Use this devo as you are able, in whole or in part. Don’t feel compelled to read it all. Simply read and meditate upon whatever catches your attention. The goal is enjoying time with God through His Word and in prayer. Questions about the devotional elements?
Call to Prayer
“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Ps. 34:18)
Prayer of Confession
Forgiving God, the world is bent over with brokenness, weighed down with sin that spreads through the human race and sprouts up misery everywhere. It’s a wonder you don’t uproot the whole tangled mess and end it all—but you promised not to do that. I praise you for your bow of mercy that is now bent over the world, for the freedom from sin I can know in the grace of Jesus Christ. Amen. (Prayer based on the Belgic Confession, Questions 15)
*Prayer borrowed from Philip Reinders’ Seeking God’s Face: Praying with the Bible through the Year
Lent Devo: Backyard Pilgrim
Throughout Lent this year we will follow along over the next 40 days with quotes from Backyard Pilgrim by Matt Canlis which gives us a daily Bible Path (the story of God’s redemption) and Parish Path (a literal path through town where you can walk and ponder what God has shown you through his Word).
BIBLE PATH
Day 9: Not Alone | Read: Genesis 2:18
BIBLE PATH
So far God has only spoken joyfully about everything he has made. Each day God sings his “it is good” benediction over all creation, but in Genesis 2:18, God says something is not good: “It is not good for the man to be alone. Why not?
On his own, Adam cannot be in God’s image—not the God who said, “Let us make mankind in our image.” Adam needs a companion, a partner, someone other than himself to answer God’s call to be in God’s image—as communal beings. Jesus made a similar point: “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there I am with them.”
Christians today think too individualistically. It takes a plurality of people for God to be rightly seen. The point of verse 18 is not that we need romance; we need community. Community is not simply slowing down. It’s about the pace of being known. It is not good to be alone—especially since even God is not alone.
Here i am…not alone
PARISH PATH
As you walk today, take someone with you. Ask a family member, co-worker, or fellow pilgrim to join your parish stroll. Name an unhealthy way you live independently of God and others.
Ask God to forgive this independence streak, and to replace it with a healthy inter-dependence upon your Father in heaven, the Holy Spirit, and your brothers and sisters in Christ on earth.
What difference will it make to how you live that God is three persons living together?
Sermon Devo
We are in our Winter series through the book of James. Each day we will dig into a different aspect of this New Testament wisdom book which will, by the end of the week, help to give you a fuller portrait of the kind of lives we are called to live as Christians.
Read: James 3:1-12
Re-read the passage again today and answer the following questions:
- What does this tell us about God?
- What does this tell us about people?
- What other truths do we discover in this passage?
- What would change in your life if you lived like this passage was true?
Evening Prayer of Examen
- Where did you move with or feel close to Jesus today?
- Where did you resist or feel far from Jesus today?
- Where is Jesus leading you tomorrow? Ask for joy as you follow him.
Benediction
“God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8)
