PRAISE IN THE REVOLUTION

My routines have been disturbed. No, destroyed. I am a creature of routine. I wake up around the same time, go to the gym at the same time, watch my kids go to school and get home at the same time. I coach practices on the same days and the same times. If you are like me you have routines and these routines are in chaos at this moment. I’m watching the news more than I want to. I am inside more than I need to. I worry more than I have to. The problems we face are beginning to become our new routines and focus.

This is where, I believe, many of us find ourselves today. Our lives have been disrupted. We have gone from predictable routines and plans to uncertainty, fear and confusion. We need a change of perspective, a revolutionary change.

I have found myself hunkered down in 1 Peter 3:3-6. In this passage Peter writes to his audience, in my opinion, on how to change our mindset. He writes our perspectives are created on the foundation of our “new birth of living hope” found in our “imperishable inheritance” through Christ. But the verse order is just as important. Peter begins, in verse 3, proclaiming praise before he proclaims the problem. In verse 6 he writes a fact, we may face suffering, but he begins in verse 3 with giving praise. This is a wonderful lesson for us all, we must filter everything through praise not problems. Our perspective changes when we choose praise before we address the problem.

This is a great lesson to us all. I think most of us, especially in today’s time, see the problem first. We go to news or social media and are flooded with the problem. When, in fact, God is calling us to praise and to base this praise on the fact we are on the cusp of a revolution not just a revival. A person who chooses praise first, is a revolutionary leader who views situations not as problems but opportunities. These opportunities are buoyed by the new birth and inheritance shielded by God’s power. To choose praise is truly revolutionary, causing a dramatic or complete change.

I’m aware our circumstances can overwhelm our praise and magnify our problems. I’m not sure what God is calling us to, many smarter than me seem to have that figured out. What I do know is God has provided us a living hope no matter our circumstances and he did this through the most revolutionary act the world has ever seen, his son, a cross, a grave and a resurrection. To me this deserves a revolutionary leaders. This deserves revolutionary perspectives. This deserves revolutionary praise.