For just a minute, think about how crucial farmers are for our way of life. We are so accustomed to buying food (including fresh food) year-round in grocery stores that we almost forget how much work went into planting, harvesting, and transporting our food. Think about how difficult it would be if you had to grow your own food to survive. Even though modern technology has made huge changes in the farming industry, farming is still hard work. Farmers have to be part engineer, part biologist, part chemist, part weatherman, and part businessman. There is a lot of book-knowledge and wisdom from experience that goes into being a successful farmer. Farming is hard work.

In 2 Timothy 2:3-6, Paul wanted Timothy to understand that living out his call as a Christian would be challenging and would require self-denial, focus, and diligence. The three analogies he used make his point come to life in vivid pictures: “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, and the Lord will give you understanding in everything” (2 Timothy 2:3-7). 

A few years ago, I visited the home of a preacher in a beautiful valley in central Washington. As we walked around his property, he showed me his small orchard of fruit trees. He explained to me that his fruit trees have been a living parable for his ministry. He planted the orchard the same year that he began his ministry at the church where he still preaches more than 20 years later. The fruit trees on his property remind him that his life as a Christian and as a minister is not about quick flashy growth but about long term, sustainable growth. The farmer knows that to have a harvest at the end of the season he must give consistent, diligent effort for months. And in the case of orchards, it may be years before the trees mature and begin bearing much fruit. Similarly, Paul wants Timothy to know that he must be in it for the long-haul. Just like a farmer works diligently for months or even years for a harvest, we must give ourselves to the Lord’s work with diligence. And because we ultimately lean upon the Lord’s strength and not our own, we can trust that he will bless our efforts with fruit—maybe not in outwardly visible ways like numerical growth, but at least in growth in Christlikeness in our heart and in the hearts of Christians around us. Like the hardworking farmer, let us work diligently for our master so that when he returns he finds us faithful and we can find our eternal rest in him after our labors on earth are done.

Over the last two weeks, approximately 3500 elite athletes representing 93 countries gathered from every corner of the globe to compete in the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in the beautiful Italian Alps. While the athletes compete in these sports, they must follow strict rules designed to ensure fair competition. But every year, it seems, there are disputes about the rules. This year, controversy has erupted over alleged infractions of the so-called “double touch” rule in curling. Athletes who are caught breaking rules during the Olympics can face immediate disqualification and may even be banned from the Olympics in the future. The International Olympic Committee is serious about the fact that athletes must compete according to the rules. In 2 Timothy 2:5, Paul uses the imagery of an athlete to make the point that we as Christians must abide by God’s rules. “An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.” Just like the athlete must know the rules and follow the rules, so we must know God’s rules and follow God’s rules. 

First, just like the men and women competing in the Olympians, we must know the rules. It would be foolish if an athlete broke the rules and then challenged his disqualification by claiming: “I didn’t know that was the rule!” Athletes are expected to know the rules of their sport. The responsibility lies on them to be informed of the rules to which they are accountable. Ignorance is not an excuse. Similarly, we are responsible for knowing the rules God has given us for how to live. You and I know that God has revealed himself to us and that he has communicated his will for how we ought to live and what kind of people we ought to become. On the last day, you and I will not be able to stand before God and defend our ungodly living by claiming “I didn’t know that was what you wanted me to do!” God has revealed his will for us; it is our obligation to read and understand his Word and live it out as best we can with the help of his Spirit inside us. Second, like the athletes in the Olympics, we must follow the rules. It would make no sense to know the rules but refuse to follow them. If a competitor demonstrated such a high-handed contempt for the rules, he or she would certainly be disqualified. Knowing the rules is crucial, but just knowing them is not enough. We have to humble ourselves and follow the rules. This week, remember that you are an athlete for Christ; know the rules, and follow the rules. In the race of life, compete according to the rules, and then you can look forward to the crown of victory that God will give you at the end of your race.

