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Welcome to the 100xLife Podcast! This is the place for anyone who desires to not just hear the words of Jesus but to live them fully. Together, we’ll explore what it means to experience the abundant life He promises, a life of purpose, growth, and transformation.
Each episode is designed to inspire and challenge you to put in the work of following Jesus, equipping you with practical insights and encouragement to align your life with His teachings.
Whether you're just beginning your faith journey or looking to deepen it, the 100xLife Podcast helps activate your next step toward the life you were created to live.
Rob Dayton (00:00)
you
Welcome to the 100X Life Podcast, where we activate people who desire to live the words of Jesus and experience the abundant life He promises. I'm your host, Rob Dayton, and I hope this podcast inspires you to put in the work of following Jesus.
Rob Dayton (00:37)
Hey, 100x lifers, welcome back to the podcast today. I have something very special. This episode is for the person who just can't seem to find joy in this life. Maybe you've tried to live the words of Jesus, but you still like joy and peace. People are frustrating. Maybe you wish you could just make people change the way they are so that you could be happy. And Jesus has a
very simple and powerful tool to transform everything for you. And I want to get into that. But first I want to remind you that the 62 day challenge is coming January 2nd. We'll be here before you know it. It's only three weeks away. Are you ready to do the 62 day challenge? Are you ready to sign up and let's do this together? So make sure you look at the show notes, click the link.
Or maybe you're wondering about being a 100xLife coach and what that would look like to bring 10 people through it with you and lead them so you could supersize your game and supersize your ability to understand and live the words of Jesus. That also is a great opportunity. I got to tell you the is I've coached this man. I've really had to up my game and it causes me to think about the words of Jesus more often because
This is my focus. I really want that in other people. So maybe that's you, 100xLife Coach, or maybe you want to have a 100xLife Church. We have so many people right now talking to their pastors about starting the challenge January 2nd. Some are doing it for, for a couple. Some are doing it for men, for women, but it is going to be insane. There's no better way to supersize your 2026 with
the words of Jesus, disciplining your body and handing that authority over to the Spirit to lead. It will change your entire year. So don't miss this opportunity to go. You got three weeks to prep. This is your time to prep. Let's go, let's go, let's go. Okay, let's get into this word. I'm so excited about this because so many people are looking for a simple, practical way to...
live the words of Jesus and in the words of Jesus, you know, ultimately, the goal is that we would be mistaken as Papa God, just like Jesus said, he said, I pray that they would be one as we are one Papa, as we are one. So just as Jesus was one with the Father, that's his prayer for us. So much so that when Philip asked, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us, Jesus responds, Don't you recognize me, Philip?
Don't you know that that I am in the Father and the Father's at me. The words I speak are not just my own. They are the Father living in me. Wow, we want that. This is a very simple tool to practically put that in your life to actually transform everything. And it's I'm going to use the foundation of the word of Jesus because this is a Jesus tool and it's it's it's simply
regulate how you see this is word of Jesus 28 regulate how you see this is in Luke 11 33. Let me read it to you. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body is also full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness. See to it then that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, as your whole body is full of light,
and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you. Yeah, so powerful. Regulate how you see. How you see determines the light in your body. How are you looking at people? How are you seeing a situation? It changes everything.
So here's the simple tool. This is the simple tool in terms of regulate how you see, how can we shift our capabilities to be lovers? And here it is. This is the powerful, simple change you can make. Just ask the simple question. Are you seeing people as obstacles or are you seeing them as image bearers? It's very simple. It just boils down to that. When I'm,
In life, I'm going through life and there's so many situations you're to see people today and this week. I seeing them as an object or am I seeing them as an image bearer? I'll give you a perfect example of this since I have a transportation background, have you ever heard of road rage? Road rage is all about darkness in people. Why is the darkness in people?
because they are seeing people on the road as objects, not as image bears. Another way to say this is like, you don't see them as your neighbor who lives next door or, the daughter of your best friend or your best friend's wife. You don't see them as people like that. because why is that so tempting to see them as objects because they're behind the wheel of a 5,000 pound automobile and you can't really see who they are.
