Kierkegaard spoke (quoted here very loosely) of how the choices of being a Christian are not whether you should throw yourself on a grenade, but what breakfast cereal you would choose. Very few of us will make the kind of decisions that will set the world on end, but we all make choices every day that affect more than ourselves and our local community. It is in the seemingly small decisions that put us in the presence of God where we can be reformed in His image and encapsulated in His grace.
This is the stuff of living intentionally. Together as a community we covenant to live intentionally by making small changes according to the Shema. The Shema is from Deuteronomy and is the cornerstone of the Jewish Faith, Jesus Christ quoted it when he spoke of the Greatest Commandment, “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5)
What I want you to do is join us on this journey. We will “(t)alk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” Deuteronmy 6:7. Each day you will have a bible reading and an action to take. As we go along, we will be working toward becoming spiritually fit. To become spiritually fit we must exercise our heart, soul, mind and physical body. Therefore we will be doing exercises for all of these.
I am also going to ask you make a covenant to commit yourself to this journey for the next 9 weeks. This takes us right up until Thanksgiving. At that time I honestly believe you will be thankful for the many gifts you will have received on this journey. So, check in each day and join us for spiritual calisthenics.
Invite your friends and relatives to join us as we walk this road together and share your thoughts with us. You can comment on posts by clicking on the comments link at the bottom of each post. You will have to create a User ID to post. There is no cost to sign-up. So be intentional about sharing your thoughts.
A final note, not all posts will be this long (but some will) and all new posts following today will appear at the top of each page. Previous posts will follow the newer ones. After each week, blogs older than a week will appear in the archives.
Day 1 – September 25
“1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven” – Ecclesiastes 3:1
Scripture Reading for the day: Ecclesiastes 3:1-14
Paul says that “‘Everything is permissible’—but not everything is beneficial.” (1 Corinthians 10:23). Our days are filled with all kinds of things and we have the freedom to choose what fills them. Living intentionally means that we do our best to fill our days with things that are beneficial. That doesn’t mean that the things that fill our days shouldn’t be fun, but that we should stay away from things that lead us away from Christ.
Challenge: Let’s take a look at our day. What do you do during your day? Here is a link to a log for you to fill in (Daily Log). It’s really simple, just keep track of the way you fill your day. This is your log and no one will see it unless you choose to share it. Don’t worry about doing anything with it yet, we will examine it on Friday.
Prayer: God of all things. Guide me in this journey that I might grow closer to you each day. Open my mind that I might know your will and open my ears that I might hear your voice. Amen.
Feel free to leave comments on these posts. Especially with notes of your experiences or comments on the post.
[...] this brings us to your schedule logs from Wednesday’s entry. If you haven’t filled out your log yet, go ahead and write down what yesterday looked like. [...]