I’m thankful for the men and women in uniform who protect our country and keep us safe. Many of them do dangerous and often thankless jobs to protect us, and others train diligently to be ready at a moment’s notice to protect our country and her citizens from threats. They take orders and execute them efficiently, they undergo hard training and sometimes dangerous missions, and those who serve active deployments can find themselves in literal life-and-death conflicts. Turns out, there is a lot for us as Christians to learn from the job of a soldier. Like them, we as soldiers of Christ take our orders from our higher-ups, we suffer and do hard things, and we are engaged in a life-and-death struggle. In 2 Timothy 2:3-6, Paul uses three analogies to drive home one big idea: being a follower of Jesus requires self-denial, focus, and diligence. “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.” Much like the soldier, we as Christians have certain obligations and responsibilities that are our duty to faithfully carry out.

In the first place, we receive our orders from our higher-up, our Commanding Officer. It is not up to us to decide how to conduct ourselves or to decide what our mission is. Like a soldier, we receive orders and commands from our superior and we are expected to adhere to the mission and the standard operating procedures, as laid out in his instructions, the Bible. Second, much like soldiers must endure a grueling boot camp as well as other seasons of intense training, we too must be willing to suffer and do hard things for our Lord. Sometimes he leads us through seasons of difficulty that purify us and make us stronger in our faith. A soldier must go through training in order to become stronger so that he is ready for attack at any time. In the same way, if we face the challenges that lie in our path with God’s help, we can become stronger and more equipped to serve him in other seasons of life. Third, we as Christians—like soldiers—are engaged in a life-and-death struggle. Soldiers know that there is no place for complacency on the battlefield. That ought to be a lesson for us that there is no room for complacency in our Christian lives. If we let our guard down—even for a minute—we could expose ourselves to the attacks of the evil one. Fellow soldiers of Christ, remember that you have signed on as a soldier in the greatest army there ever was, the army of Christ. If we share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus, we will assuredly share in his victory, for our Commander cannot lose. 

In last week’s post, we considered the similarities between forgotten lunches of weeks and months gone by and the sermons, prayers, and Scriptures we listen to, pray, and read. We highlighted the fact that just because I don’t remember what I ate for lunch a year ago does not change the fact that that meal was important for me then and helped bring me to this point in my life. Similarly, even if I do not remember every sermon I heard, every prayer I prayed, and every Scripture I read in the last year, each one of those influences was still crucial for my spiritual nourishment and growth. 

Now consider another lesson we can learn from yesterday’s lunch. Have you ever heard someone say, “I ate lunch yesterday, so I don’t need to eat lunch again today”? Probably not! It would be ridiculous to conclude that since you had lunch yesterday, you don’t need to eat lunch again today! Yesterday’s lunch filled me and sustained me yesterday, but it cannot fill me or sustain me again today. Yesterday’s lunch was only good for yesterday, not for today. No one ever treats physical food this way, so isn’t it odd that we are tempted to treat the Bread of Life, the true food for our souls, in this way? Satan tempts us to think, I read my Bible yesterday, or I went to church on Sunday, so I don’t need to read it again today.” While it is of course true that yesterday’s or last Sunday’s Bible reading and worship do continue to benefit us today, it would be wrong to assume that since we ‘checked that box’ yesterday or the day before we are excused from needing time with God and his word again today. Instead, think of your time with God like your spiritual food for the day. You may have eaten lunch yesterday, but today is a new day, so you need to eat lunch again.

Let’s be like the Bereans whom we read about in Acts 17:10-11. “The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” These Jews were not content to just hear the word taught once a week on the Sabbath in their synagogue. May we, like them, be eager to study the Word of God daily. So this week, just remember that yesterday’s or last week’s or last years’ prayers and Bible reading can’t cover for today, a little like how yesterday’s lunch filled me up then, but it can’t fill me up today. Just as we eat physical food each day, let’s be sure to eat spiritual food each and every single day by worshipping, praying, and reading from God’s word.

