Are you ready? This week we have an incredible devotional from BC freshman Aria Guillory. This devotional encourages us not to neglect the spiritual training necessary to walk confidently in our calling and honor God while doing it! Sit down with your favorite cup of coffee (...maybe a pumpkin spice latte?) and dive into these great nuggets of wisdom!
"So I can run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadow boxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should, Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I might be disqualified." 1 Corinthians 9:26-27 (NLT)
Not straying in your walk with Christ takes two main things: intentionality and obedience. Paul writes in verse 26 how he walks with intention behind every step with Christ, not just wandering around aimlessly. Verse 27 talks about disciplining our bodies as Christ tells us to, which is referring to a concept that we cannot preach something from God without learning the lesson through obedience.
Like training the temple that God gifted us with, there are three ways we can honor Christ:
Colossians 4:5 NLT talks about applying the wisdom God gives us in our lives. Going through this "training" we have to be diligent with what God presents to us. Therefore we must be intentional with such wisdom and training God gives us in this life.
Proverbs 13:4 ESV says "The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied." Many people want to identify with their weakness, saying "oh I'm just lazy, that's who I am" when we're called to be something higher than that. We are called to walk diligently in obedience to the Lord.
Galatians 6:9 ESV refers to endurance within ourselves to see the fruit of our labor. Intentionality in our walk + obedience to God = seeing the blessings He has for us.
Walking with God with purpose and fully submitting to His will comes opportunities to see His goodness. Us doing our part to train diligently shows God we can honor His calling, and he honors that in us. He loves us so much to give what we need for our lives.
Aria Guillory is a freshman SEU student earning her bachelors degree in Ministerial Leadership. Aria is gaining ministry experience and training in the Next Gen practicum.
