The Mind Body Project
The Mind Body Project
SoulFit: You Don’t Earn God’s Love; You Live From It
We share how to move from striving for approval to living from secure love, using the Prodigal Son to show why identity as God’s children frees us to rest and grow. We end with a simple challenge and prayer—Hineni, here I am—to practice trust over control.
• three pillars of growth: physical, mental, spiritual
• identity as children, not hired workers
• the Prodigal Son read and applied to life
• the father’s compassion versus the older brother’s resentment
• God restores imperfect people across Scripture
• striver mindset contrasted with daughterhood
• practical signs of striving in daily routines
• loved in your becoming, not just arrival
• weekly challenge to name striving and trust God
• Hineni as a simple, daily prayer of availability
Next week we're gonna talk about obedience before understanding
If you have any comments, questions, please send those to me
It is really our kind of our our targeted audience is men, but it's great information that we take scriptures from the Bible and we dive into those every other week, every other Tuesday. We have about 11 episodes out, and it's called The Road Travel
So we'll get started. So this is our first one for Solfit. So as we get started for Sulfit, as I mentioned to you in classes, that I feel that we you know to make a strong human, we we work really good on the physical part, we work really good on the mental part. And so just adding this class, I think, can help on those three pillars of the spiritual part. So I often there's a lot of things I do that I don't always feel qualified to do. That goes for a lot of areas. And so there's one thing that I always think about when I feel that way. And it's God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called. So we're going to talk about that. That's also out of love. So we're going to talk about today as we how many times do we live as we're trying to earn love? We're trying to earn worth, we're trying to earn approval, we're trying to earn belonging, we're trying to earn these things from people. Maybe it's people around us, maybe it's from the world. And sometimes maybe it's even we feel it's from God. We're trying to earn it from God. But as we're going to talk about today, and we're going to talk about some scripture, that the scripture teaches in that we're not hired workers in God's kingdom. We're his children, his sons and daughters, his daughters. I think so many times we keep trying to achieve it, trying to achieve it. We receive it with his grace and his love. When we ask him into our life, we've received that love. So when we so many times we talk about a lot of anxiousness, about a lot of exhaustion. And I just can't, I'm not enough for everybody. I'm trying to do everything for everybody, I'm just not enough. But when we live from a daughter of God, childhood, daughterhood, not childhood, daughterhood, we live in security, in peaceful, and we're free to grow. So oftentimes we think about maybe we're trained, and when we say trained, I hate to use that word, but we think about the world around us. What is it telling us? It's telling us if I do more, I'll be enough. Because why do we why are we all so busy? Because we want to be enough. If I perform better, I'll be loved. If I get it right, I'll belong. And so we're gonna talk about, you know, how do those how does that look? And then how do we live from not that place, but a place of love that we already belong. We're already loved. So we're gonna start out with, I want to talk first talk, share a parable about in Luke 15. I'm gonna read it because it's kind of long. It's it's not too long, but it's about 15 or so verses. And I and I didn't want to summarize it because I want you to get the whole picture. And I thought that I could read it and would be understand it better than I could paraphrase it. So it's a parable, it's about the prodigal son. We probably all have somebody in our family, well, the prodigal son return, like they're the God's gift, is what we might think. And so, really, as we talk today, I really, you know, we're gonna talk about, I'm gonna talk about some scripture, but I really think it's important that how do we take that stuff from the Bible and how do we apply it to our life? I am by no means a Bible scholar, I don't know the Bible forward and backwards. I could probably barely tell you the Old Testament and New Testament. So I'm not a Bible scholar, but is what I can do is share some verses and some things from the Bible and how do we apply that to our daily life? Because I think sometimes we get broken down in, well, that all sounds good, preacher. That all sounds good in my Bible study. How do I apply that to life? How do I do that? And so that's kind of what we're gonna talk about. But we'll go we'll talk about the prodigal son, I'll read it, and then we'll kind of talk about how that looks in your life, even though you're not a son, but we're gonna say prodigal child. But this is God, Jesus sharing this story from Luke 15, 11 through 32. He said, There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, Father, give me my share of the estate. So he divided his property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had and set off for the distant country, and there squalored his wealth in wild living. Probably some of us had some wild living. We don't probably have to go into great detail about wild living. I bet wild living hasn't changed much from then to now. It's probably a lot of the same thing. After he had spent everything, there's a severe famine in the whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to the citizens of that country who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. When he came to his senses, sometimes we tell our kids, When you come to your senses, you'll realize, right? That's not what Jesus said, but I put that in there. When he came to his senses, he said, How many of my father's hired servants have food to spare? And here I am starving to death. The pigs are eating better than he is. I will set out and go back to my father and say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants. But while he was still, so he got up and went to his father, like, I've had enough of this. I'm going home. But yet he's feeling like when he gets there, his father's gonna say, He's gonna say, He's gonna say, Dad, I sinned, I'm not even worth anything. