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Day 1 Heart Attitudes Devotional

By September 18, 2017Daily Devotional

Pray:

Ask God to orient or reorient you to Himself. Confess any known sin. Thank Him for His forgiveness. Be still and reflect on Jesus and His sacrifice for you. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind to God’s Word. Pray for others in your life that they, too, would know and love God today.

Read:

Value: Single-Story Living

Colossians 3:17

“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

Understand:

This week we are taking a break from our time in Romans to focus on our student ministry. God is working in and through the lives of our young people. Why is that? Well, I think one reason is because we don’t try to be everything to all people. As a community, we try to do what God has called us to, and we try our best to do it well. We attempt to make it simple and sustainable, focusing on the basics of life in community. That’s why I thought it would be good for us to spend time thinking about things we value as a community, and talk about the heart attitudes.

So, what is it that we value? We value: single-story living, faithfulness, Christlikeness, community, and people. We value single-story living, demonstrated through a life of faithfulness, in the context of relationships, so that we might grow in Christlikeness.

Today I’d like us to focus on the first values of single-story living. By the term “single-story living,” we mean not living a disconnected life, such as the “spiritual” is the upstairs and the rest of life, the “real life,” is downstairs. Instead, we see all of life as connected; there is no separation. All of life is to be lived for the Lord.

Colossians 3:17 captures this thought well. All of life—whatever we do, in word or deed—is to be lived for the Lord. There is no distinction. Christ doesn’t just own our spirit, He owns our being as well. All of us–body, soul, and mind– belong to Him. Because of that, all we do should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus. Single-story living defines that we bring honor to Christ in every aspect and activity of our daily lives and represent Christ at all times— wherever you go and whatever you say. This is the mindset we want to embrace.

The problem we tend to run into as we go about our day tends to be an internal default to compartmentalize. For example: we start out the day with our quiet time…check, that’s done. Then, go into work mode for eight to ten hours. From there, we go into the next mode…and so on. This only leads to us living a divided life. We have to battle against this default!

So, how do we do that? Well, it can be a bit more complicated than what I will suggest here. Nevertheless, don’t discount what I’m about to say; it will make a big difference in your life.

We have to live with intention in our lives. We have to decide, sometimes moment by moment, how we are going to live. This may mean that you have to remind yourself over and over to live a single-story life—a life connected to Christ in all aspects. It takes work, but it can be done. We can determine to live decided, not deciding. First thing in the morning, we can choose that we are going to live a Colossians 3:17 kind of life: we think about the verse, we get it down in our heart, we memorize it, and we speak truth to ourselves throughout the day. As we go about the day, we train ourselves to do all we’re doing as to the Lord and for His glory!

Apply:

Take some time right now and think about your own life. Are you living a single-story life? If not, then why? Are you sitting on the fence? Ask God to help you get off the fence. Ask Him to show you one thing you could do to move in the direction of single-story living.

*From what you have just read and considered: What is a personal implication/application for your life today?

Live:

(Personalize this prayer today; make it specific to the circumstances that face you.)
Ask God to lead you through His Spirit as you go through your day. Ask Him to bring to mind the truth of the gospel and its implications for what you will encounter today. Tell Him “Yes” to His will and ask Him for His power and protection to live this “yes.” Ask God to create and reveal opportunities to proclaim the good news today. KEEP PRAYING THROUGHOUT YOUR DAY.

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