Our devotion this week, I’m In, was provided by Life.Church and is available on the YouVersion Bible app.
You In?
Do you remember what it feels like to go all in?
Maybe you played your guts out on a field/court/mat/stage. Maybe you poured your soul and sweat into a significant project or job interview. Maybe it was tying the knot with the one you love. Maybe you went to battle for your health, your family, or a dream.
Whatever it was, you know the feeling. The grit. The passion. The fire. That raw and radical moment when your actions uncovered what was already happening in your heart.
Did you know that same choice—the choice to go all in (or not)—is one that’s still available to you today? It’s a gift that’s offered every morning when you open your eyes and dare to greet the sunrise.
Who will you choose to trust?
Who will you choose to serve?
Who will you choose to love?
Who will you choose to worship?
The fact that you’re currently reading these words—Day 1 of the I’m In Bible Plan—means you’re already considering how you can follow Jesus with everything in you. You’re not after an indifferent, lukewarm, half-hearted kind of faith, but the real stuff.
Today’s Scripture reading reminds us that we’re called to love God and people with everything we’ve got. We’ve also been empowered to go and take the good news of Jesus’ redeeming, scandalous love to the ends of the earth, starting with our very own homes.
But the first step toward living an all-in life requires a simple—even shaky—yes. A humble mustard-seed measure of faith planted in the dirt.
Listen …
You are invited.
You are invaluable.
You are influential.
You are invested.
So, what’s it gonna be?
Will you join the greatest mission on earth, or settle for watching from the sidelines? Will you dare to believe that God has created you with precise intention, rather than being just some cosmic accident floating around in space? Will you leverage the influence you’ve been given for His glory, or for your own? Will you shrink into the shadows of fear, or trust the One who gives you breath?
You get to choose.
You in?
Read Matthew 22:36-40.
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Read Matthew 28:18-20.
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Read Revelation 3:15-22.
15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
21 To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne,just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Read Deuteronomy 30:19-20.
19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Pray: God, I’m not totally sure what it means yet, but I’m in. I’m ready to fully give myself to Your work in my world. Amen.