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him. He ran to his son and threw his arms around him and kissed him. I I kind of think of in in Forrest Gump when he's waving, I think he's waving at his son, and he's like just waving real big. I can see his dad kind of waving at the prodigal son, like, I'm so happy to see you. And so the son says to his father, he said, son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants, Quick, bring the best robe, put it on him, put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring a fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. So they began to celebrate. Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. Here comes some trouble. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him, What's going on? Your brother has come, he replied. The older brother became angry and few refused to go in. But he so his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, Look, all these years I've been slaving for you, never disobeying your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat, so I could celebrate with my friends. But when a son of yours has squandered your property with prostitutes, comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him, that special child, the oldest, the golden child, the prodigal son. All those things we've probably said. My son, the father said, You're always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was found dead and alive again. He was lost and is found. So God God doesn't say fix yourself, then come home. He says, Come home and I'll restore you. And that's Jesus giving that story because that is what he does for us. Let me tell you, let's let's just cover a few of the unsavory characters in the Bible. That God said, Come home and I'll restore you. Abraham lied about his wife, claimed it was his sister. We got Moses, he's a murderer. He disobeyed God and struck a rock. He's got a speech impediment. We got David, committed adultery with Bathsheba. We got Peter, denied Jesus. We got Jonah, he ran from God's command. He went to Nineveh. Well, he didn't want to preach that Nineveh. Noah, he up and went and got drunk after the flood. We got Sarah, laughed in disbelief when the Lord said you want that she'd have a child. We got Martha, she was an excessive warrior. We got Paul, later named, or was it Saul? It's Saul. Saul later named Paul. When he was Saul, he was a prosecutor of Christians. Then at conversion, he became Paul. Rahab, a prostitute from Jericho. We got the Samaritan woman, multiple divorces. We got Jacob, he was a deceiver and cheater. We can go on and on. We got the disciples that fell asleep while Jesus was praying. Jesus is there with them and they fall asleep. So we have so many that he says, Come home and I'll love you. And so how does that look in our world? It looks like a servant mindset, if we're striving to be something, it says, I'll work from love. Whereas being a daughter of God, a child of God says, I live from love. A striver says, I'm ex I'm accepted if I perform. A child of God says, I perform because I'm accepted. A striver says, I'm afraid of failing. A child, a daughter of God says, I'm safe even when I fail. A striver says, I compare myself. A daughter, a child of God says I'm secure in who I am. A striver says, I'm driven by fear. A child of God says, I'm led by trust. Striving says I have to prove myself. When we're a daughter of God says, I already belong. The prodigal son already belonged. Even though all of those things happened, and he said, I'm not good enough. His dad said, Come home. Come home. Um, he said, You are lost, now you're found. How many times has God said that to us? We've been lost, and now you're found. It's not because we lost him, or not because he lost us, it's because we lost our sight of him. We went away. And sometimes we do have to come back. So, what does striving look like? I'll rest when I deserve it. If I don't do everything perfectly, I'll disappoint everyone. I need to prove I'm worth to be here. Why do we stay busy? If I slow down, everything will fall apart. Um, and we have to remember that that isn't strength, that's survival. And we live in a world that we're trying to survive all the time. And when we're a child of God, when we're a daughter of God, it is I can rest because I'm safe. I'm back in the prodigal son, I'm back in my father's arm, I'm in a safe place. I can grow without fear of rejection. The world might offer rejections, but is God ever going to reject us? No. He's always there waiting for us to come back if we if we've wandered off, if we've gone to do some wild living. And all of us might might say a little different things to wild living. Maybe not going to church is wild living, maybe going on a bender is wild living. There's all different things that we consider wild living, but he's still there waiting for us to come back. And just like Forrest Gump, when we come back, just like the the father in Luke 15, when the prodigal son returns, he he's so excited to see him from ways off, he sees him coming, gets so excited. And being a child of God is also, and I and I love this. We talked about Abraham, Moses, David, Saul, later Paul, Rahab, Samaritan woman, Martha, Sarah. He loved them in their becoming, not just because they arrived. He didn't love Saul just because he arrived at Paul. And we're no different. We have to remember I am loved in my becoming, not just my arrival. When I get here, is not when he all of a sudden miraculously loves me. My parents, all through my life, have done all sorts of things, and they've always loved me. I can always go back there for a safe place. I've made a lot of