Looking Back, Moving Forward

As we stand on the threshold of a new year, it’s natural to look back and assess where we’ve been. But it’s also crucial to look ahead and ask ourselves: How will I live in the year to come?
The Apostle Paul had something important to say about this in Ephesians 5:15-17:

Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.

The Question We All Need to Ask

Here’s what strikes me about this passage: Paul’s saying there’s nothing casual or accidental about living the Christian life. It takes purpose, commitment, and intentionality.

So let me ask you the same question I’m asking myself as we enter 2026: Are you living carefully, wisely, and intentionally in the area of your faith?

I’ve discovered something about myself over the years. When I “don’t have time” to spend in prayer or Scripture in the morning, I’m usually not “very careful” in how I live throughout the rest of the day. And when I’m not being careful in my walk with Christ, I’m a sitting duck for the devil. It becomes much easier, and more likely, for me to give in to the temptations in my life.

What “Careful” Really Means

The word “careful” in this passage means “accurate and exact.” It carries the idea of closely examining or investigating something. Paul’s talking about our walk with Jesus, the Christian life. He’s saying we need to closely examine how we’re living, where we struggle and why, and how to successfully navigate those areas.

If you’ve ever read Pilgrim’s Progress (my favorite book outside of the Bible), you know that most of the story focuses on Christian’s pursuit to live the Christian life after he comes to faith. Chapter after chapter reveals what happens when he’s not being “careful in how he lives.” We watch as he makes mistakes, takes wrong roads, listens to bad advice, and often ends up in gut-wrenching predicaments.

But we shouldn’t laugh at the poor guy, because his experience is ours. Through the smallness of our daily surrenders to sin and temptation, we also veer off the road and end up miles from where we should be.

Wisdom Is Skill for Living

Paul’s call to “be careful” by being wise and not foolish isn’t some intellectual exercise. The word “wisdom” in Scripture means “skill for living.” And Paul says that part of what it takes to get this skill is understanding what the Lord’s will is.

If you don’t know what pleases or displeases God, then it’s awfully hard to please God.
But here’s the thing: once we understand God’s will, we then have to do it. Romans 12:2 explains how we learn God’s will:

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

We have to renew our minds. And how do we do that? By regularly reading, studying, and meditating upon God’s Word, for starters.

Learning to Listen

So often in my prayer life, I want to do all the talking. But someone once asked a question that made me feel really foolish: “If you had a chance to eat dinner with the smartest person in the world, would you really want to be the one doing all the talking?”

And yet, that’s me. Doing all the talking when I pray. Not listening.

I believe a key to a transformed life and a renewed mind is listening to God. And we listen to God when we interact with his Word, whether it’s in private devotions, Sunday morning worship, or in a Bible study with a small group.

I’m able to pray and live much more effectively when I know what God’s will is, when I know what pleases him. Living wisely, the way Paul had in mind, takes place once we’ve considered what God has said about something and then acted on it.

Redeeming the Time

That phrase “making the most of every opportunity” literally means “redeeming the time.” As we step into 2026, this is our calling: to live with such care and intentionality that we squeeze every drop of Kingdom purpose out of the days God gives us.

This isn’t about frantic activity or packed schedules. It’s about living on purpose, for God’s purposes. It’s about understanding that we represent Christ and being careful to look like him in how we spend our days.

Where Are You Now?

So as 2025 ends and a new year begins, what are you regularly doing in your life to help you know what God’s will is? What areas of your life are you living wisely in? What areas need attention?

Who are some people you can enlist to help you live wisely for the Lord in 2026? Who is someone you can help to live wisely?

I encourage you to think about those questions and then ask the Lord to lead you into fellowship with some folks who’ll help encourage one another to live wisely and redeem the time in the year ahead.

Let’s not waste 2026. Let’s make the most of every opportunity God gives us.

Prayer
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Gracious God, as we stand at the beginning of a new year, help us to live carefully and wisely. Forgive us for the times we’ve been careless in our walk with you, for the opportunities we’ve squandered, for the ways we’ve conformed to this world instead of being transformed by you. Renew our minds through your Word. Help us to understand your will and give us the courage and strength to do it. Lead us to brothers and sisters in Christ who will walk with us, encourage us, and hold us accountable. May we make the most of every day you give us in 2026, redeeming the time for your glory and the advancement of your Kingdom. In Christ we pray. Amen.

Fifteen years have passed since I first shared these words, and in that time God has continued the work of change in my own life that I describe here. The question this devotion asks remains as urgent and as grace-filled as ever. I share it again, praying it will encourage you in your pilgrimage toward Christlikeness.

