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?
