Everyone lives for something—but is there one thing that matters most? Something that brings ultimate meaning and purpose to our lives? Louie Giglio answers both questions with a resounding yes! You only get one brief shot at life, so you must make it count.

For most of us, there’s not a shortage of dreams for our future; there is a fear that we might not be able to shake our past.

Even with our best intentions of how things are going to be different “this time,” the undercurrent of past habits, relationships and failures drags us back into the patterns of life that have haunted us for so long.

Yet, though your past is real, this is the word of God to you today: You can begin again. What’s done is done, but today is a new day. And God’s mercy welcomes each new day, blanketing us with hope for a new start.

When God delivered His people from the bondage of Egypt He led them by fire at night and by a cloud in the daytime.  Both the pillar of fire and the cloud were in front of the people, not behind them.

“By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light…” Exodus 13:21

It’s interesting to note that this passage comes from a book titled Exodus for a reason. God’s people were exiting the past and moving forward into what He had dreamed of and promised for them.

What bondage does God want you to exit today? What habit, guilt, shame, or fear does He want to free you from? And, what truth are you believing God will lead you into?

The enemy wants you to keep looking back, mesmerized by the past and its hold on your life.  But the truth is this: when Christ gave His life in death on the cross, He parted something far more significant than the Red Sea, as God did for Israel in Exodus.  When Jesus cried, “It Is Finished,” the curse over your life was shattered into oblivion, and the veil of the temple in Jerusalem, that majestic curtain separating the people from God’s very presence, was ripped in two.

Because of the finished work of Jesus, the price is paid. Guilt is over. Shame is powerless. Condemnation is silenced. Whatever has been done to us (or by us) has been healed in Jesus’ wounds. Death is dead. And Jesus is alive.

So, it’s not our righteousness or faithfulness or mercy that anchors us today, but the righteousness, faithfulness, and mercy of the Jesus who lives in all who trust in Him.  Let His finished work sound the gun on a brand new start.

You can begin again. Today.

Nothing defines the Passion Movement more than a desire to make much of the name of Jesus.

In a culture where marketing machines grind day in and day out to push another name to the top of the heap, one name stands supreme: Jesus. For Jesus, there is no rival, no equal, no competition. Jesus is not just the first. He is the last. He is the Beginning and the End. His name echoed throughout the universe before mankind breathed its first breath. And Jesus’ name will be anthemed in eternity long after all other little names have vanished into obscurity.

So what’s the problem? If Jesus is unmatched in beauty, kindness, love, majesty, grace and glory, why would we possibly need to constantly be reminded not to fall for lesser names? Because sin’s got game, and in our fallen, weakened, clouded state we’re just not that smart.

Apart from an awakening that only the Spirit of God can bring, a revelation of Jesus that peels the scales from our near-sighted eyes, we bump along from one of earth’s affections to the next, losing sight most days of true and rare beauty. We miss Jesus, the Creator of it all.

What about you? What name is on your lips today? No, not what name is on your religious affiliation papers. Who are you talking about the most today?

No doubt, worldly names are going to cross our lips throughout the day. After all, we are called to be “in the world, yet not of it.” But what name is going to rise above? Who are people going to be talking about when you stop talking?

To win the “name game,” we need a God-birthed view of Jesus—a supernatural revelation of the Risen Son of God so captivating it drowns out the chirping of all the world’s names in a heartbeat. We need a glimpse of what Isaiah saw in the year King Uzziah died:

“I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple…” Isaiah 6:1-4

Or, we need a glimpse of Jesus like John encountered in Revelation 1:12-17. At one point John describes Jesus’ “face shining like the sun in all its brilliance.” (v. 16).

I want to know Jesus like that. Not a storybook character. Not a self-conceived savior. Not a Jesus crafted after my likeness. But, the Risen Jesus. The One who knows no equal.

God is passionate about God.

That can be a weird thought for some, but think about it this way. God knows who He is and He knows He is God. Thus, God is into God. Who else would He hold in higher esteem? But this doesn’t make God an egotist. An egotist is anyone less than God who is trying to lift themselves up as more important than everyone else.

As it turns out this is not the case with God. For God, there actually is no one greater than Himself. And being God, He knows it. Thus, God is into God. And He’s not interested in sharing His glory with anyone else.

But here’s the amazing part. Though He is supreme, God is not “stuck up” in the way we normally think of others when we use that term. In fact, God is the most kind, loving, gracious one you will ever meet. God is fierce in defending His glory and unrivaled in His worth, He is so generous to share His fortune of beauty with you and me. Jesus has the name that is above every other name, yet the very passage in scripture in which we find this statement tells us that Jesus emptied and humbled himself, choosing to die for you and me.

But His story doesn’t end there.

Jesus gave His life to defeat our pursuers (sin and shame), yet was raised up to never-ending life by the power of God to finish off death, hell, and the grave. As a result, Jesus now holds the name that is greater than any other. He always has and He always will.

Yet, consider this: this unmatched Jesus is in love with you. He knows your name, and because of His great grace you can call Him by His. You can know and be known by the One who holds the greatest name of all time.

There is no name like Jesus. There is power in His name…healing in His name. Demons tremble at the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation comes through His name. In His name, the outcast are invited into God’s Kingdom. And, in the end, every other name is dwarfed by the name of Jesus. After all, if you put the Sun on display in a lighting store who would be interested in purchasing a table lamp or chandelier?

We have been called out of darkness and into light, called from death and into life, all by the name of Jesus. As a result, we are as passionate about God’s name as God is, desiring to live our lives to make His great fame known to all.

Your worth is based on the value God has placed on you.

