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Commitment Day Are you already serving through your profession, passion, and/or personality? Thank God for the opportunities He's already given you and the courage and conviction to follow through! Then, pray for more. If you're not serving yet, start praying for open eyes, ears, heart, and hands to see and seize the opportunities God puts in your path.

Reflection Jesus served in ways we can duplicate. He found simple ways to care for the needs he saw in front of him – like washing his disciples’ feet. He also served in ways we may never be able to do – like feeding thousands of people with a sack lunch, calming a storm with a simple command, and raising people from the dead. That’s because Jesus served according to the way he’s wired. Being fully God and fully man, there are things for which he is especially gifted. You are

Read: 1 Corinthians 12:12-18 Serve. Why? Because you get to, in the name of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit, be a sign of greater things that await those who will come to believe in Jesus. How? Using the profession, passion, and/or personality Jesus gave you. In what ways can you serve, then, is the last question to answer. That's different for everyone. It would be a mistake to provide a catalog of options. This isn't a flea market where you walk from booth to boot

Read: Ephesians 4:11-16 Becoming more like Jesus includes becoming more generous. We have already considered the why, how, and what of becoming more generous with your financial resources. This week, as you can already tell, we are digging into becoming more generous with your time through serving. We looked at the why of becoming more generous with our time yesterday. We play a teaser trailer to "life with Jesus" when we serve. In other words, we demonstrate in tangible

Read: John 13:3-5, 12-17 We talk a lot about spending our time. Once you spend something, it's gone. Time is like that. Once it's gone, you can't get it back. So, spending time is an appropriate expression. However, when we serve, we're not spending as much as we're investing. When you invest, you do get something back. When you invest money, you get money back…eventually (assuming you invest well). When you invest time, you don't get time back. The return on your investm

Commitment Day Understanding the why, how, and what should help direct the overflow of becoming more generous. So, what’s your next step? One thing should be clear. Becoming more is a lifelong endeavor, but it doesn’t happen by doing nothing. Maybe your next step is preparatory. Perhaps you need to reprioritize your finances. Maybe it’s as simple as following through with something you’ve been thinking about for a long time. Maybe it’s increasing your giving, giving for t

Reflection Becoming more generous can be intimidating. Talking about money is a social taboo. So, if you’re unsure what steps to take and can’t really talk about money, how are you supposed to take your next step? Start by praying. Talk to God first, then talk to a trusted family member or friend who is at a spiritual place you want to get to someday – someone whose faith inspires or encourages you. Share what God has been saying and see how they respond.

Read: Matthew 6:25-34 Several years ago, we decided to sell our house. It had not appreciated in value in seven years, and our neighborhood was declining. We had to sell it for a loss and finance the difference, or stay there and continue to pay down the balance, hoping to stay ahead of the decreasing property value. We prayed about what to do. God sent a gentleman from our church who, without knowing our situation, offered for our family to live in his house rent-free wh

Read: 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 As we become more like Jesus, we reflect the generous heart of God in an ever-increasing manner. As we become more generous, we realize what we have is not ours. It’s all God’s. He has entrusted it to us to use for His glory. That means taking care of our needs and furthering His kingdom. We respond to His intentional blessings by being intentional in how we bless others. But what do we give? Lots of churches promote tithing as the giving goal.

Read: Deuteronomy 24:19-22 These are some of God’s property laws: God’s instructions on money management to the people of Israel. Theirs was an agricultural community. Crops were their currency. So, many of God’s instructions for the stewardship of their income had to do with their harvest. God uses two words in this passage that provide straightforward instructions for giving. Each of these words comes from the overflow of becoming more generous as we become more like Je

Commitment Day As a church, we are becoming people who LEAD people through and to Jesus. As we continue becoming people who listen, engage, abide, and are discipled by Jesus, we become more like him. There’s a t-shirt that says, “Jesus took naps. Be like Jesus. Luke 8:23.” While that’s not exactly what we have in mind, it is essential to note that Jesus took a nap in the stern of a boat bouncing around a stormy sea. He had peace, and that peace enabled him to rest. What

Read: Genesis 1-2, Exodus 20:8-11, Mark 2:27 God created everything and endowed His creation with purpose in six days. On the seventh day, God rested. Then, He gave us the Ten Commandments, which include the instruction to honor the Sabbath by keeping it holy. Jesus teaches that the Sabbath was made for humanity, not the other way around (). Times changed a lot between Genesis and Exodus and again between Exodus and Jesus’ earthly ministry. They’ve changed a lot in the pa

Read: 1 Kings 19:11-13 There’s a difference between what’s important and what’s urgent. Not everything that needs to be done is important, and not every important thing is urgent. The number of things that are both important and urgent is much smaller than we might think. We tend to treat most things as though they’re both important and urgent. That’s how we wind up trying to pack 200+ hours of activity into 168 hours per week. When something’s got to give, we create spac

Read: James 4:13-15 Do you ever find yourself rushing from one thing to the next, arriving late to events, or simply running out of time to get everything done? If you do, it could be that you’re just not all that great at time management. It could also be that time required to do all the things planned for your day are greater than the time you have available. If you got to do everything you intended in a week, would it take more than 168 hours? That’s 24 hours a day, se

Read: Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG) We live in an always-on culture. Work/life balance used to be built into a nine-to-five, Monday through Friday workweek. There were, of course, a few types of jobs that didn’t fit that mold. Still, the world slowed down dramatically once every seven days. Places opened later and closed earlier on Sundays. Extracurricular activities took place Monday through Friday and only occasionally on Saturday. Sunday was “sacred,” whether you went to church

Commitment Day It could be that this whole week has been really encouraging to you. Maybe you’re already in a group, or joining one is not remotely intimidating. Perhaps you already have a spiritual friend, or leaning into an existing relationship for that purpose will be a piece of cake. Maybe, though, this is all really intimidating. Perhaps you don’t have a spiritual friend or someone who could be that for you in this season of life. Maybe joining a group is a bit scar

Reflection We weren’t meant to travel this Jesus-following journey alone. God designed us for relationships and blessed us with three ways to nurture relationships through our local churches. We partner with others in larger worship gatherings, learn more about Jesus and each other in groups, and spur one another on through close personal friendships. Flip back through the devotions this week. If you skipped the circle activity, do it now. Think about how this plays out i

Read: Proverbs 27:17 Relationships are an essential element of becoming more complete. Becoming more like Jesus means embracing different kinds of relationships. After all, that’s what he did. The word “disciple” is used in the gospel accounts to refer to the crowds that followed Jesus and the 12 men who followed him closely and received extra training from him directly. Not everyone who literally followed Jesus was in a close relationship with him or with each other. Tha

Read: James 1:22-25 Imagine drawing five concentric circles with the word “me” in the center. This is for your closest relationships, reserved for the people who know all your business – past and present. You share your secrets and your struggles with these folks. This is the smallest circle because it’s restricted to the people you love, trust, and confide in the most. Who do you allow in that circle with you? The largest circle is also the one farthest away from you. It

Read: Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Some of the most popular shows from the past 30 years centered around friendships. While they don’t necessarily stand the test of time, they do live on in reruns and streaming services because the central component of these shows, the very thing that drew us in, is friendship. Think about Friends, Seinfeld, and Big Bang Theory. Obviously, those shows do not present models for Christian living. Still, they capture the value of having a few close fri