The Daily CHEW™
Moving God’s Love from Head to Heart for Christian Professionals
What If There’s a Better Way?
Your mind is rarely empty. It’s full of deadlines, metrics, kids’ schedules, hard conversations, the next project, the next crisis, the next “what if.” As a high performer, you think strategically by default: How do I grow? How do I fix this? How do I stay ahead?
You believe God loves you. You can quote verses. But if someone could see a “heat map” of your thoughts, it might reveal this:
- 80% planning, pressure, or self-critique
- 15% distraction or escape
- Maybe 5% focused on God’s love
When you’re honest, God’s love is often a background doctrine, not the main lens. You know you should think about it more, but it feels vague, repetitive, maybe even “soft” next to real pressures. And yet the hunger is there:
- “What would change if God’s love became the primary thing I thought about?”
- “Would I get lazy—or finally rest and perform with a clean heart?”
- “Could focusing on God’s love actually expose my deepest lies and addictions and set me free?”
What if making the height, breadth, width, and depth of God’s love your main mental “project” is the most strategic, productive, joy-giving thing you could ever do?
The Gospel Meets You Right Here
Paul prays something staggering for believers who are already busy, gifted, and under pressure:
“…that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
(Ephesians 3:17–19, ESV)
God’s agenda for you is not just that you work hard for Him, but that you:
- Be rooted and grounded in love (love as your soil and foundation).
- Have strength (yes, strength!) to grasp something “too big” for the natural mind—the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.
- Result: “filled with all the fullness of God.”
Here’s the surprising way God’s love changes the story:
- Loving Him better: You love because He first loved you (1 John 4:19). The more you see His love, the more your love becomes response, not performance.
- Healing and growth: His love becomes the safe place where old wounds, hidden lies, and core beliefs can surface without destroying you. Love becomes the “O.R. (Operating Room)” where God does surgery.
- Strategic clarity: When God’s love is central, your decisions increasingly line up with what delights Him, not what props up your ego. You see what actually matters in eternity—and what is just noise.
- High performance with pure motives: You still work hard, but from security, not desperation. You stop needing success to prove worth. Excellence becomes worship, not self-salvation.
- Fruit of the Spirit as your normal operating system: As you dwell on His love, the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22–23)—not as qualities you squeeze out, but as the natural fruit of abiding.
- Stability on the brink: When you’re pressed, what’s deepest in you comes out. If your core is “I am loved in Christ,” then even at the brink, you have a place to stand.
- Exposure and repentance of hidden lies: The more you gaze at His love, the more contradictions show: “If I really believed this, why do I…?” Those false beliefs rise for confession and transformation.
- Freedom from addictions and sinful habits: Addictions often run on core lies (“I’m alone,” “I’m unlovable,” “this is all I have”). God’s love confronts those lies and offers something more compelling, over time weakening sin at the root.
Here’s how focusing on God’s love helps you not just “do life” but really live—with real joy.
CHEW On This™: When God’s Love Becomes the Main Thing
Pause at each CHEW step below. Reflect, and answer in your own words—you’ll see a sample below each question. This is where the Gospel gets personal.
Confess
Question: What are you feeling, fearing, or hiding from God right now about making His love your main focus?
Sample answer: “Father, I admit Your love often feels like background noise compared to my goals, fears, and planning. Part of me is scared that if I slow down to focus on Your love, I’ll lose my edge. Another part is afraid I’ll be disappointed—that it won’t feel real.”
Where do you see yourself in this?
Hear
Question: What does God’s Word say about His love and verdict here (or what Scriptural truth comes to mind)?
Sample answer: “‘…that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend… and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge…’ (Ephesians 3:17–19). I hear that You actually want me strong in understanding Your love—that this is not a side topic, but the way to be filled with Your fullness.”
Which verse anchors you in this moment?
Exchange
Question: If I truly trusted God’s love is vast, weighty, and meant to be the foundation of my whole life—how would that shift how I see myself, my performance, and my decisions right now?
Sample answer: “If I believed Your love is the deepest reality, I could stop treating work, relationships, or self-improvement as life-or-death. I’d see them as important, but not ultimate. I’d let Your delight in me shape what I say yes to, and I’d stop chasing approval as if love is scarce.”
If you believed this deeply, what would change?
Walk
Question: What is one practical step (10 minutes or less) that embodies trust in God’s love instead of old patterns of self-reliance or obsession?
Sample answer: “Tonight, I’ll sit with Ephesians 3:14–21 for 10 minutes, slowly reading and turning each phrase into a prayer. I’ll ask You to root me in Your love and write down one way I see that love already at work in my life.”
What’s one step you can take this week?
How to Make God’s Love Your Focus (And What That Changes)
Here’s how you can actively trust and experience God’s love—not just work harder.
1. Reframe Your Life Goal: From “Do More” to “Comprehend More Love”
Why this helps: It aligns your ambition with God’s stated desire—that you would have strength to comprehend Christ’s love and be filled with His fullness (Ephesians 3:17–19).
How: Rewrite your “life goal” statement to include: “My central pursuit is to know the breadth, length, height, and depth of Christ’s love.” Review this each morning before you check email or look at your calendar.
Scenario: Before a packed workday, instead of only thinking, “How do I win today?” you pray, “Father, use today to deepen my experience of Your love—and let everything else flow from that.” Over time, your internal metrics shift from pure productivity to “How did I see and respond to Your love today?”