You are not defined by your past, your failures, what someone else said you’re worth, what you think you’re worth, your accomplishments, what you own, the way you look or by any other value this world or its people have or have not placed on you.

Your value is forever engraved in the stone that is the Father’s love and He declares, “I am yours and you are mine.” And, He affirms, “you will be my people, and I will be your God.” Jeremiah 30:22.

You did not choose God, and you might not even choose yourself. But, the God of heaven has chosen you. Jesus says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last.” John 15:16

Not only are we chosen by God, we are purchased at a great cost. Our worth has been sealed forever in His love and mercy. Our lives are defined today by His grace alone.

God does not love you based on your performance, potential, religious effort, promises, family name or best intentions. And in spite of your wounds, your stain and your shame He still chose you for Himself. He chose you when you were dead in sin and couldn’t even present yourself to Him as a worthy choice.

God chose you because He saw His own image in you, the divine stamp woven into the fabric of your being when He uniquely knitted your frame together in secret. And He decided you were worth a rescue mission of love that would require the death of His own Son.

Your value today, and forever, rest in this truth alone—By grace you are a loved son, a loved daughter, of God.

In Jesus Christ this is true of you. But the enemy will not simply let you go. He will remind you every day of who you used to be. But God tells you who you are.

God loved you enough to swoop into your story and obliterate your sin by crushing His innocent Son, setting you free and redeeming you forever.

One of the great rip-offs in life is the ability sin has to dull our senses, causing us to lose sight of the brief moment of time we have on planet Earth. Somehow, we get wrapped up in the most mundane things, while at any moment, our breath will end.

We are transient. Temporary. Fragile. Finite. Even when we roar with all our power and might, we are just a whimper in the vast cosmos, like a shadow fading with the setting sun.

The Psalmist helps us refocus with this prayer: “Show me, O LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man’s life is but a breath. “Selah” Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.” Psalm 39:4-6.

To put it another way, we only get one brief shot at life. And what we do with it matters forever. So we need God’s help every day to treasure what deserves to be treasured and to enjoy what will always satisfy us.

The beauty of grace is that it awakens us to more and invites us to what lasts. We come to know Jesus by faith, and through Him, we embrace the grace-bought opportunity to use our voices, our gifts, our influence, our joy, our suffering, our weakness, and our pain to boast in His goodness. In our less, He becomes more. And in our more, we know that He is greater still.

The power in it all is that no matter what the journey deals us, we know that no circumstance and no power can keep us from the love of God nor keep us from telling the world about Him. So life, no matter how brief, takes on the broad strokes of eternity. And, when lived for Him, our days really do end up lasting forever.

In the end, there is nothing to risk, just everything to gain.

“But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” Philippians 3:7-11.

Why play it safe? Why sleepwalk when the Spirit of the Living God is wide awake?

You only get one shot, a brief few seconds to make your life count. It’s your move.

There are few things more heavenly than standing (or kneeling) in a crowd of tens of thousands of followers of Jesus singing songs of praise to the One who sets us free. It’s a sliver of what’s to come, and though it doesn’t hold a candle to the celebration that awaits us in heaven, it’s the best we have for now as we navigate a fallen world.

But worship can’t be contained in our songs alone.

True worship is so much more. When the grace of God explodes in our hearts and we awaken to the reality that we are sought after, forgiven, ransomed and free, we snap out of our me-centered way of thinking and click into God’s beating heart for the last and least of these on earth.

And we discover that our songs of worship are not the final destination. They are the fuel that propels us as we run to the broken, the imprisoned, the slave, the weak.

God loves songs of praise that reflect His glory. Yet, God also loves justice and those who carry it in their hands. “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” Hebrews 13:15-16.

Worship and justice are two sides of the same coin. You really can’t have one without the other. This is the worship that God desires.

He says: “Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” Psalm 82:3-4.

It’s good to tell God, “my heart is Yours,” but it makes Him really happy when you also tell Him you will not turn away from those He loves. Jesus declared that the Spirit of God was on His life, something we all want desperately to experience and claim. But note the anointing wasn’t for Him alone. The power of God came on Jesus so He could free us:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4:18-19.

The Holy Spirit doesn’t empower us for feel-good stories.

He makes us bold so we can join God’s justice mission. For when we truly believe the songs we sing, and claim the freedom they proclaim, we are compelled to break down the walls of injustice so others can hear the music. This is the kind of worship that is truly heavenly.

God can move a mountain with a whisper, make a universe with a word, silence hell in one fatal blow.

His power has no end. So why do we try to live life on our own and manage in our strength?

The beauty of walking with Jesus is not only that our debt is erased when we put our trust in Him for salvation, but that Jesus Christ takes up residence in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus doesn’t just give us life. He is our life!

This is the power of the gospel and this gospel leads us to a brand new approach to life: less trying, more trusting.

This is our only hope for real change. Sure, we have to participate in God’s unfolding work in our lives, but we can never forget that it is Jesus within us who does what we cannot do alone.

Through faith in Jesus your life is immersed in the life of Christ, and in Christ you are forever hidden in God. “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Colossians 3:1-4.

Often our approach to life is to believe God for our eternal salvation, yet to rely on our own ability for everything else while we are on Earth. But the same Jesus who saves us forever, saves us day by day.

The mystery is not Christ and you. But Christ in you!

When faced with temptation, trial or challenge, breathe out this prayer: Jesus, I can’t do this on my own. When you make this confession you tell the God of Creation what He already knows. But don’t just breathe out your weakness. Breathe in His strength: But, Jesus, I know You can…and You live in me.

In this exchange you enter into what is true, that Jesus has already conquered whatever you are facing and He lives to conquer it in and through you. Walk in the freedom that has already been won for you in Him! Step in obedience knowing that He will supply the power you need.