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1 Thessalonians 5:16, 17 & 18 Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

I f anyone was to write a motto for the Christian faith, they could do no better than these three verses from Paul’s letter. They represent three qualities that the world sadly lacks: joy, prayer, and gratitude. If we could display these three fundamental elements in our lives, then the world would be attracted to the church. Sadly, however, we get pulled into doing the opposite: instead of communicating joy, we are critical of others; instead of faithfully praying, we capitulate to wishful thinking; and instead of showing gratitude to God, we are self-centered and feel entitled to what we get.

The world sees us as no different from them, so why should they follow our Savior when we don’t live our lives joyfully, prayerfully, and gratefully?

Today, I’m starting a new weekly radio show to challenge ourselves as much as the world. It’s called “Seven Days” and will deal with the issues we face as Christians, some of which are caused by our own pride and self-indulgent choices. Hopefully, some of the topics discussed will help us to look at who we are in the world, confronting our prejudices, hypocrisy and injustices. It won’t be a cozy conversation about how great, perfect and right we are; rather, it will be a vehicle to make us face up to some of the conflict that faith and religion has brought into the world.

We all want to be joyful rather than judgmental; we all look to be more prayerful rather than petulant; we all aspire to be more grateful than greedy. The world has more than enough of folk like that; it’s about time that we as Christians ‘fessed up to our mistakes and started to make godly choices in our lives. There’s a world out there to win, but it can only be won if we win within.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, teach us the art of joy, prayer, and gratitude. Help us to overcome being judgmental, petulant and greedy. Guide our thoughts and shape our decisions, so that w e may live according to Your ways and not our own. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

P.S You can listen to the radio show each Friday on 1180AM Knoxville, 1120 AM Maryville at 4pm EDT. You can also tune in live on the internet at Southernrootsradio.com