The World Around You

A few years ago the men in our church studied the words of the Apostle Paul to his young son in the faith, Titus. In chapter three of the letter that bears his name, Titus was instructed to encourage the people entrusted to his care to not be like the world around them: foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, being hated and hating (Titus 3:3). He then reminded them of something very important with these words: At one time they too were… just like that.

Paul told Titus that because of God’s love, the redeeming work of Christ, and the renewing and washing work of the Holy Spirit, the Christians in Crete were no longer like the world around them.

Have You Changed?

That fact, very naturally, brought up a painful question in our group discussion: What if we’re still like that? What if we’re still like the world around us? One possible answer to the question was even more painful: No change in your life may mean you aren’t in Christ, you haven’t been redeemed, washed, and renewed.

We’re all at different places in our relationship with Christ. And, of course, we all walk at different paces with him. Thus, we won’t all look alike. Yet, if we can’t look back at our lives a year ago, two years ago, or five years ago and see some sort of growth, some level of maturation in faith, love, godliness, and the rest of the fruit of the Spirit, then we may well need to ask the question: Am I truly in Christ? Of course, only God knows the heart and this isn’t about others judging you. But it is about each of us doing an honest assessment of ourselves.

There’s no getting around the fact that true faith in Christ will result in a changed life. We can’t possibly remain the same.

Facing the Music

About eight months after I graduated from college, I went back to visit a few friends who were still there. I also returned to share with them the news that God had called me into ordained ministry, and I would be heading off to seminary soon. I was very excited. I was also a bit nervous. Why was I nervous? Well, I had not always lived a godly life while in college. I knew it and I knew my friends and fraternity brothers knew it.

What happened? Well, my closest friends thought my news was great and wished me well. Others laughed me out of the room. I absolutely deserved it.

The laughter stung, but it also testified to something real: the distance between who I had been and who God was calling me to become. That journey from old self to new self – that’s the pilgrimage of progressive sanctification. It doesn’t happen overnight, and it certainly doesn’t happen without God’s grace meeting us at every turn.

Glory to God

I give glory to God, and God alone, that 37 years later I can point to real change in my life. And, as the old saying goes, while I’m not where I pray I will one day be in my faith, by God’s grace I’m not where I once was. I don’t know if I was the chief of sinners way back then, but I certainly was competing for the title. That fact makes the following words from Paul all the more precious to me.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. (1 Timothy 1:15b-16)

If God could work in Paul’s life, as well as my own, then he can work in any person’s life. I praise God for the truth and power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to change lives.

Where Are You?

So where are you now compared to where you once were? Do too many of the descriptions in the New Testament of the unbelieving world still describe you? Are you moving on to maturity with Christ, training yourself for godliness day by day? The progressive nature of growing in Christlikeness means it will never end on this side of Heaven. But faithfulness to Christ does require we get started.

And here’s the good news: if you sense even the faintest stirring toward Christ, if you feel the slightest pull toward change, God is already at work in you. Long before we turn toward him, he has been turning us. That restlessness in your spirit, that dissatisfaction with who you’ve been, that’s prevenient grace, God’s grace that goes before us, preparing the way. We start with rebirth. We continue by growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ through the power of God’s grace and Spirit. Are you moving forward? Have you started yet?

Richard Baxter reminds us: “Rest not till grace shall reign in your hearts, and sin be subdued; and in the midst of temptations, trials, and weaknesses, maintain the life of faith.”

Walking Points

• Can you think of a Christian you know whose life is different than when you first knew them? What about them has changed?

• How about your own life? Can you identify areas in your life that are markedly different than when you first came to know Christ? What are those areas? Did they change all at once or was it a slow process?

• How did you know you needed to change? How did the process take place (i.e., what did the change look like)?

• Name two or three areas that are still “works in progress.” What are you actively doing to become more like Christ in those areas?

• Discuss these issues with two or three brothers and sisters in Christ and actively pray for one another.

Prayer
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Gracious God, you are the Lord of our lives. I confess that all too often I resist obeying and following you and resist the change you desire. I am grateful for your patience with me and for the wonderful news of your Gospel. Move me, by the power of your Spirit, to pursue you for all I’m worth, for surely in that pursuit I will also find myself becoming more like you. Help me to find Christian brothers and sisters who also seek to walk with you and help us to build up and pray for one another. Enable me to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ, encourage others to do the same, and bring glory to your name. In Christ I pray. Amen.

I’ve been thinking lately about what it means to be wise.

We often hear that word thrown around pretty loosely. We call someone wise because they’re clever, or educated, or experienced. We admire the person who can analyze a problem from every angle, who knows all the theories and can cite all the experts.

But Jesus defines wisdom differently.

