Thoughts

I heard a sermon today that followed me home.

It didn’t just end with the benediction. It trailed behind me to the car, rode shotgun at the red light, and whispered truth while I tried to eat lunch. And just when I thought I could shake it off, it sat me down in silence and stared me in the soul.

Because I’m in a storm right now. The kind of storm that doesn’t just show up in your circumstances, but shows up in your thoughts. The kind that resurrects old patterns you thought were dead and buried. The kind that forces you to decide—Who do you trust when life starts pressing?

And in that quiet place, the Holy Spirit said something I wasn’t expecting:
Worship isn’t just a song you sing on Sunday. It’s a decision you make when the week goes sideways.
It’s how you manage your thoughts when fear starts scripting your story.
It’s what you do with your hands when pressure knocks at the door.

Then the Spirit dropped this heavy revelation in my lap:
“The mark isn’t coming. You’re already wearing it.”

Revelation talks about a mark on the forehead and on the hand. And I heard the Spirit say,
Whoever has your mind has your hands.
Whoever shapes your thoughts will direct your choices.
That’s your mark.

We keep waiting for some dramatic unveiling of the beast. But the real question isn’t about the Antichrist in the headlines.
It’s about the false gods we bow to in silence.
It’s about the things that have our attention, our affection, our worship.

The Movie Version vs. The Real One

I grew up on scary movies, too. So when I first heard about “the mark,” I imagined a barcode on someone’s forehead or a glowing 666 stamped on skin. But that’s not how worship works.

Before it ever shows up on your skin, it shows up in your spirit.
Before it’s ever physical, it’s deeply formational.

In Scripture, the forehead represents what you think, how you reason, and what you fix your mind on. The hand represents your actions, your works, and your impact on the world.

So let’s ask the real question:
Who has your mind?
Who controls your hands?
Because that is the mark you wear right now.

Why Six Will Never Be Enough

In the Word, seven is the number of God’s perfection. Completion. Rest.
God creates the world in six days. But it doesn’t become whole until He rests on the seventh (Genesis 2:1–3). That seventh day says, “It is finished.”

Six always falls short.

Six is strength without surrender.
It’s hustle without holiness.
It’s performance without peace.
It’s man doing the most and still not reaching God.

So when Revelation 13:18 says 666, it’s not just a spooky number.
It’s man’s best effort falling short—three times over.
It’s a holy imitation that never becomes the real thing.

It’s money trying to play God.
It’s image trying to replace identity.
It’s power pretending to be purpose.

How the Mark Looks in 2025

It’s everywhere, but it’s subtle.

Money tells you more is safer, so you keep chasing paper but ignore the poverty in your peace.
Stuff promises significance, so your car gets an upgrade but your prayer life doesn’t.
You look for a person to save you—maybe a relationship, a pastor, a child, but no one can carry the weight of your worship. They weren’t built for it.
And when image becomes your god, applause becomes your oxygen. You rise when they clap and crumble when they don’t.

This is the mark.
Because this is worship.

The forehead is the story you believe.
The hand is the life you build from that story.

You Become What You Worship

Psalm 115:8 says, “Those who make them are like them.”
We become what we behold.

Worship money, and people become transactions.
Worship power, and truth becomes negotiable.
Worship a person, and that relationship will eventually collapse under divine weight.

But worship the living God?

Then the character of God starts reshaping your own.
You begin to reflect His nature—grace, truth, mercy, righteousness.
You don’t just look like Him. You live like Him.
“Beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, we are being transformed” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Why Worshiping God Is in Your Best Interest

Let me say it plain:
Worship is the only way to hold your mind together in a world falling apart.

Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You.”
Colossians 3:2 tells us to “Set your mind on things above.”

When God becomes the center, money becomes a resource, not a god.
Things become blessings, not trophies.
People become neighbors, not a means to an end.
And peace becomes normal, not a luxury.

What True Worship Actually Looks Like

In your thoughts:
God gets the first look.
Before you scroll, you open the Word.
Before fear takes over, you answer with Scripture.
You don’t measure success by applause, you measure it by obedience.

In your words:
You speak life.
You stop letting gossip grow roots in your heart.
You bless those who frustrate you.
You use your mouth to build, not break.

In your home:
You serve. You tell the truth. You apologize when needed.
You teach your children what grace sounds like.
You make your house a sanctuary, not a battlefield.

In your stewardship:
You give before you spend.
You rest without guilt.
You tell the truth even when it costs.
You honor the ones who have no platform, no power, and no way to repay you.

This is what it means to wear the right mark.
When your thoughts and your actions sing the same song.
When your forehead and your hand are aligned.

It’s Time for a Theology Check

I tell ministers-in-training all the time:
Your theology drives your reality.

What you know about God is going to show up in how you live.
So let’s check ourselves without shame, without fear.

Ask the hard questions:

• Who am I performing for God or people?
• What do my spending habits say about who I trust?
• When fear speaks, do I listen or fight back?
• Where did my time go last week?
• How did I treat the one who could give me nothing in return?
• Do my thoughts and actions tell the same story?

And if the answer convicts you, that’s grace.
Don’t hide it. Don’t run. Don’t cover it with performance.

Bring it into the light.

Start small.

Tell the truth.
Let God retrain your mind and rewrite your habits.

Repentance isn’t punishment. It’s peace in disguise.

Prayer

Jesus, You have our attention.
Search our minds and our hands.
Interrupt every pattern that dishonors You.

We give You first place, not just on Sundays, but in the silence of Monday mornings, in the chaos of Wednesday afternoons, in the exhaustion of Friday nights.

Forgive us for the altars we’ve built to lesser gods:
To image, to influence, to approval, to control.
Break those idols.
Burn what needs to be burned.

Teach us to love well.
To give freely.
To rest deeply.
To worship honestly.

Write Your name across our minds.
Train our hands to serve with integrity.
Let our lives wear Your mark.

We’re tired of six. We want seven.
We want wholeness.
We want rest.
We want You.

In Jesus’ name,
Amen.