At the beginning of the year, I heard the Lord say, “Just keep dancing,” a guiding word for this year. I have interpreted that in multiple ways in the last few months, but yesterday, as I prayed in the morning, I heard a new one.

I came to realize that I have allowed my interactions with God to become a means to an end.

Worship, preaching, and discipleship all become transactional - what are we accomplishing? What are we getting out of it? I suppose that is the way our culture views most things.

Our relationship with God has to be different.

Our connection with God IS the end. Our relationship with Jesus IS the goal. THAT is the accomplishment. Spending time with him is NOT about what that time produces, though it WILL produce beautiful things. Spending time with God is about learning to love him and to be loved by him. THE END. It is a good unto itself. It has a higher worth than anything else.

Let us not fall victim to a mindset of production.

Love is not a product—it cannot be earned, bought, or sold, and it has its own purpose.

When God commands us to Love God and Love People, he elevates love to a level far above any of our other actions. In fact, he orients love as the reason we do all the other things.

When Jesus says he is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and End, he sets himself as the origin and the goal of all things. As my favorite verse states, “From Him and Through Him and TO Him be all things.”

Yesterday, I felt an invitation to be drawn in, to love and be loved with joy and delight, to play and be creative simply for the joy of doing that together, to rejoice and celebrate God for the beautiful and enjoyable person he is, and for no other reason. I felt like the Holy Spirit said to me, “This is righteous… this is holy.” I would encourage you to do the same.