What did you have for lunch two Sundays ago? What about a month ago? What about on this day, exactly one year ago? You might remember what you had two weeks ago, but chances are that unless one of those days happened to be a special occasion, you probably can’t answer the second or third question confidently. We generally don’t spend a lot of time thinking about what we had for lunch last week and some of us probably couldn’t even tell you what we ate for lunch yesterday! Isn’t it strange that in the last year of your life you’ve probably eaten between 700 and 1,000 meals, but you probably only remember a handful of them? If in the next year of my life I only ate as many meals as I specifically remember from the last year of my life, I would die of starvation. But just because I do not remember what I ate for lunch last week or a month ago or a year ago doesn’t mean those meals were unimportant. Every single one of those meals was important for my health, energy, and normal functioning in life. Those forgotten lunches—the few memorable ones and all the ones I don’t remember too—are what allow me to be who I am today. They sustained me and brought me to this point in life. 

Now let’s ask those questions we began with again but add a twist. What was the sermon about two Sundays ago? What did you pray about a month ago? What did you read from the Bible on this day, exactly one year ago? Sometimes I couldn’t even tell you what the sermon was about two Sundays ago, and I don’t remember exactly what I prayed for a month ago or what I read from my Bible a year ago! The point is that much like eating hundreds of meals over the past year and only remembering a handful of them, you’ve heard dozens of sermons, prayed countless prayers, and read extensively from God’s word, but at best you can probably only specifically remember a handful of all of those moments! Just like all those forgotten lunches, however, those sermons, prayers, and Scripture readings were crucial to your spiritual health. If in the next year you only listened to as many sermons, prayed as many prayers, and read as much of the Bible as you remember from the past year, you will starve spiritually. So as you worship, pray, and read your Bible daily, remember that these things are shaping you and forming you to become more like Christ, even if a few days from now you don’t specifically remember everything prayed or read. Sermons, prayers, and Scripture readings from days and weeks gone by may be forgotten now, but they are never unimportant.

If you grew up praying the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6, you’re familiar with the term “daily bread.” This phrase reminds us of a time in the Old Testament when God literally gave his people their daily bread. The account is found in Exodus 16 at a time when the people of Israel were grumbling against Moses. They were saying, “Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger” (Ex. 16:3). So God told Moses that he was about to send bread to the people so that they would see his power and know that he is the one true God. On the very next day, “…when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground… Moses said to them, ‘It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat…’” (Ex. 16:14-15). Moses commanded the people to gather as much of it as they could eat, but warned them, “Leave no part of it over till the morning” (Ex. 16:19). The people were supposed to trust that God would provide more bread for them the next day; therefore they were not to try to save any of it overnight to eat on the next day. Some didn’t listen to Moses, and the bread that they saved back for the next day became worm-infested and stinky. God was teaching his people to trust in him for their daily bread. Each day he provided what they needed for that day, no more and no less.

Jesus also taught his disciples that he was the true bread of life that came down from the Father (John 6:48-51). He compared himself to the manna in the Old Testament, pointing out that the benefits of manna were only temporary and physical in nature, whereas Jesus brings eternal and spiritual blessings to those who receive him and ‘feed’ on his words. When we see the parallel between the manna and Jesus (the true bread from heaven), we recognise that the manna is teaching us something about how to ‘feed’ on Jesus. Just as the Israelites had to collect the bread from heaven day by day, so we must feed on Jesus’ word day by day. The incident with the manna in the Old Testament foreshadows Jesus and teaches us that this is the proper way to feed on the bread of life—daily. So, if you wish to receive the spiritual nourishment from Jesus, the true bread from heaven, you have to feed on his word every day. Not once in a while, not even once a week during worship, but every single day. Just as the Israelites had to gather the manna each day, let us feed on the True Bread from heaven daily by reading the Bible every day.

