Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:10] Welcome to another edition of the weekday podcast. Bobby, thanks for hanging out with us today. And I want to remind you that we're in the middle of 21 days of fasting and prayer. So if you haven't joined us yet, live on one of our zoom calls, they're Monday through Friday at 6:30 or noon, Saturdays at 9. And of course we're pray live together in our services every single Sunday. You can find out all of those details and grab a free devotional at Sugarhill Church, 21 days.
[00:00:36] Well, today I just want us to think about this idea of consistency. Now, if you're struggling to show up consistently, you're not broken, you're simply human.
[00:00:46] But it helps to name what's actually getting in the way. And so there are a lot of barriers that stick out to me when it comes to this idea of showing up consistently.
[00:00:57] One is perfectionism. Perfectionism says I'll show up when I have it together. But that day never comes. And the twist is community isn't the reward for being healthy. It's often part of how God heals us. You don't have to be finished to belong. The second thing that gets in the way of us showing up consistently is our priorities. When we don't have a clear compass, everything feels urgent. We live in what people call the tyranny of the urgent. Putting out fire, responding to texts, chasing deadlines. And important things end up getting crowded out. In the early church, what they did in Acts 2 is they decided something simple. They decided we need each other. So they scheduled it, they built around it. And a third barrier for showing up is polarized thinking. Our world is actually being discipled by the algorithm. The algorithm learns what keeps you staring at the screen and it feeds you more of it. Fear, outrage, extremes. And over time, we're shaped by what we consume.
[00:01:53] Community breaks that spell. Community slows us down. Community rehumanizes us. Face to face relationships remind us there are real people behind the opinions. And so today I want you to think about this one idea that a lot of us want community, we just don't want community costs. And if we're honest, most of the time, it's not that we're resisting God, it's that we're distracted, discouraged, or stuck. And that's why I think Acts 2:42 is so powerful. Where it says they were continually devoting themselves, they did it over and over again. They did not treat the spiritual life like a random hobby. They treated it like formation. And so today I want to encourage you, think about it. Are there some barriers that are getting in your way? If it's perfectionism, your counter move to that is humility. Show up as you are. Or if it's priorities, your counter move is clarity. Decide what matters most and protect it. If it's polarization, your counter move is proximity. Spend less time shaped by a feed and more time being shaped by faithful people. You don't need a giant overhaul. You just need one faithful step. So name it. Is it perfectionism, priorities, or polarization? Write it down. Then I want to encourage you to choose one small counter move you can do today. Have a great day. We'll see you soon.
