Tag Archives: living your faith

January 4, 2024 · 5:30 AM

Daily Disciplines

I’ve watched the movie “Greater” a couple of times. It’s the faith based story of Brandon Burlsworth who is considered the greatest walk-on in college football history. He had everything working against him, but he persisted. One coach told him since he didn’t have talent, he was going to have to work harder than anyone else. He was first to show up and last to leave. At one point, he got a new coach and the coach found him practicing his footwork when the practice field was closed. The coach asked him if his previous coaches let him do that. Brandon replied that they never knew he did it. The coach said, “Well, they say character is what you do when no one’s looking.” Brandon quickly replied, “Someone’s always looking.”

In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthian church, he was reminding them that they were going to go through hard times. In chapter 6, let them know that how they respond matters. Verse 4 says, “Our work as God’s servants gets validated—or not—in the details. People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly… in hard times, tough times, bad times” (MSG). That phrase, “gets validated – or not – in the details” jumped off the page at me. In hard times, it’s more important than ever to focus on the details of our spiritual growth. We must continue to read and study God’s Word, spend time in prayer and fasting, share our faith and put into practice what we know. It’s those daily disciplines that help us to stay our post when times get tough.

Brandon Burlsworth was only able to achieve what he did because he continued with his daily disciplines no matter what. It’s easy to make excuses right now and to slack off on our relationship with Christ, but now is the time we need to go deeper in that relationship. People are watching how you and I respond to difficult times. Are we rising to the challenge or are we succumbing? We must stay at our post, stronger than ever, giving people hope and pointing them to the One who gives peace in troubled times. Our work – our faith – gets validated in the daily details and is exposed under pressure. I believe God is calling us into a deeper relationship with Him than ever before. The way to that relationship and spiritual maturity is in the details of your daily spiritual disciplines.

Photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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December 15, 2021 · 5:43 AM

School’s Out

I went through a sales psychology class once that helped people recognize how their fear displayed itself in their lives. It also showed how it showed up in their sales. One of the ways it would show up is by having a person feel like they didn’t have enough information. Instead of calling the customer, they would spend half an hour looking at the account, comparing plans and looking for ways to save them money rather than to call. We had all been to several classes on how to engage customers, how to connect with them and even had a sales process to follow. Yet somehow, this type of person felt like they wanted to learn more before actually putting it into practice..

In Colossians 2:7, Paul recognized that there are Christians with a similar problem. To encourage them he wrote,“You know your way around the faith. Now do what you’ve been taught. School’s out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving” (MSG). With 66 books in the Bible, there are countless lessons for us to learn. We can spend a lifetime trying to learn them all, but in doing that we miss the point. Christianity isn’t about getting a head knowledge of everything we’re to know. It’s about living it out day to day as we grow closer to God and displaying His love to others around us.

Don’t let the fear of, “What if I mess up and give God a bad name,” keep you from living out your faith. You will never know enough. That’s why He sent His Holy Spirit to fill us, to guide us and to remind us of what He said. You’re going to mess up. You’re going to fall, but He is faithful to forgive us when we confess our shortcomings (1 John 1:9). We can’t let the fear of failure to prevent us from living out our faith. We’re human, which means we’re not perfect. Let God worry about His reputation. You just need to live out your faith and let it spill out on people. You do your part and let God do His.

Photo by Kimberly Farmer on Unsplash

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December 8, 2021 · 5:52 AM

Living Your Faith

In one of my jobs, I had a manager who talked big. In meetings he would tell us what he was going to do and what he expected from us.after a few months, I realized that he rarely did anything he said he was going to do. After a particularly exciting meeting, I went to a coworker I had become friends with. I asked, “Foes he ever make good on his promises or does he just talk? He laughed and said, “He just talks.” I don’t think he was a bad guy. He truly wanted to do the things he promised and hoped it would motivate us, but in reality, it simply eroded our trust in him.

In Matthew 21:28-31, Jesus told the story of a father who had two sons. He asked the first one to go work in the vineyard. The boy told his father no, but then later changed his mind and went. After the first refused, he went to the second son and asked him to go work in the vineyard. He agreed to do it, but then never went. Jesus then looks at the crowd and asks, “Which of these two obeyed his father?” (NLT) We may not have liked how the first son responded to his father, but in reality, he’s the one who obeyed. Christianity isn’t about saying the right things. It’s living out your faith.

James 1:22 says, “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.” The danger we all face is becoming like the second son. We know what God wants to hear, and we know what other Christians want to hear. We can get good at speaking Christianese, but without the actions behind the words, we erode trust in ourselves and in God. We are the only Jesus some people see. Actions will always speak louder than words. Beliefs are not based on what we say, but what we do. We will always act in accordance with what we truly believe. If our lives aren’t living out what we profess to believe, we are only fooling ourselves as James said.

Photo by Jack Sharp on Unsplash

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January 15, 2021 · 5:30 AM

Acting On God’s Word

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November 29, 2018 · 5:00 AM

Prove It

I think we can all agree that there is a difference between saying something and proving something. When we were kids, we all had that friend that told tall tales. He was related to famous people. He was going to be on TV. He had a hundred dollars. You name it, he either did it or had it. After a while, we found the phrase, “Prove it!” It turns out, he could tell you just about anything, but he couldn’t prove any of it. Without proof, we had no reason to believe the things he said.

When I was younger, I heard someone ask, “If you were to be convicted of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to prove it?” That’s a tough question we should all think about. A court can’t convict anyone unless there is some form of evidence against them. In some cases, that evidence comes from first hand witnesses. Other times it comes from physical evidence left behind. What evidence are you leaving behind for others to know you are a Christian? Can eye witnesses tell by how you live that you’re a Christian?

In Matthew 3:8, John the Baptist was out at the river baptizing people when the religious leaders came to take a look. One of the things he said to them was, “Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God” (NLT). He knew they were manufacturing false evidence to try to prove they were righteous, but their lives contradicted that evidence. Jesus later said they were whitewashed tombs. They looked good on the outside, but were full of death on the inside.

Today’s devotion is not to say that you earn salvation by your works – that’s what the religious leaders were trying to do. It’s saying when you truly experience the power of God in your life, it changes you. Your life changes inside and out. You find that going to church isn’t evidence that you’re a Christian – living for God is. When you experience the power of salvation, you begin to leave evidence everywhere that you have repented and followed Christ. My challenge to you today is to take an honest look at the evidence in your life. What does it point to? Is it manufactured or is it natural from a changed heart and life?

Photo by Peter Dlhy on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a new feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other writing ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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