OK, this is it. The last day of our devotions through THE ME I WANT TO BE. Tomorrow we begin a new direction with our devotions. We're going to focus on living thankful and grateful lives.
HOW ELSE DO YOU BUILD A SOLID FOUNDATION FOR YOUR LIFE?
#5. MEDITATE ON GOD’S WORD
When you and I hear the word “meditate” we probably think about some guy in a monestary chanting or sitting in some yoga postion saying “Hmmmmmm”. Folks, that is the exact opposite to the Bible’s idea of meditation.
The Bible’s idea of meditation is focusing your mind on a Bible verse so you can see how the truth fits in your life. Look at a Bible verse and think, “How does that truth fit into the way I talk with my kids? How does that truth fit in the way I'm managing my business? How does that truth fit in the kind of attitudes I have today?” That's what meditation on a Bible verse means.
Look at the benefit of doing this. Psalms 1:2-3 says, “They love the Lord’s teachings and they think about those teachings day and night. So they are strong like a tree planted by a river. Everything they do will succeed.” The Bible says when you meditate on His word, it’s like planting yourself in rich soil where true success can come into your life. When you do that the result is Joshua 1:8-“Meditate on the word day and night so you may be careful to do everything that’s written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” How many of you want to be prosperous and successful?
The final point to building a solid foundation for you life is…
#6. APPLY GOD’S WORD
James 1:22 says, “Do not fool yourselves into just listening to the word. Instead, put it into practice.” You can fool yourself. You can hear a lot of Bible studies or come hear sermons and hear people talk about the Bible and you can fool yourself into thinking that you’re growing spiritually, that great things are happening in your relationship with God when all that’s really happening is you’re listening to other people talk about it. James said don’t fool yourself.
The question is, What will you do with all that you've heard and read and studied and meditated upon and memorized? Matthew 5:19 says “Whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
Notice the phrase "practices and teaches". That is the key. If you want a solid foundation in your life, if you don’t want to be continually swayed by the crowds, you have to put the Words of God into practice. What’s the best way to do that? Teach them to others. Small groups, bible studies, discipleship, Sunday school classes! Not only do them myself but help someone else to learn how to do them.
In the early 1500’s William Tyndale decided to translate the Bible for the first time into the English language from the Greek so that everyone would have the chance to read it. For that crime alone he was burned at the stake because people said everybody shouldn’t have a Bible, just a few people could understand the Bible.
You and I get to live in a day we can all hold this book and read it and let it impact our lives. I don't ever want to loose sight of the price it took for me to hold on to this book. I don’t ever want to waste the opportunity that I have to read this book. And I don’t ever want to take that for granted. So the question is, what will you and I do about what this book says?
Would you say to Say to God this morning, “Here is my commitment.” Tell Him as you’re making it. “God, I want to make a commitment to reading Your word. I want to make a commitment to spending time with You.” What better way to get to know Him than making a commitment to read this book that He gave as a gift to us. Some of you have been going to church for a long, long time but you haven’t been reading His word very much. For you, it’s a fresh new commitment to say, “I want to make Your word to me a part of the foundation for my life.” You’ve felt that foundation slipping lately.
Father, as we make these commitments to You, I pray more than anything that we’d make them out of a sense of anticipation and not guilt. Lord, I know a lot of people who feel guilt about the Bible. Guilt about what they haven’t done. I pray today that You give us the gift instead of feeling guilt, we would feel invited by You. We’d feel the opportunity of the future. As we make these commitments to You, we’d feel the joy of the fact that You want to have a relationship with us, that You want to build a foundation in our lives that gets us through the tough times. So, God, we bring these commitments to You with a sense of joy and we say to You, “Help us to live them out. Help us to get to know You better. Help us to find in You the foundation that we really need.” We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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