Daily Devotional: Tuesday, May 4

Speaker: Ben Sigman

Theme: Leaving a Legacy

Weekend Music links on iTunes: All Because of Jesus by Fee; Run by Hillsong United; Glory by Hillsong; Til I See You by Hillsong.

Read: Proverbs 20:27, James 1:5-8

Think: Have you ever caught yourself acting a certain way around certain people, that didn’t seem quite consistent with how you normally are? Or have you ever done or said something stupid that, when looking back, it didn’t even seem like you? Sometimes I will catch myself exaggerating a truth around certain people- like making the story “cooler” than it actually was. The story just tumbles out of my mouth like it’s on auto pilot, and then I have to back up to set it strait. This probably has something to do with wanting the approval of other people. This is pretty common to the human condition, but not exactly godly living.

James warns us, “Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.” Other bible versions call this being “double minded”. Psychologists call this being “split”. We believe one thing about ourselves, but we do something different. We believe one thing about God, but then we act quite differently.

The Christian life isn’t so much about living perfectly, as much as it is living wholly- being the same person on the inside (transformed, loved, truthful) as what people know us to be on the outside. We are to bring those parts of ourselves that are divided, into wholeness in Christ. The Christian life is about being wholly devoted and loyal to Christ with every part of ourselves- especially the wily parts of ourselves that prefer sinning. When we are wholly living for God, knowing our actions to be congruent with our identity in Christ, we have the capacity to leave an eternal legacy in the world around us. Imagine the possibilities.

Do: Name the small step you will take today to bring wholeness to your life.

Pray: God, help me to deeply know the new identity I have in Christ, that I have been transformed, healed, and unconditionally loved. I want my actions to reveal this identity in me to the world around me.

The eDevotional is written each week by a team of volunteers from Timberlake Church.

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