According to him, wisdom isn’t primarily about knowing, it’s about doing. The wise person isn’t the one who merely hears his words, but the one who hears and acts. The wise builder doesn’t just study architecture; he builds on solid rock.

Notice what Jesus doesn’t say. He doesn’t say, “Everyone who understands my words is wise.” He doesn’t say, “Everyone who can explain my words to others is wise.” He says, “Everyone who does them.”

This is the heart of what I’m calling Practical Christianity.

Truth That Demands Practice

Here’s the foundation we have to get straight: Christianity is practical because Christianity is true.

This isn’t some “whatever works for you” approach to faith. We’re not talking about pragmatism that’s divorced from reality. We’re talking about truth - objective, revealed, God-breathed truth - that corresponds to the way things actually are.

When Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 17:6), he’s not offering one option among many. He’s declaring reality. And when he prays to the Father, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17), he’s telling us that our transformation, our sanctification, comes through aligning ourselves with that reality.

The Christian life works because it’s built on truth. When we live according to God’s Word, we’re living according to how we’re made. We’re swimming with the current of creation rather than against it. We’re building on bedrock rather than sand.

Richard Baxter understood this deeply. In his Christian Directory, he wrote that Christians must learn “how to use their knowledge and faith, how to improve all helps and means, and to perform all duties.” Knowledge matters. Truth matters. But knowledge that doesn’t lead to practice is incomplete, and ultimately, useless.

The Pattern of Wisdom

Look again at Jesus’s words in Matthew 7. He’s not giving us abstract theology. He’s painting a picture we can see: two builders, two foundations, one storm.

The storm comes for both men. That’s important. Following Jesus doesn’t exempt you from trials. The rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous alike. The winds blow. The floods rise.
But here’s the difference: one house stands, and one house falls. And the difference isn’t in the storm, it’s in the foundation. It’s in whether the builder heard and did or merely heard and admired the words of Christ.

The Apostle James echoes this same truth when he writes, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22). There’s a kind of self-deception that comes from knowing without doing. We think we’re fine because we’ve heard the truth, understood the truth, maybe even taught the truth to others. But if we’re not living it, embodying it in how we think, speak, act, and desire, we’re building on sand.

John Wesley spent his entire ministry fighting against this kind of dead orthodoxy. He watched nominal Christians across England, people who knew their catechism, attended church, and held right doctrines, live lives utterly unchanged by the Gospel. That’s why he insisted on “scriptural holiness,” not just scriptural knowledge, but holiness of heart and life.

Wesley wrote, “The gospel of Christ knows of no religion, but social; no holiness but social holiness.” He meant that authentic Christianity can’t remain theoretical. It has to work itself out in love, love for God and love for neighbor, expressed in concrete ways in every sphere of life.

Truth You Can Live

So what does this look like practically?

It means that when Scripture says, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31), we don’t just nod in agreement, we ask, “Who is my neighbor today, and how am I called to serve them?”

When Scripture says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6), we don’t just highlight the verse, we actually pray instead of worry.

When Scripture says, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men” (Colossians 3:23), we don’t just admire the principle, we show up at our jobs Monday morning with renewed purpose, offering even mundane tasks as worship to Christ.

This is what Baxter meant by “Christ’s absolute dominion.” There’s no sphere of life - not work, not family, not leisure, not citizenship - that falls outside the lordship of Jesus. And if Christ is truly Lord over all, then his Word applies to all. Every command is meant to be obeyed. Every promise is meant to be trusted. Every truth is meant to be lived.

The Promise of Solid Ground

Here’s the beautiful thing about building on the rock: when the storms come (and they will), you stand.

Not because you’re stronger than the other person. Not because you’re smarter or more talented or luckier. But because you built on truth, and you put that truth into practice.

The Christian who actually forgives when wronged discovers that Jesus was right: forgiveness really does set you free.

The couple who actually prays together, serves together, and submits their marriage to Christ discovers that his design for covenant love really does produce joy and strength.

The man who actually works as unto the Lord, refusing to cut corners or compromise his integrity, discovers that God really does honor faithfulness.

The church that actually practices mutual accountability, confession, and discipleship discovers that Christ really does build his church through genuine community.

Christianity is practical because Christianity works. It works because it’s true. And it’s meant to be put into practice.

Your Next Step

So let me ask you directly: Where is there a gap between what you know and what you do?

What truth have you heard, maybe even taught to others, that you’re not actually living?

Maybe it’s forgiveness. You know you’re supposed to forgive, but there’s someone you’re still holding a grudge against.

Maybe it’s generosity. You know God calls you to give, but you’re clinging tightly to what you have.