mistakes, I've messed up a lot, but they still love me. And no matter how bad, and sometimes we think, well, I did such bad things so bad, there's no way that God can love me. But he tells the story of the prodigal son. He said he did some wild living, prostitutes, all kinds of stuff, squandered his money, all kinds of stuff. And he tells that story of the prodigal son coming home to show us an example of that is how much we love, no matter how much bad we do, how much wild living we do. And then he shows all those examples of those different people in the Bible that he used for good. There's things in my past I think there's no way God can use me for good. But yet, here we are talking to almost 20 people to share a little bit about the prodigal son and and and how much we can be loved. And so I go back to God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the call, and he loves us in who we are becoming, and he loves us through who we are becoming. It's not like one day we just show up at Tada, we're loved. He loves us all through it. Think about our kids. If you have kids, you love them through the good times, the bad times, the rough times when they're not talking to you. All those things, you love them through that time, and God is no different. He loves us through those things. And it's and and I challenge you to, and here's the challenge is where are you striving most right now? Is it is it maybe work? Is it in your physical, physical being? Is it in the relationships? Is it in your faith? Is it in your parenting? And I think sometimes I haven't been faithful, I haven't been following. He's not he's not ready for me. I gotta get it's kind of like coming into the gym. I gotta get some workouts in, I gotta get lose some weight before I go to the gym. No, as as we say at M2B, just show up, we'll meet you where you are, and and God is no different. And so, where are you striving right now? And what would it look like to trust God in that area? What would it look like to trust Him instead of doing what you're doing, which is trying to control it? Kind of control it like being more busy, doing more things, trying to be in charge of it. But if we are we're not striving, we're in a place that we're loved, and what happens in a place that we're loved, we're free to grow, we're free to be who we are, no matter what. So I so I kind of challenge you this week to think about that. Where where are you striving? And what would it look like to trust God in that area? You let go of control and you let Him take it over, and then maybe it's just simple of when you pray, it says, God, what would it look like for me to live as your daughter instead of your employee? Employee, you're trying to make your boss notice you're trying to do the good things as a daughter. You live in love, so that's that's really the the challenge, is every day we live in love, and that's how we take it out in real in into our lives. We think of the prodigal son, and we think of God that he's gonna love us through our becoming, so no matter all the all the different things we've done, he's gonna love us through that. We don't have to achieve this certain point to be the perfect one, he calls the imperfect, and he will be here over and over and over again for the imperfect. We don't have to be perfect in order to show up. There's a word that I really love, um, and I just heard it again this week, and I'll share it with you, and then we'll close. It's hanini. Hanini is the Hebrew word for here I am. So as you think about that this week, think about that word. No matter what's going on, no matter how bad things have been, no matter how maybe off the rails you are, the wild living and and wild living again can be all sorts of different things. But maybe just this week you say, Lord, here I am. What can I do? I am here, I know you love me, and Lord, here I am. Hanini. I just love that word. It's just a great word. So I'll just finish up in prayer. Sorry about the glitch. I'll have it all fixed by next week. So, but everybody seemed to make it on. So I know I missed a few, and I apologize, but you'll be able to watch it recorded. So just gonna go with the flow, even though it messed up my mojo. So before we close in prayer, next week we're gonna talk about obedience before understanding. This is a tough one. It'll be a good one, though. And I promise I'll keep you under 20 minutes, especially since it's lunchtime. But so I'm gonna close in a quick prayer and then we'll finish up and then you can be on your way. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for each one of us that are here today. I just pray that you watch over them as they go out from here. And Lord, I just pray that that we we come to you and we know that we are loved. We do not have to show up any way special, anything. We don't have to be prepared to come to you. We just have to say, Lord, here I am. I know you love me, and I'm and I'm ready to accept that. I'm ready to be here and I'm ready to grow and and have what you want me to do because I am here. I am here imperfectly, but I am here, and I can go through this day, I can go through this week, knowing that I am loved from you. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Um there's one more thing. Oh, and some of you may or may not know, but I do myself and Alan Hugator, every other Tuesday we host a podcast called The Road Traveled. It is really our kind of our our targeted audience is men, but it's great information that we take scriptures from the Bible and we dive into those every other week, every other Tuesday. We have about 11 episodes out, and it's called The Road Travel. And we just kind of and and we do kind of the same what we do here. We we dive into real life. How do you take that application of the Bible and apply it to your real life? We talk about cussing, about not being good husbands, about sinning, about forgiveness, about death, all those things. And how do we apply those to real living? So thank you, everybody. If you have any comments, questions, please send those to me.