The phrase keystone habit refers to a seemingly small habit that sets in motion a ripple effect, positively impacting many other areas of your life. Keystone habits include things like making your bed, family dinner around the table, and regular exercise. While these daily rhythms may seem inconsequential, these and other similar routines can bring countless benefits to your life. For example, many people quickly find that regular exercise increases alertness during the day and improves sleep at night. Regular exercising is a habit that can make you feel better overall, positively impacting the rest of your day, even when you’re not exercising. Gathering as a family for dinner around the table is so beneficial for children (and the rest of the family) that the American College of Pediatricians recommends that “pediatricians should encourage parents to make every effort to regularly gather around the “Family Table” for meals” (https://acpeds.org/the-benefits-of-the-family-table/). These small keystone habits positively impact your life, making it easier to form other good habits which in turn lead to more good habits.

Keystone habits are just as relevant to your growth as a Christian as they are to other aspects of your life. Just as there are keystone habits that positively impact the health of your physical body and your relationships, there are keystone habits that positively impact your spiritual health and your growth as a disciple of Jesus. Can you guess what the number one spiritual keystone habit is? You guessed it!—regularly reading the Bible. This is the spiritual keystone habit that positively impacts all other spiritual habits. This is the rising tide that raises all the boats. If you are regularly experiencing meaningful time reading God’s word, you are much more likely to participate in other Christian practices too, like praying, giving, serving, gathering for worship, and fasting. But if you do not regularly read God’s word on your own, it becomes difficult to sustain other meaningful Christian disciplines. Just as it is normal for babies to desire milk, so we ought to desire God’s word. If an infant is not eating and is not crying to be fed, something is wrong. If we are not being fed daily with the word of God and we are not crying out for it, then something is wrong with us spiritually. Without reading God’s word regularly, we will become spiritually malnourished. But when we diligently read his word, it will fuel our growth in Christlikeness in so many other ways too.

Are there any keystone habits that you need to form in your day-to-day life? Are there any spiritual keystone habits that you need to form? If you want to grow spiritually in 2026, the first best thing you can do is begin a habit of regularly reading God’s word. That is the first step to take on the path that leads to spiritual maturity.

As Christians, we are called to love one another. But how do we know if we love each other the way we ought to? Our culture would tell us that loving others means that you accept them for who they are and you do not try to change them. While there is a nugget of truth in that (we can and should love others who are very different from us in many ways), it is a weak and watered-down view of love that is not biblical. This worldly view of love essentially says that if an action or belief hurts someone else’s feelings or suggests that someone is doing something wrong, then that action or belief is unloving. This is a very subjective view of love that roots the definition of love in feelings, not in truth or justice. According to John, there is a way to know whether or not we are loving other Christians. “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:1-3). The root and foundation for proper love toward other people is love for God and obedience to his commandments. That is to say, if we are not striving to obey God’s commands, we are not ready to properly love our fellow human beings. If we do not submit to God’s rule and authority, we are liable to approve of things that are wrong, all in the name of loving someone.

We can say this another way too. If we love God and keep his commandments then we are on the road to loving others the way we ought to. God commands us to honor everyone (1 Peter 2:17), tell the truth (Col. 3:9), work hard so that we can help the needy (Eph. 4:28), and get rid of wickedness in our lives (James 1:21). Imagine if everyone lived according to God’s commands! We would be so much better off! When we love God and keep his commandments, we are loving others in a way that honors God and is truly biblical love. Our culture has cut God and God’s commandments out of the picture. Is it a great wonder why we are so mixed up now about how to love our fellow human beings? Christian, this week you are going out into a world that is confused about what it means to love each other. Be the voice in the confusion that points people back to a better way, the true way. Point people to our just and holy God who gives us commandments that are true and just and good for us. His commandments are not burdensome; in fact, they give us true life. Let a searching world know that God loves them and that we love others properly when we love God and keep his commandments.