Maybe it’s purity. You know the standard, but you’re compromising in secret.

Maybe it’s rest. You know God commands Sabbath, but you can’t stop working.

Whatever it is, here’s your invitation: take one step today from hearing to doing. Not ten steps. Not a complete transformation overnight. Just one obedient action that aligns your life with the truth you already know.

Build on the rock, one stone at a time.

Because wisdom isn’t ultimately measured by what we know. It’s measured by what we do with what we know.

Reflect

1. What truth from God’s Word do I know well but struggle to put into practice?
2. If I truly believed that Christianity works because it’s true, how would my life change this week?
3. What would it look like for me to build one area of my life more firmly on the rock of Christ’s words?

Closing Prayer

Lord Jesus, you are the way, the truth, and the life. Your Word is truth, and by that truth we are sanctified. Forgive us for the times we’ve been content merely to hear, when you’ve called us to do. Give us wisdom, not just knowledge, but the courage and grace to put your words into practice. Help us build our lives on the solid rock of your teaching, so that when the storms come, we will stand. Make us doers of the Word, not hearers only. For your glory and our good. Amen.

And remember…

• Christianity is practical because Christianity is true.
• Christianity is practical because Christianity works.
• Christianity is practical because Christianity was meant to be put into practice.​

Soli Deo Gloria

An Introduction to Kingdom Rhythms

Welcome to Kingdom Rhythms.

If you’ve never heard of the church year, don’t worry, many Christians haven’t. But it’s been shaping believers for two thousand years, and it can bless and change how you think about everything.

Here’s what you need to know.

We Live Inside a Story

Not just any story, but the Story, the one that makes sense of all the others.

God created the universe: galaxies and grasshoppers, mountains and molecules, angels and atoms. He called it good. At the center of it all, he placed us, made in his image, crowned with glory, and called into relationship with him.

But we rebelled. We wanted autonomy. We rejected his lordship. And when we fell, creation fell with us.

Sin entered the world. Death followed. The image of God in us was marred. Relationships shattered. The cosmos itself groaned under the weight of the curse.

But by his grace, God didn’t walk away. He promised a Redeemer.

And in the fullness of time, the Word became flesh. Jesus - truly God, truly man - lived the life we couldn’t live, died the death we deserved, rose from the grave, ascended to the Father’s right hand, and sent his Spirit to dwell in his people.

This is the hinge of history. Everything before it points to the cross. Everything after it flows from the resurrection.

Now the church, the outpost of the Kingdom, proclaims this Gospel to the ends of the earth. We live in the tension of the “already and the not yet,” already redeemed but not yet glorified, already victorious but not yet home.

One day, Jesus will return. He’ll raise the dead, judge the living and the dead, defeat every enemy, and establish his Kingdom in its fullness. He will make all things new.

Creation. Fall. Redemption. Consummation.

This is God’s cosmic Story, and your life exists inside it.

The Church Year Tells This Story in Time

For nearly two millennia, Christians around the world have ordered their lives around this rhythm, not out of nostalgia, but because this Story is the truest thing there is, and we need to live inside it year after year until it shapes everything about us.

Here’s the rhythm:
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• Advent (4 weeks) - We wait with Israel for the coming King. We long. We hope. We prepare.
• Christmas (12 days) - God becomes flesh. The Word enters the world. Redemption begins.
• Epiphany (variable) - Light breaks into darkness. Christ is revealed to the nations. The Kingdom goes global.
• Lent (40 days) - We walk with Jesus toward Jerusalem, confronting sin, death, and the cross.
• Holy Week (1 week) - We follow him into his final days, watching the cosmic battle unfold at Calvary.
• Easter (50 days) - The tomb is empty. Death is defeated. The new creation has begun. We celebrate for fifty days, not just one morning.
• Ascension (1 day) - Christ ascends to the Father’s right hand. The King is enthroned.
• Pentecost (1 day) - The Spirit comes. The church is born. We are sent. This is the climax of Easter, the fiftieth day of resurrection joy.
• Ordinary Time (roughly 6 months) - We live faithfully in the “already/not yet,” following Jesus in the everyday, growing in holiness, and waiting for his return.
• Christ the King (1 day) - We close the year by lifting our eyes to the coming Kingdom. Every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess: Jesus Christ is Lord.

And then we do it again, because we need it. Every year, we need to walk this path, feel this rhythm, and let this Story form us.

Why It Matters

Many of us live fragmented spiritual lives. We know about Jesus, but we don’t live inside his Story.

We bounce from one devotional to the next, from one sermon series to another, from one spiritual high to the next low. We have no narrative framework, no sense of where we are in God’s cosmic plan.

