

So the challenge set out this past Sunday was this:

Start your day being thankful for 5 things. Make them 5 things you can say "Thank You God" for. For example:

"Lord, I'm thankful for my car. You use it to get me around.
Lord, thank you for Jesus - I love to read the stories about Him and His love.
Lord, thank you for my parents. They're not perfect, but you used them to teach me about life.
Lord, thank you for my job. You use it to provide for me.
Lord, thank you for saving my life when I was in that accident 7 years ago."

And then pray for 1 person whom you are tempted to envy. Pray for them! I guarantee you they have problems, as we all do in life. Pray for them, that God would be close to them and reveal the love of Jesus to them.

Take the "5 & 1" challenge. Even just try it for a week, if you're not used to it. Take it.

And then watch - just WATCH - as God transforms your attitudes and your whole person - to be the "lamp in the house" (Matthew 5:14-16) you were MADE to be.