John is writing to a church that's tired, honestly — worn down by disagreements about what love even means, who's really following Jesus, and how to tell the difference between real faith and empty words. In the middle of untangling all of that, he keeps returning to one anchor point, over and over, like he's afraid they'll forget it if he only says it once. Read 1 John 4:19 today. It's short. Let it be short.

Picture David hiding out, having just faked madness in front of a foreign king to save his own life — drooling on his beard, scratching at doors, doing whatever it took to survive a moment of real danger (1 Samuel 21:12-15). It's not his finest hour. And yet this is exactly the backdrop for Psalm 34, a song overflowing with gratitude and invitation. Somewhere in the middle of it, David lands on a single line that changes how we're meant to approach God altogether.

There's a version of this psalm that almost didn't make it into Scripture the way we know it. In the first half of Psalm 73, Asaph spirals—watching people who don't care about God get richer, healthier, and more comfortable than he is, despite his own faithfulness. He says, "My feet had almost slipped." This isn't a psalm written from a mountaintop. It's written from the edge of giving up. But something happens when Asaph goes into God's presence, and by the time we reach today's verses, he's landed somewhere none of us would have predicted from where he started.

All too often, we get caught up in "doing things for God." Our faith becomes a series of tasks to complete, rather than a loving, intimate relationship with the God who made us. Though our faith must express itself through good works, God wants our hearts—not just our behavior. He doesn't simply want to dictate our decisions—He wants true friendship and intimacy with us.

I don't know about you, but setting my mind on things above can feel almost impossible with the daily distractions that life brings. Even when I wake up and have time with the Lord, it doesn't take long before the day fills up and my mind drifts from "things above" to daily tasks and distractions.

What gets our attention directs our formation. If we aren't careful, the media we consume, the conversations we engage in, and the idols we obsess over can lead us to become self-focused, unhealthy, and ungracious to our neighbors.