The church year changes that. It locates you in the Story. It teaches you to wait (Advent), to wonder (Christmas), to walk into suffering (Lent), to celebrate resurrection (Easter), and to live faithfully when nothing dramatic is happening (Ordinary Time).

And here’s the gift: you’re not alone. Christians in every century have walked this path. Christians in every nation are walking it with you right now. You’re part of the church. The church is part of the Kingdom. The Kingdom is part of God’s cosmic plan to make all things new.

What to Expect

Every week, you’ll receive:

• A brief orientation to where we are in the Story and why it matters
• A Scripture passage that speaks to this season
• A reflection connecting biblical truth to real life
• Questions for personal examination
• A prayer grounded in the day’s theme
• One concrete action step
• A benediction to send you into the day with God’s blessing

This is Practical Christianity. Remember: Christianity is practical because it’s true, practical because it works, and practical because it’s meant to be put into practice.

An Invitation

So welcome. Enter the Story. Let it shape you. Walk the rhythm with me.

And may you find, as millions before you have found, that this ancient path is exactly what your soul needs.

Soli Deo Gloria,
Dale Tedder

What Is Practical Christianity?

Practical Christianity is a ministry focused on helping Christians live comprehensively under Christ’s lordship, not just on Sunday, but Monday through Saturday; not just in private devotion, but in public witness; not just in church, but at home, at work, and in the culture.

This isn’t a departure from Walking Points but a crystallization of it, bringing into clearer view the convictions that have always been at the heart of my ministry: that Christianity is comprehensive, not compartmentalized; that Christ is Lord over all of life; and that true discipleship means hearing God’s Word and putting it into practice in every sphere of existence.

The title is intentional. Practical Christianity speaks to what people want most, something that works, something that helps them navigate their lives in ways that bear good fruit. But here’s the crucial foundation: Christianity is practical because Christianity is true. It works because it reflects reality as God created it.

Two Guides for the Journey

As I’ve sought to understand what it means to live comprehensively under Christ’s lordship, two men from history have profoundly shaped my vision:

John Wesley (1703-1791) – I am a lifelong Methodist. Wesley’s vision of “scriptural holiness,” his conviction that God called Methodism to “reform the nation and spread scriptural holiness over the land,” has been the theological current running beneath everything I’ve done. Wesley taught me that Christianity must be social, never merely private, and that personal transformation and cultural renewal are inseparable.

Richard Baxter (1615-1691) – I discovered Baxter around 1995-96, likely through J.I. Packer’s A Quest for Godliness. I was drawn to his pastoral ministry, captivated by his form of discipleship, and gripped by his understanding of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Baxter taught that Christ has “absolute dominion” over all creation and that the Christian life means comprehensive submission to his reign in every sphere.

Both men rejected compartmentalized faith and insisted that authentic Christianity pervades every dimension of human existence. This is the legacy they bequeath to us: a vision of practical Christianity that is deeply theological, intensely pastoral, and comprehensively transformative.

What You’ll Find Here

Content organized around ten major spheres of life:

1. Personal Faith & Spiritual Formation
2. Marriage & Family
3. Men’s Discipleship
4. Pastoral Ministry & Church Leadership
5. The Kingdom of God & Cultural Engagement
6. Work & Vocation
7. Church Life & Community
8. Evangelism & Mission
9. Suffering, Providence & Hope
10. Legacy & Finishing Strong

Who This Is For

This is for:

• Men and women seeking to live faithfully in a complex, contested world
• Pastors and ministry leaders looking for Wesleyan wisdom for discipleship
• Thoughtful Christians navigating faith and culture
• Anyone who wants truth that transforms because it’s lived

A Bit About Me

I’m Dale Tedder, a Global Methodist pastor in Jacksonville, Florida, with over 33 years of pastoral ministry experience. My work focuses on discipleship, spiritual formation, men’s ministry, and pastoral care. I’m deeply rooted in historic, evangelical Wesleyan theology, drawing from Scripture, John Wesley, Richard Baxter, and the Great Tradition.

I’m in the final quarter of my pastoral ministry, thinking about legacy, what I want to pass on, what matters most, how to finish strong. This project is part of that. I want to distill what I’ve learned, root it in Scripture and the wisdom of faithful men who’ve gone before, and present it with clarity and grace to people who desperately need it.

Let’s Build on the Rock

Jesus said, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matthew 7:24).

Let’s build together, not with novelty or trends, but with ancient truth applied to contemporary life. Not with compartmentalized religion, but with comprehensive Christianity that touches every sphere. Not with knowledge alone, but with wisdom, truth embodied, practiced, lived.

Soli Deo Gloria,
Dale Tedder

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