How many times have you said to yourself as you're driving behind a person who is driving slow or erratic? How many times have you proclaimed a character trait for that person? Mine is idiot. my gosh. Or or when you're cut off on the road and you get scared, you don't see that person as an image bearer. You see that person is someone who's bringing harm is doing something to you and
By the way, you have no idea why they cut you off. Everything's based on the story you're telling yourself in that moment, which will predict your behavior. So light or darkness, the way you see is coming in on the road, all when you're driving, based on how you see people when you see them as objects. The response is darkness, you get anxious, you get stressed, you start
making character assassinations to those people. So very simple. While you're driving, you could pay attention to, as I'm driving on this road, am I driving with a bunch of image bearers or am I driving with a bunch of objects who are in my way or possibly causing me harm? OK, let me take it home.
in terms of one thing that could be happening in relationships. And so that is on the road with people you don't know, or presumably you don't know until you pass them and find out it's your neighbor. That's happened to me. What about in the house? When you see people as objects or in the team at work or with a friend when you start seeing them as objects? Let me give you an example. So
I'm just going to try to, I'm going to try to real time and I've gotten really good at this, but I'm going to try to real time it. So one of the things I noticed yesterday when I was stretching is that there's some dirt between the carpet and the, the door. There's like, I don't know why it's there. says some dirt on the floor. And I noted that that dirt was there last week. In fact, I think it's been there two weeks. Okay. And, I just got back.
from a road trip on working and I come back and I'm stretching and this dirt is still here. Now here's the, the really crazy thing is what is the story I'm going to tell myself in this moment about this dirt and, and how I see that dirt and my role in that dirt is going to impact everything. Now I don't, I don't have a clear memory of this, but what if I had seen the dirt
I had seen the dirt for the first time and it's probably because people were coming in and out from the patio. what if I had seen the dirt and said, wow. let me pick this up. Let me pick this up. So, you know, just go get the, the Dyson vacuum and take care of it. Problem solved. Then when I came back from the trip and saw the dirt again,
Actually, I wouldn't have seen the dirt. I came back with a trip and the dirt wasn't there. There wouldn't be any issues. I just took care of it. Now here's what can happen. If we have this inclination to do something and we don't, that's what we're talking about. We had this inclination to do something called the still small voice of Jesus that says, Hey, why don't I just pick up that dirt? And then let's say I don't. And you can insert yourself in any situation here.
I start telling myself a story maybe about Nancy. Yeah. So I, let's say I, you know, I, I, I, I'm inclined to pick up the dirt. I don't pick up the dirt. I'm like, well, you know, I'm super busy. I've got to go do a podcast or I've got to go work or I've got to, I'm going on this trip I'm prepared for. And you know, Nancy can take care of this, but then I get back from my trip and the dirt's still there.
Now my stories might be amplified and this did not happen. But this is an example that could happen is man, what's what's Nancy's problem? Why did she pick up? Does she not see this? mean, Nancy's one of the neatest people I know. She's not seeing this. And then when I do that, as soon as I do that, I start to see Nancy as an object, rather than an image bearer, that is the key.
When I'm inclined to do something good for someone else. And I don't, I don't take that opportunity. That's when I switched to seeing people as objects. And here's the super insidious thing that happens when we see people as objects. This is the key. We start justifying our behavior towards them. This is such a trap. This will take you completely out of loving people.
Because as soon as you don't do that thing that you've you have this inclination, call it a Holy Spirit prompt to do, then instead of seeing it as an opportunity to serve. And you don't now the way I see becomes darkness. And now I'm going to start justifying my actions. we make the other person out to be the problem. As soon as we've justified ourselves.
our behavior for not seeing people as image-bearers, then all of a they're the problem. We start to tell ourselves a story. The stories alienate us from them. And here's the problem. Nothing works with people. In other words, love cannot come through anymore when we see them as obstacles and we are justifying our behavior toward them for not
responding to the Spirit's prompt to serve them. So here's what might happen. Let's just say, this could be something at work. maybe you feel prompted to remind somebody. And then you say to yourself, no.
you know, if they miss it, they miss it. You know, they, they need to not be reminded. So I'm not going to remind it. But so you were, you felt prompted to do it. And then you said, no, and then they fail and they don't come through with that thing. What are you saying to yourself after that? you're justifying your behavior. this is how you start seeing that person may be lazy, inconsiderate. might, I might think Nancy's getting lazy.
