Weather permitting we will be doing another outdoor worship this Sunday EVENING. 6:30 p.m. ice cream. 7:00 p.m. service. Bring a chair, no registration required.
Have you ever experienced seeing a child for the first time after being apart for a while and being blown away by how much they have grown? We’ve had a number of new babies in our church family in the past year or so. I don’t get to see them every day. So when I do get to see them, I’m always amazed at how much they’ve grown. Because their parents see them every day, they don't recognize how much they've grown (until they take the time to look back at old pictures.) Whether we see it or not, over time it is obvious that these beautiful babies are growing every day.
I've come to believe that our spiritual life works in a similar fashion. We may remember big spiritual moments in our lives, like the day we accepted Christ, the moment of our baptism or a special retreat or other event. But the truth is that the majority of our spiritual growth happens a little bit every day in ways that may even be imperceptible in the moment. But then we look back on where we were a year ago, 5 years ago, 10 years ago and realize that we have grown dramatically.
Because of this, I've come to believe that the secret to becoming a growing, maturing disciple of Jesus is found in the little things. It is found in simple, but consistent, daily practices that may not even seem that impactful when we look at them in isolation, but have a tremendous impact when we see them over time.
I'm convinced that if we will invest even a few minutes a day in our spiritual development, over time we will see significant transformation. But the secret is in the consistency. It's in the commitment to make this a part of EVERY DAY of our lives. If I exercise hard once every two weeks, there is a good possibility that I will never be in any better shape than I am right now. But if I exercise, even moderately, EVERY DAY for the next year, it is a good bet that at the end of the year I will be stronger, in better shape and healthier than I am right now.
At the Love Offering event on Saturday, dozens of participants read through the entire New Testament in a day!
The secret to our spiritual growth is found in the daily practice. Prayer, time in the Word. Study. Personal worship. If you're not sure where to begin, I have a resource for you. A few weeks ago I launched a daily online devotion entitled First 5. The purpose of First 5 is to help you get your day off to a great start and help you to grow in your faith a little bit every day. Each day I off one chapter of scripture to read through. We look at a portion of that reading together and I pray with you.
Each day is only about 5 minutes long. But if you have been with me this past month, by the end of this week you will have studied through the entire book of Acts. The video is posted each weekday morning at 6:00 a.m. If you would like to get a daily email reminder with the link, send me a note with your preferred email address and I will add you to the list. I would love to get to the point where we all do this daily devotion together. Each day that we spend a little time in the word of God and in prayer may not seem like a lot. But over time you will look back and see how much you have grown.
God Bless,
Pastor Steve