September 10, 2010
Get in the Game
We hope you are enjoying the Girlfriends in God daily devotions. We (Mary, Sharon, and Gwen) would like to introduce you to some of the women who have blessed our lives as girlfriends.
From time-to-time, the Friday devotions will be written by one of our friends in ministry. We call them our "Friday Friends." So grab your Bible and a fresh cup of coffee and drink in the words from our "Friday Friend," Lori Fairchild.
Today's Truth
James 1:22-25 "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man, who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does."
Friend to Friend
My then 6-year-old daughter announced one day in the spring of 2009 that she wanted to play ice hockey. You need to know that we live in Kansas City, not exactly the hockey hotbed of the world, so we looked at her, said "that's nice, dear," and went on living our lives. In August, she looked at me and said, "When are you going to sign me up for hockey?"
Sitting in a cold arena watching my daughter play ice hockey is not what I had in mind when the doctor told us we'd had a second daughter. (Having a frozen piece of rubber fly at her pretty face still gives me pause.) But she seemed serious, so I started looking into it. In my mind, I thought, "We'll find her a nice girls' team to play on." As I mentioned before, we don't live in a hockey-crazed city. You'd be lucky to find five people in 100 here who can even tell you what a face-off is. So, it turns out there are no girls teams, and to play on the "co-ed" teams (which means there might be one girl for every 60 boys) you have to pass five six-week sessions of the learn-to-play hockey program. Yes, that's 30 weeks of classes before they let you play on a team. For four of those sessions, you don't even get a stick.
My daughter spent from August to May simply learning to skate and stop. We went to hockey class at least once a week for eight months (she had to take a couple of the sessions twice), and she wasn't even playing hockey. But, boy was she learning how to skate. And she can now spray snow with the best of them when she stops.
Even though she had become a really good skater, she wasn't a hockey player. She didn't have a stick. She had all the knowledge to be a hockey player, but until they put that stick (hers has blue and purple polka dots on it) in her hands, she couldn't call herself a hockey player. The point of hockey is to put the puck in the net, but my daughter couldn't even touch the puck without a stick. She couldn't tell you how to stick-handle the puck or how to shoot it. Until she got in the game, she couldn't use all her skating knowledge for anything except to skate in circles.
Our Christian walk often follows the same path as my daughter's hockey progression. When we're brand-new Christ followers, we want to soak up all the knowledge we can get. We're so excited about Christ that we dig in and learn all that we can. As we become more mature Christ followers, the Bible tells us that we should put what we know to work. James 1:22 says "Do not merely listen to the word … Do what it says."
We can sit in all the Bible studies and read all the devotionals that we want, but if we aren't living out what we have learned, then all that studying is in vain. As Christ-followers, we study the Bible to become more like Christ. Christ's ministry is marked by action—Christ taught, He healed, He fed the hungry. And He commanded His followers to do the same. In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus tells his disciples to GO and make disciples of all nations. He didn't say, stay here and exchange knowledge with each other. He said GO and put into practice all that I have taught you.
The command for Christians today has not changed. God still says GO. Whether He is sending you to be the face of Christ to your neighbors or to be the face of Christ to a small tribe in the Amazon, the command is the same - GO and DO. So stop skating in circles, pick up your stick and get in the game.
Let's Pray
Dear Heavenly Father, I want to get in the game for You. Show me what You want me to do to reach people for You. Help me to not be afraid to step outside my comfort zone to do Your work. Let me be the face of Christ to whomever You put in my path today. Let me do Your work, equipped with the knowledge of Your word.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.
Now It's Your Turn
Read James 2:14-17. Examine your life in light of these verses. Are you doing the work God asks of you?
Make a list of ways you think God is calling you to live out your faith today. What actions does He require of you?
More from the Girlfriends
I love to study and teach the Bible, but I often find myself getting caught up in the detail and missing the big picture. I love all the historical detail and root word meanings that you can dig up when studying the Bible, but I have to be careful that I don't miss God's message to me when I'm looking at the detail. All of that stuff is good, but it's nothing but noise if we miss the point. Be careful not to treat your Bible study time as an academic exercise. Look for God to speak to you through His word, and be ready to do what He asks.
Want insights into sharing God's word with your children? Check out Lori's blog, Everyday Truth, at www.everydaytruth66.blogspot.com.
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Originally published Friday, 10 September 2010.
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