Month: January 2022

If you ask Kirby Smart, how his Bulldogs were able to win the College Football National Championship this year, you might hear him say something about preparation and practice. After UGA beat Florida last year, Coach Smart said this in a post-game interview:

“I have fun watching these guys practice. These guys go about their meetings and practice days so serious, taking notes, getting nuggets. Their coaches do a great job, but these kids right here, they’re special.”

Coach Smart and his Bulldogs won the National Championship on January 10, 2022 but they secured the victory in advance with excellent practice and preparation, which brings us to our scripture for today. We have two verses, both focused on the practice of seeking the Lord.

The first is from 2 Chronicles 15:2 which says:

The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.

And the second verse is from Psalms 34:10:

Those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

Seeking the Lord is the act of practicing our spiritual disciplines. Just as practice was critical for the Bulldogs, as we seek the Lord, it is critical that we consistently practice spiritual disciplines.

The C.S. Lewis Institute describes spiritual disciplines as “those Bible-prescribed activities that are explicitly said to increase our sanctification, our conformity to Christ Jesus, our spiritual maturation.” These may include prayer, study, fellowship, worship, service, giving, sabbath, fasting or anything else that helps us avoid/reduce sin and become more like Jesus.

So, if these activities are the “practice”, then what is our spiritual “game”? I would suggest that the “game” relates to using our sanctification and spiritual maturity (that we gain through practice) in God-glorifying ways, including:  

• Do we treat others with love?
• Do we want the best for others and show it through generosity?
• Do we act ethically in business?
• During challenging times, do we respond in fear or in faith?
• Do we have self-control and avoid overindulging?
• How do we respond in traffic when someone cuts us off?
• How do we respond when someone is disrespectful toward us?

If we wait to build our game plan until after the game starts, we are unlikely to win. But by practicing our spiritual disciplines, we’ll win more victories (for God) while playing the game of life on earth.

Questions:

1. Do you agree with the analogy comparing football practice to the practice of spiritual disciplines? Why or why not?
2. If you have an example, please tell the group about a team you were on that won a big victory (athletic, academic, professional, other) and how practice/preparation made that victory possible.
3. Do you have an example of how practicing spiritual disciplines helped you succeed in a situation that might have been a failure otherwise?
4. What are one or two spiritual disciplines you would like to practice more consistently in 2022?

Today’s scripture is from Matthew 6:19-21 in which Jesus says: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

This lesson was inspired by a tough question I heard recently which was “what do you really own?”. The idea was that if it can be taken away from you, then you don’t really own it. And the follow up question asked why we spend so much time and energy working so hard for things that we’ll lose one day (at death, if not before).

The point of today’s lesson is not to recommend selling everything and giving it to the poor. Certainly, God expects us to be generous and give at least 10% back to the church and other Christian ministries, but the point is not to take a vow of poverty. In fact, please pursue unimaginable riches if you feel that’s where God is leading you. But, no matter what you pursue on earth, remember to store up treasure in heaven.

So what does that really mean? Jesus didn’t immediately follow this command with a detailed list, but here are a few items to consider that are consistent with His other teachings and with other Biblical principles:

• Building your relationship with God – praying, reading scripture
• Spending quality and quantity time with family and friends
• Patience
• Kindness
• Volunteering with the right motivation
• Encouraging someone who is down
• Inspiring others and living a life worth imitating
• Teaching or leading ministry efforts
• Singing or playing musical instruments in church
• Serving where your spiritual gifts are most needed

The goodness and blessings that come from each of these things can never be taken away from you……and you truly “own” them.

For me, the most powerful part of today’s scripture was the idea that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” What a great reminder to laser focus our hearts and minds on God no matter where we are or what we’re doing. When we do that and truly bring Him into our decision making, we are much more likely to hit the target of accumulating riches in heaven.

Questions:

1. Do you agree that we don’t truly own something if it can be taken away from us?
2. What did you think about the follow-up question regarding why we work so hard and stress ourselves out so much for things that will be taken away?
3. On the surface, today’s topic is not complicated or confusing so why is it so difficult for us to consistently focus on storing treasure in heaven vs. on earth?
4. What is one thing you can do in the next week to store up some treasure in heaven?

As we start a new year, it’s a great time to reflect on improvements we can make, which is the subject of today’s scripture passage from Isaiah 43:18-19:

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert.”

God spoke these words to the Israelites during a period of enslavement in Babylon. The formerly strong and proud nation was sad and bitter about being held captive, but God wanted them to focus on where He was moving and what He had in store for them.

God loves His chosen people and all of His actions are designed for their long-term best interest, even allowing them to be enslaved. He wants them to remember to focus their hearts and minds on Him always. So to help them get into the right frame of mind and prepare themselves for what was to come, He tells them to quit yearning for the “old days” and stop feeling sorry for themselves. Only then can they focus on His plans for them.

There are definitely times when I focus too much on things of the past. Maybe it’s a mistake I made or an opportunity I missed. But God doesn’t want me to obsess over these experiences any more than He wanted the Israelites to do so. I believe He wants me to ask one critical question about every experience and every situation – how can this experience or situation help me become a better person and be more useful to God?

If we look at everything through this lens, the meaning of each experience takes on a new and exciting complexity. During difficult times, instead of asking “why is this happening TO me?” maybe we should say “This is happening FOR me for a reason and I can’t wait to see where God is moving in this experience.”

Challenging times will still be difficult, but we’ll worry less and experience far less anxiety when we turn our hearts and minds toward seeing where God is making a way in the wilderness of our lives.

Questions:

1. Do you agree that the primary thing we should ask in all situations is how our experiences can make us more useful to God?
2. How would you explain what it means to be more useful to God?
3. Can you think of an experience that was difficult at the time but helped you become a better person and more useful to God?
4. What are some benefits of viewing every experience through the lens of what God has in store for us?