Scripture: Ephesians 3:17–19
2. Tie Every CHEW Question Back to God’s Love
Why this helps: It keeps your self-examination from becoming self-obsession and ensures every reflection leads back to God’s heart.
How: When you CHEW, explicitly ask in each step: “What does this reveal about God’s love? How is His love meeting me here?”
Scenario: You’re confessing frustration with a coworker. You don’t stop at the behavior; you ask, “What am I forgetting about God’s love that makes this feel so threatening?” Suddenly you see: “I’m acting like their opinion defines me,” and you recall you’re already accepted in Christ.
Scripture: 1 John 4:19
3. Identify the Lies Beneath Your High Performance—and Bring Them to God’s Love
Why this helps: High performance often masks core lies like “I am only as valuable as my output.” God’s love exposes and heals those lies.
How: When you feel driven, anxious, or crushed by failure, ask: “What belief about myself or God is fueling this reaction?” Then place that belief beside Scripture about His love and worth.
Scenario: You miss a target and feel devastated. In reflection, you detect the belief, “If I don’t excel, I’m nothing.” You bring it to Romans 5:8—“but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”—and admit, “Your love for me is not tied to this metric.” Over time, your emotional spikes soften.
Scripture: Romans 5:8
4. Use Stress and Brink Moments as “Love-Detection” Points
Why this helps: When you’re pushed to the brink, the beliefs underneath surface most clearly. Those moments become opportunities for God’s love to confront and rewire.
How: After a high-pressure moment (conflict, deadline, crisis), debrief with God:
- What did I feel?
- What did I believe about You and myself in that moment?
- How does Your love address that belief?
Scenario: In a conflict at home, you explode. Later, you realize you believed, “I must be in control to be safe.” You bring that to Psalm 23:1 (“The Lord is my shepherd”) and ask, “What does Your shepherding love mean for my need to control?”
Scripture: Psalm 23:1
5. Meditate on One Dimension of God’s Love Each Day
Why this helps: Focusing on specific aspects makes God’s love concrete and experiential, not just a vague cloud.
How: Take a week and focus on “height” (His love exalts you with Christ), “depth” (His love reached into your worst), “length” (His love over your whole story), and “breadth” (His love for every part of your life).
Scenario: On “depth” day, you recall the darkest season of your life and read Psalm 40:2: “He drew me up from the pit of destruction.” You thank God specifically for how He met you there. You feel seen again, not forgotten.
Scripture: Ephesians 3:18, Psalm 40:1–3
6. Connect God’s Love to the Fruit of the Spirit in Real Time
Why this helps: It shows you that the fruit of the Spirit is not just behavioral; it’s relational overflow from being loved.
How: When you lack a particular fruit (patience, kindness, self-control), ask: “What about God’s love am I forgetting right now?”
Scenario: You’re impatient with your child or teammate. You pause and remember, “You have been endlessly patient with me.” You whisper, “Love like that through me.” You still set boundaries, but your tone shifts from harsh to firm and kind.
Scripture: Galatians 5:22–23
7. Turn Addictive Urges Into Signals of Deeper Hunger for God’s Love
Why this helps: Addictions are often misdirected attempts to soothe pain or fill emptiness. Recognizing them as hunger for God’s love redirects the battle from pure willpower to deeper satisfaction.
How: When an urge hits (porn, overwork, overeating, substances), acknowledge: “This is me reaching for comfort. Underneath, I’m longing to be loved, safe, or seen.” Bring that deeper longing to God in prayer.
Scenario: Late at night, you want to escape into a familiar habit. You pause and pray, “What am I really craving? Comfort? Affirmation? Numbness?” You then tell God, “Show me how Your love meets this real need,” and text a trusted friend. Over time, the cycle starts to weaken as love meets the deeper wound.
Scripture: Jeremiah 2:13, John 7:37
8. Build Rhythms That Keep God’s Love in Front of Your Mind All Day
Why this helps: High performers can forget quickly. Regular, small reminders keep His love from drifting into the background.
How:
- Set one phone reminder with a verse about God’s love (Ephesians 3, Romans 8, John 17).
- Place a card at your desk that reads: “Rooted and grounded in love today.”
- Connect His love to “entry points” (start of a meeting, commute, workout).
Scenario: A calendar notification pops up mid-meeting: “Nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:39). You silently breathe, “Your love is my stability,” and your anxiety about impressing others drops a few degrees.
Scripture: Romans 8:38–39
If these practices don’t yet bring relief or feel “real,” that doesn’t mean God’s love is absent. It often means He is inviting you into a season of deeper healing with wise, gospel-centered support—through counseling, CHEW groups, or mentoring. His love is patient with your process.
Worship Response: Thank God for His Vast Love
Take 30 seconds—thank God for what His love has done. Worship is responding to His finished work, even when your feelings lag behind.
Prayer:
“Father, thank You that Your love is higher, wider, longer, and deeper than I can grasp. Thank You that You want me rooted and grounded in that love—not in my performance, fear, or plans. Help me trust that making Your love my focus is not a distraction, but the way to truly live, grow, and serve You with joy. Amen.”
Next Steps to Grow in God’s Love
Lasting change is always relational—God moves, we respond. Share your story, join a CHEW group, or reach out for prayer.
- Reignite Your Faith With CHEW
- Practitioner: The 1st Principle Transformation Framework
- Raw Prayer: When Faith Gets Honest and God Gets Real
With you on the journey,
Ryan
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