Youth

Our devotion this week, I’m In, was provided by Life.Church and is available on the YouVersion Bible app.

I’m Invaluable.

Basically anything of value in this world can be traced to a moment when one person or another stopped wishing they could be different, or more, and just contributed what they had to give.

If you’re like most people, when you read those words, something deep within you starts to come alive. That desire to create, to grow, to transform, to be that one person.

And if you’re like most people, doubt and insecurity immediately starts to crowd out the desire to be that one person.

It’s amazing how many different ways our self-talk can say, “You don’t have what it takes.” We quickly convince ourselves we aren’t good enough or that we can’t make a real difference. So we stay on the sidelines, watch from a distance, and stick to the status quo.

Maybe, in the past, you would’ve listened to those words of defeat you far too often tell yourself. But not today. Today, something new is coming alive. Today, you’re deciding to stop waiting and to start living. To be that one person.

People loved listening to Jesus. They would travel for miles and miles across the dusty deserts of Roman-occupied Israel to hear Him speak. Why? Because when He spoke, something deep inside of people awakened. He saw what could be and should be, and He invited people to make them a reality. 

When Jesus delivered His inaugural address, often called the Sermon on the Mount, He taught people how they should pray. During this prayer, Jesus taught people to pray for God’s Kingdom to be established on Earth as it is in Heaven. For God’s way of doing things to become the new normal, and for the old way of doing things to be pushed aside. Why? Because God’s way is better.

Something people often miss, though, is that Jesus wasn’t just teaching people how to pray. He was also inviting people to be the answer to His prayer. Jesus was inviting anyone and everyone to be that one person.

So, how do you be that one person? You love your neighbor. You serve people well. You turn the other cheek. You go the extra mile. You pray for people who hurt you. You realize your unique place in God’s work through His Church. You stop wishing you were different and you contribute your time, your resources, and most importantly yourself. 

You are invaluable for God’s purpose.

Read Luke 4:42-43.

⁴² At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them.⁴³ But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.”

Read Matthew 6:9-13.

⁹ “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
¹⁰ your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us today our daily bread.
¹² And forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³ And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from the evil one.’

Read Mark 10:35-45.

³⁵ Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”
³⁶ “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.
³⁷ They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”
³⁸ “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”
³⁹ “We can,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, ⁴⁰ but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”
⁴¹ When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John.⁴² Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. ⁴³ Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴ and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Consider: What can I offer back to God that’s uniquely me? What can I give others that He’s given me? 

Our devotion this week, I’m In, was provided by Life.Church and is available on the YouVersion Bible app.

I’m Invited.

Have you ever been that person who didn’t get invited to the party? Who got told “no” in the interview? Who got turned down by that person you liked? Have you ever felt left out, overlooked, less than, or like you don’t have a place you belong?

What’s more—have you ever worried you’re the only one who feels that way? 

Know this: You aren’t alone in feeling alone.

All of us have this longing for belonging. It’s one of our basic needs as human beings. Unfortunately, we’re more isolated and disconnected than ever before. Researchers have coined it a “loneliness epidemic.” Multiple studies have connected loneliness with poor mental health, unhappiness, and lower overall well-being.

Here’s better news: We don’t have to stay alone. You belong. Not just to a place, but to a people. A family. God’s family. A family that spans unlimited people and time. A family of unique, diverse, imperfect, and loving people. 

You’re not just in this family because you were born into it. You’re in because you were invited into God’s family, by His grace, to be His Church. You belong to the people united by Jesus to live life God’s way in our day. 

In Scripture, we see Jesus going to the people, places, and parties most religious people would avoid. He spent time with people who were nothing like Him—yet these people loved Him. Why? Because when Jesus looked at them, He didn’t see the things they’d done or what had been said about them. When Jesus looked at them, He saw family. He saw human beings made in the image of God.

When Jesus looks at you, He doesn’t see the labels that have been placed on you. He sees you. He notices you. He understands you. And He’s inviting you to live like you’re in God’s family. 

Read Matthew 9:9-13.

⁹ As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
¹⁰ While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. ¹¹ When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
¹² On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ¹³ But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Read Matthew 11:28-30.

²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Read Romans 8:14-17.

¹⁴ For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. ¹⁵ The Spirityou received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Consider: What would change about my week if I fully and completely acted like I’m in God’s family?

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. 

Our devotion this week, Satan’s Go-To Temptation Against You, was written by J.D. Greear can be found online here.

Take Your Identity into War

Satan’s first temptation toward you will be to get you to base your identity on something about you. Anything about you. How you live. How well-liked you are. How many people come to your church. How much more successful you’ve been than others in similar circumstances. He wants to distract you from the gospel message that in Christ we have the final approval of the only one whose opinion really matters.

We defeat Satan by clinging to that gospel, defiantly, flinging it back in Satan’s face. 

Remember that these are your words to declare in the face of the enemy: If I am a child of God? I am a coheir with Christ, chosen in him from the foundation of the world. Seated with him in the heavenly places. In him, all the promises of God for me are yes in Christ Jesus. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.