I I'm unappreciative of her or in that workplace. I didn't tell the person when I was prompted, I feel like maybe they're unappreciative or they're, they're just not following through for, for Nancy. I might say, well, you're just a lousy mom. I wouldn't say that, but maybe this is how it gets, this is how not doing the thing gets you into justifying yourself. And then I see, so I see the other person.
is this person that's that's actually a problem that's not coming through that's letting me down. And then I see myself. So this shapes remember how I see the person is is is shaping how I see them. And I see myself this is when darkness really gets engaged. see myself as a victim. I can I can say man, I'm such a hard working person. I don't need to pick up this dirt. Or I'm such a hard working person. I don't need to remind that person of their task at work.
I see myself as more important. So there's a self aggrandizement. I see myself as fair, it's kind of interesting. I'm just I'm just I'm looking at people's behavior and I'm being a judge and hey, I'm fair, but they're completely unreasonable. I get overly sensitive. So this is when I set myself up for being triggered by people. Let's say that person at work was late again. Now I'm getting angry. I can say, let's just say in the household, I can say I'm a good husband.
Because I bring home the bacon and I'm doing all this traveling and I'm doing all these things for this woman and she can't just she can't pick up this dirt. You see how this one thing leads to all these feelings. And how I see when we see people as objects, and we start giving these narratives to ourselves that self justify our behavior. All these bad things happen. Now I've got lack of commitment towards Nancy or the person in the workplace.
Maybe I don't want to engage them. I just don't even want to talk to them because it's like, I don't, I don't even want to deal with this. I got this thing in the back of my head. I'm telling myself these stories because I want to justify my behavior. I could even cause trouble, stir the pot, maybe, maybe give that person at work. Another assignment that I just know they're, they're going to fail. There's more conflict with the person. So in a marriage, this little piece of dirt that wasn't cleaned up could turn into this major conflict for other
just standard communications. I actually reduce my motivation to help. In the case of Nancy, like I will be less likely to do other things that I'm prompted for. Same thing for the person in the workplace or for a friend. And I'm stressed. There's no teamwork. I have a bad attitude. There's misalignment. There's lack of trust. There's lack of accountability. And it's difficult to communicate.
All these things are happening in our heads because we decided not to take the prompt and do something for someone that we were prompted to do. Now we've justified our behavior, we're seen with darkness, and we're amplifying that darkness in the stories we continue to tell ourselves about that person. This is insidious. This is so harmful to the church, to the body of Christ, to our relationships,
our marriage, to our relationships with our kids, to our relationships with our coworkers and friends. Everything can be compounded and made dark if we don't see them as image bearers and follow the still small voice that prompts us to do something good for them.
For me, I have some really powerful stories about when I was in public works back in the day, this is like two, maybe, maybe one and a half decades, could be two decades. I'm bad with time. But I remember specifically, when Holy Spirit was teaching me about this, it was in the men's room, the men's room at 630 Garden Street in Santa Barbara. And I saw that the bathroom was like had trash all over the floor and
still small voice was pick up the trash, Rob, pick it up. And I kind of was like looking around and like, you want me to pick up the trash? And no one was in the restroom. So I very quickly picked up the trash, washed my hands and left. And that happened again and again and again. This was happening. I go in the men's restroom. have this, this inclination to pick it up.
And then I'd wait for for people to leave or I'd stall so they weren't there or even sometimes I would leave the restroom and come back when no one was there. And I started cleaning the restroom. I got pretty insane. I would even check the stalls, dangling toilet paper. And then after about five years of this, I was I was actually coming into the restroom with someone as we were talking.
And as soon as I saw trash, I started picking it up and, and, and I'm talking with this person and I'm just picking up the trash. I'm checking the stalls and I'm making sure the bathroom's clean while I'm having this conversation. And then all of a sudden it just dawned on me. It dawned on me as I was leaving the restroom and that person is, my gosh, at some point, the, the, barrier of me doing this in front of other people had stopped.
And I did it naturally in front of other people. And man, I felt the Lord say in that moment, I'm teaching you how to be good and how to help people even when it's embarrassing so that you will do it and represent me clearly without reservation. And man, that was a powerful moment.
