Delight in Your Day

When was the last time you truly enjoyed something? You can be disciplined in the morning, at work, and at home—and still be running on empty inside. In this episode, Chris Alessi goes inward with something near and dear to his heart. 

What defines a man isn't what he has or what he's accomplished; it’s what he delights in. Most of us think, "If I had more blessings, then I could delight more." But Scripture flips it: God calls the man blessed who delights in the law of the Lord—His way. So delight in the drive. Stop living twenty or thirty minutes ahead of where you actually are. Never ask for less time, because time is the one resource everybody has but no one can get more of. 

Verse of the Day

 Psalm 1:2 (NIV)  "But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night."

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Welcome!

The Men's Morning Devotional is a podcast to help you man up in every way - in your faith, your family and your work - by spending a few minutes getting into the Word before you face the world. 

Every weekday, you'll get a challenge and encouragement from Scripture that speaks to the pressures you carry as a husband, a father, and a leader. You’ll get truth you can take straight into your day. And you’ll know you’re not standing alone, because men everywhere are waking up to fight the same battle.

Your hosts are Steve Alessi, pastor of Metro Life Church of Miami, FL, along with his sons and other leaders of our Goodfellas men's ministry.

Join us every weekday to man up! 

MORE PODCASTS YOU'LL ENJOY

Find more podcasts about faith and family from Metro Life Studios, including:

My Morning Devotional

The Family Business with The Alessis

The Mary and Martha Show 

You can listen to all of these shows on our Metro Life Studios app here! 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Gentlemen, every day is a battle. A battle for your faith, your family, and your coach. The minute stand strong don't prepare when the battle arrives. They prepare before it begins. Welcome to the men's morning devotional. Let's get into God's word. It's time to man up.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

All right, everybody, it's Thursday. It's day four of week two of our men's morning devotional. My name is Krista Lese, and up to this point this week, we've talked about our morning, we've talked about work, we've talked about home. But today we're going to talk about something that's very near and dear to my heart, something that I really am working on right now. We're going inward a little bit, so I hope you've got the grace for it. But here's what I've noticed: we can be, as men, very disciplined in every area of our lives, in the morning, at work, and even at home. And yet we can actually still be running on empty inside if we haven't cultivated something even deeper. So today's man-up moment is about this. A man who delights in God never runs out of fuel. And the thing that actually defines him here, the things that make him different from other men, is what he delights in. Not what he has, not his accomplishments, but the fact that he can delight. I do believe if you were to sit down and catch me at lunch, I would talk about how I believe that we we're enjoying things less and less. I think part of that has to do with how addicted we are to different forms of media and we're taking so much in that we can't really delight. We're so obsessed with dopamine that we don't really enjoy anything anymore. But if we really, if I could put that away and not make this podcast about that today, I still think that many of us approach this idea of delighting in our lives from the perspective of if I had more blessings, then I could delight more. But this verse seems to flip it. That God actually looks at a man who can delight in the law of the Lord, which doesn't mean rules or systems, it just means his way. Guys, our lives are God's way. The way this world works, it's God's way. If we can delight in our lives, like we delight in the law of the Lord, it seems as if this verse is implying that God calls that man blessed. And so let's delight in our lives. Let's enjoy the drive today. Let's not multitask and start texting while driving, and not even because of the safety concern, but because of the delight concern. One of the things I've been doing lately is not using ways because when I use ways or maps, my brain sees two different times, the time it is and the time it'll be when I arrive. And that's just started to affect me deeply because it's almost like, man, my brain thinks I'm 20 or 30 minutes ahead. And that's such a great metaphor for life. Our heart wants to be 20 or 30 minutes, 20 or 30 miles, 20 or 30 days or weeks or years ahead. But it's not that time. It's today. It's right now. And I won't delight in that time if I can't delight in this time. If I can't enjoy my drive wherever I'm going today because I'm sick of the traffic or I'm in a rush, I'll bring that with me to wherever I'm going. So if my wife and I want to go to my favorite breakfast place, if I don't enjoy the drive over, the actual breakfast isn't as good because I'm bringing that kind of, I hate to use the word, but I bring that energy into the restaurant with me. I'm still coming down from all the stress of the car ride. So I've just decided, you know what? I want to delight in God in every moment of my life. It was the great wise prophet, John Mayer, who at a concert I was at recently actually stopped one of the songs he was performing, turned to the crowd and said, Never ask for less time. When you watch the clock wanting it to go away, or when you're sitting in class and you're just hoping class is over, you're begging for less time. When you wake up in the morning and you're tired and you start dreaming of getting home so you can go back to bed. You're literally asking God for less time. And I've heard it said that time is the one resource that everybody has, but no one can get more of. So I I pray that you'd really accept today's man up challenge. Delight in God today. Delight in his way. If that means that today's a little bit harder, delight in the fact that you are being strengthened and hardened for better. Don't get caught up in thinking, I will delight when the blessings come. Start to delight and watch it how the blessings come. And let's pray together. Lord, we want to be men who delight genuinely in you and in the lives you've given us. Not just out of duty, Father, but out of a love. A love for you and what you've given us. I pray that you'd open our eyes to see how good your ways are. Let it become the things that we're actually grateful for. We're grateful for your ways. In Jesus' name, amen.

SPEAKER_00 6:43

All right, gentlemen, you've heard God's word. Now go live it. Lead well, stay strong, honor God in everything you do. Share this devotional with another brother, and we'll see you tomorrow morning. Remember, every day is another opportunity to man up.