Author: Nathaniel Colt

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Read: 2 Corinthians 9:6–7

Imagine that your parents just bought a cool device that you’ve wanted for a while. Imagine they just threw it on the couch next to you and said, “I didn’t really want to get this for you, but I did.” How would you feel? Maybe you would feel awkward or hurt. Even if the device they gave you was cool, it wouldn’t mean much if it wasn’t given to you with the right attitude. Now imagine the same situation just a little different. Instead of them throwing it on the couch and saying they had to give it to you, they took the time to wrap it nicely. Imagine they planned the perfect time to give it to you and they said, “We knew you would love this, and we really want to give it to you.” That would make a big difference, right?

The attitude in which we give our time, money, and talents to God is just as important as what we give. Giving with a bad attitude is a sign of a bad relationship with God. Our giving should come out of our love for Him. God wants us to give as part of our worship to Him. He also wants us to give with a cheerful attitude because we want to, not because we have to.

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Read: Matthew 25:19–30

Maybe you’ve learned how to ride a bike with training wheels. When you’ve learned to ride that well, someone takes off the training wheels. Then, you learn how to balance the bike on two wheels. After riding a bicycle for a long time, you may get to drive something bigger, like a scooter or a golf cart. Then, when you turn the right age and you take some classes and have lots of practice, you’re trusted to drive a car. Most people usually don’t jump straight to driving a car. By the time you do, you’ve usually proven yourself to be trustworthy to handle a vehicle.

This is similar to how it works with the gifts God gives us. In Jesus’ parable, the master represents God and we’re the servants. God gives us gifts—time, skills, and money—that we can use for Him. And as Jesus’ parable explains, if you do a good job with what God gives you, He will give you more. We can show God that we can be trusted to handle bigger things. When He knows that He can trust us to use what He gives us for His honor, He will trust us with even more.

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Read: Matthew 25:14–18

Jesus used stories called parables to help people understand spiritual ideas. Think about this story with God as the master and His followers as the servants. The master trusted His servants to handle some of His money. It was up to the servants to decide exactly what they did with what they were given. Were they going to use what they were given to make more, or would they do nothing with it? Two of the servants chose to make good use of what they had been given and tried to grow it for their master. One servant chose to do nothing with it.

Although this parable describes what the master gave as money, we can think about it in terms of everything that God gives us. God gives us money, time, talents, and skills. All of these things can be used to further the kingdom of God. When we use these things the way God wants us to, we not only show Him honor and worship, but we also point others to Him.

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Read: Psalm 139:23–24

When you first get up in the morning and look in the mirror, you might be kind of surprised by what you see. Your hair might be all over the place, you may have smudges of drool on your chin, and maybe you still have a piece of broccoli in your teeth from dinner the night before. How crazy would it be to look in the mirror, see all of that, and then just walk out the door to start your day? Normally, you look in the mirror to check yourself and see what needs to be changed so that you can start your day clean and ready to go.

In the same way, we can honor God by allowing Him to look at our heart to do a spiritual mirror check every day. We can go to God and ask Him to examine our heart. He can let us know if there’s anything in our heart that doesn’t line up with His commands. And when our heart isn’t right with Him, we should go to Him and ask for help. He can get us on the right track. As He shows us things to work on, we shouldn’t just walk away and ignore them. Instead, we should obey His instructions, ask Him to purify our heart, and keep Him as the Leader of our life.

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Read: Psalm 19:7–14

Have you ever been in a car with a driver who was lost? There are several ways to fix that problem. You could use a cell phone to look up an address or directions. You could also stop and ask someone for help. One thing that usually doesn’t work is just to keep driving and hope that you end up at the right spot. Good instructions are the best way to get to the right place.

When it comes to our life, God has given us instructions that lead the direction He wants us to go. Those instructions usually come from the Bible and our prayer conversations with God. They also come in different forms. Sometimes God’s instructions are clear commands and laws, and other times they are general truths and wisdom. So, if you’re confused about where to go in life, listen for His instructions. They’re the best. Making the choices that follow His directions shows that we love Him and want to live for Him.

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Read: Mark 7:14–23

Would you wash the outside of a bowl and leave the inside dirty? If you looked from the outside, the bowl would look clean. But it wouldn’t actually be clean. Would you want to eat ice cream out of a bowl full of dried-up chili leftovers? Probably not.

Sometimes, we do all the right things to look like a good person on the outside, but our inside is different. That’s not at all what God wants. He wants our heart to be right. Why? Because what’s in our heart eventually spills out. If our heart wants to lie about things, eventually we’ll start telling lies. If our heart is full of meanness, we’ll start being mean to people. But if Jesus is in our heart, our life will look more and more like Him all the time.

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Read: Mark 7:1–13

The religious leaders in these verses were very concerned about making sure that their religious laws were followed. In fact, they were more concerned about following their man-made traditions perfectly than they were about the condition of their hearts. The way they were living showed that they didn’t have a heart close to God.

Sometimes in our life, it’s easy to get caught up in the actions of worshipping God. This can look like going to church regularly out of habit and not because we want to. It could also be saying memorized prayers before a meal rather than having a heartfelt conversation with God and thanking Him for what He’s done. The thing is though, God can see right through all that. We may be able to fool others, but God knows the condition of our true heart.

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Read: Luke 6:46–49

When building a house, the very first thing that is built is the foundation. Do you know why? It’s because a strong foundation makes the rest of the house strong and stable, so it will last for years to come. It would be worthless to have builders start working on building walls and a roof without a foundation being built first. If the house is built without a strong foundation, the house will be unstable and will collapse, or it will fall apart over time.

Our life as a follower of Jesus works in a similar way. Our life is strong and stable when we obey Jesus and His Word. Doing this must be the most important part of our life. When we obey Him in every situation, we show that we want His plans for our life. It shows that we’re willing to be sure that what He wants is also what we want. As we continue to put Him first, we can trust Him to help us take care of everything else going on in our life.

Read about It

Read: Psalm 27:4–8

Have you ever met someone that you really wanted to be friends with? What did you have to do to be friends with them? When you have a relationship with someone, you want to spend time with them. You want to get to know them more. You share your thoughts and feelings with them, and you care about theirs. You want to spend time doing things together and creating memories. And, when you’re not with them, you miss them. That’s what a real relationship is.

God wants to have a relationship every day with us. He doesn’t want an occasional visit from us every now and then. He wants us to spend consistent time with Him, to talk with Him, and to share our thoughts and feelings with Him. He wants to be involved in every part of our life. But we must choose to put Him first and make Him a priority.