Team Devotions
Choosing Delight
Bible Passage
Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;
you make my lot secure.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Psalm 16:5–11
Devotion
It's important that you look at the gifts God has given you. You need to inventory your gifts so you can be a good steward. Then ask, "Where does God move my heart to use these gifts? And with what circumstances, what particular kinds of problems, what groups of people?" People find they have many more gifts than they supposed.
There are many opportunities to do ministry in the world God has made rather than only those within the church God has made. Isn't that what John Wesley did? He went to the coal miners and to the marginalized people outside the institutional church.
Too strong a view of the fallen nature of humanity causes us to assume that what we delight to do is probably a sin. If a non-Christian doesn't enjoy selling manure, he naturally thinks, Maybe I should get into something else. But Christians tend to say, "God must have put me here for some reason." So they end up baptizing inertia.
I don't think inertia necessarily is divine. Rest—inertia—is supposed to be a part of the rhythm of life, not the definition of life.
–Richard Nelson Bolles
Character Check
What prevents me from taking the risk to do what I really love to do?
Something to Think About
[If] a man has come to that point where he is so content he says, "I do not want to know any more, or be any more," he is in a state in which he ought to be changed into a mummy.
–Henry Ward Beecher
Go Deeper
This download includes assessments to help you evaluate whether you are fulfilling your calling or simply going through the motions.