Can you imagine if you took this to the nines like that and you did things for people because you heard the still small voice and you just did them. Here's the crazy thing. If you just do it, let's just go back to that dirt. If I had just cleaned up the dirt, then none of these, the justification wouldn't need to happen. I would have come back from my trip. I wouldn't have thought anything of it. the relationship is, is healthy.
Because I'm not trying to justify my behavior. Let's talk about that person in the workplace. Let's say going back to, felt prompted to remind them. just reminded them and then they fulfilled the task because I did. You have no idea in the orchestration and Holy Spirit's orchestration of life is where you fit in, in the puzzle piece of love. Your act, that listening to that still small voice comes across as love. And as soon as you do that,
even if even if you're in a situation where the person doesn't receive it, or doesn't seem to benefit you, you you now have avoided the self justifying behavior when you didn't listen to that small voice. So, so how do I how do we get out of this? How do we break free from this problem of seeing people as objects? Well,
You got to look at people differently. You've got to practice looking at people as precious children of God. You got to treat them as though Jesus sacrificed him. This is true, but you got to treat him this way that Jesus sacrifice on the cross was completely worth it for that person doesn't matter how they're behaving. The sacrifice of the cross happened in spite of their behavior
Jesus's joy, the joy set before him, he was able to endure torture and that joy is that person fall in love with people, tell yourself stories about God's radical love toward them. And then be ready for the opportunity to serve, you're going to hear that still small voice today, you're going to you're going to hear it. And here's the great thing is you're going to amplify that still small voice.
You're going to amplify it the more you respond to it. And in your marriage, I have great hope that if you would see that that person as a person, see, see how you can serve that person. Ask, ask a Holy Spirit, how am I serving this person? You are kids, you know, maybe you're estranged in a, in a, in a father son or a mother daughter relationship and you're estranged. How could you serve them?
What's what's the Holy Spirit saying about them? How about that person at work that you just have got yourself tied up in balls of stress over them? How can you serve them? What is this? What is the small thing of service? How do I see that person as an image bearer? How does that change the way I see because if you regulate the way you see and you see love and you see an image bearer, all these good things are going to happen. Just like Jesus said, you're going to amplify the light in you.
things are going to get so much different. and then you can't criticize people who aren't doing this. It's it's kind of a, you know, a religiosity steps like, well, they're not listening to this still small voice. They could have done that thing for me, you know, when they were prompted and they didn't. You can't do that. You can't go around accusing Christians of not seeing people's image barriers. You can encourage them to do that. But if but if let's say a friend is not doing that, then you're just going to get a wrapped around the axle.
Not do the listen to the still small voice to maybe to teach them a lesson. And then you're going to have to justify your behavior and cause all this collateral damage to you and to that person. It's really crazy that this is a freedom where the, where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. There's what truth is there is freedom. So how you see people is truly going to set you free and it will set others free. I hope this is helpful. I've got a journal prompt for you this morning.
Here's the general prompt, write it down. Father show me in which areas of my life I have seen people as objects and not image bearers. Show me in which areas of my life, Papa, that I see people as objects and not image bearers. That's going to be so good. And then write the answer, journal the answer in the first person from the father. And then maybe the next one you ask Holy Spirit, what mindset Holy Spirit, what mindset or action
can I take to transform my thinking about this person? Ask Holy Spirit for a practical step. you get extra points for a mindset. How you think about people is gonna be way better than what for then thinking of what I can do for them. If you just change the way you think, repent, repent and believe, change the way you think and believe in other people the way Jesus believes them.
What is the mindset that I can adopt Holy Spirit that would transform my thinking about that person? And then, you know, maybe there's an action related to that mindset. So good guys. I'm so excited to hear how this works for you. Try it out this week. It's going to be gold. You're going to see your life turn around. You're going to see light swelling up inside you. You're to see that darkness chased away. Just that one simple Jesus tool.
How you see people and then remember responding to his still small voice to serve them. It's going to be so radical. Monitor the stories you're telling yourself, cause that'll be a clue. If those stories are negative, it's probably going to be your seeing them as an object. If they're positive, it's probably cause you see them as an image bearer. Go take on the world. I love you very much and we will see you next week.