Long ago there was a man named Naaman who suffered from the terrible disease leprosy. When he was told that a certain Jewish prophet named Elisha could heal him, he decided to pay a visit to this man in the hopes of being healed from his disease. As an indicator of how much Naaman wanted to be healed, consider the gifts he took with him to give to the prophet: 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold, and ten changes of clothing (2 Kings 5:5). He was prepared to pay a fortune to the man who could cure him, but his pride almost got in the way of his healing. When Naaman arrived at the prophet’s house, he received instructions to go and wash in the Jordan river seven times. At this, Naaman was furious. “…Naaman was angry and went away, saying, ‘Behold, I thought he would come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.’ …So he turned and went away in a rage” (2 Kings 5:11-12). Naaman’s expectations for a dramatic healing meant that his pride was injured by what he apparently considered to be an insultingly simple command: go and wash in the little, muddy Jordan river. Only when Naaman’s servants talked some sense into him did he go and do as he was instructed, and to his delight he was completely healed of his disease.

Like Naaman, our pride has a way of getting in the way. Pride has a sinister way of creeping into our lives in very subtle ways. We may comfort ourselves that we are not particularly braggadocious, that we don’t always talk about our own accomplishments, or that we live modestly and below our means. Though all those things may be true of us, pride can still sneak in the back door and wrap its tendrils around our heart. One sly way that pride infects us is through habitual prayerlessness. This manifestation of pride is hard to notice because it shows up not as the presence of something bad but as the absence of something good. When we do not pray, we are essentially telling God that we think we can do life on our own. Failing to ask God for help reflects a misplaced trust in our own abilities and a lack of awareness of our need for God. Prayerfulness, on the other hand, forces us to humble ourselves and confess our utter dependance on God. Prayerlessness, then, is a litmus test for pride. If we are habitually prayerless we are refusing to honor God by asking him for his aid, forgiveness, and guidance. In a word, if we are prayerless, we are overcome by pride. Ask God to forgive you of any tendencies to prayerlessness and ask him to help you increase your commitment to praying daily. When you do, you will be blessed and God will be honored.

Too often, we suffer from spiritual goldfish syndrome. We live as if we have forgotten that we have received the best news ever! We muddle through a mundane day, forgetting that we are children of the Most High God who has adopted us into his family and promises to give us an eternity with him in glory! For the Christian, life is not a series of pointless days stretching into a meaningless existence. For the Christian, life is rapidly progressing towards God’s purposes and each day is therefore to be used for his glory! But it is so easy to forget all this and slip back into neutral. It’s so easy to get sucked into the minutiae of life, to be distracted by the fleeting, unimportant things of life, and to grow desensitized to the greatness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The solution to this problem is the practice of remembering.

Every day, take a minute to remember the gospel. Remind yourself every day of the truth about who you are and whose you are. Remind yourself that God saved you, not because he was impressed with your spiritual resume, but because in his mercy and kindness he offered his Son as a sacrifice for our sins, to pay our immense debt, so that we could be saved through faith in him. Remind yourself that because God saved you through the death of his son, you belong to him. Your life is not to be used for your own will and desires but is to be lived for the will of God (1 Peter 4:1-3). Remind yourself that God is always faithful, and he will not fail on his promises. Remind yourself that death is not the end of your existence and that you will live for eternity after death. Remind yourself that because you are in Christ, you are delivered from God’s wrath against sin, that you are washed, sanctified, and justified. 

Paul told the Ephesians to remember their condition apart from Christ in order to appreciate the good news of Jesus Christ. “Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called ‘the uncircumcision’ by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:11-13). This was their story; this is our story. Without Christ we are separated from Christ, without hope and without God. Never forget where you came from. Never forget what God rescued you from. Never forget how much God has done for you. Never forget that God loves you and sent his Son to die for you and gave you his Spirit to strengthen you. Remember the best news ever—Jesus Christ our Lord!