Week of Devotions (3). Matthew 10.

There are two ideas that I didn't emphasize yesterday about meditating on your chosen devotional verse(s). I'm going to rework that post so they're there, but let me begin by stating them here.

• You don't need to use all the different techniques described to help you meditate. Just one will usually suffice, and it should be the one that helps you the most. There are two ways a given technique can help. One way is that it fits your way of thinking. For example, if you're an experiential thinker then visualizing yourself in the scene may work well for you. The second way is that the technique is appropriate for the passage you're reading. For example, if you're in the middle of the letter to the Romans and engaging Paul's logic, the previous visualization technique won't work as well as one of the others.
• The second point about meditation is that the techniques provided are really there to get you started. Remember that meditation is about deep thinking on the truths contained in a particular passage of the text. If you have some other way of going about that, then use it.

The next step in developing a devotional study is to write out an application of your insights. Up to this point you may have been just jotting down information. In this step, you do need to organize your thinking in such a way that you have something very concrete to apply.

Typically, if you asked the nine questions, like "is there a command to follow," in the previous step, then your application is contained the answers you jotted down. If you didn't ask the questions, and you haven't developed a concrete application for the Scripture, then now would be a good time to go back and ask those questions of the passage.

In today's reading of Matthew 10, there are lots of sections we could concentrate on to develop a sound devotional study. There is the really hard truth in v.10:38, where Jesus says that to be worthy of Him, we must take up our cross and follow. There is the hard truth just ahead of that in v.10:34-37, where Jesus says that He came to bring not peace, but a sword. It will be expressed even in hatred between family members. But I want to focus on these few words from v.10:25 -- "It is enough for the disciple to become like his teacher, and the slave like his master." In context, Jesus is providing advice to His disciples about what to expect as they go out on their own, under His authority. It includes this idea of not expecting they'll be treated any better than their teacher.

But in meditating on this sentence, I see a powerful challenge to meet, stated so simply. It's enough to become the like the teacher. Enough? Absolutely. But is it achievable? Apparently Jesus wants us to do so. After further reflection, I've reached the stage where I'm ready to write down a practical way to apply this. Before doing so, let me just say that this verse is so rich that I could meditate on it for a lifetime. But we're going to look at just a small piece of the impact this verse has on me. Here are four facets of practical application that Rick Warren talks about in Dynamic Bible Study.

1. Your application should be personal. Write it in first person singular.
2. Your application should be practical. Plan what you're going to do, create a project, make the application as specific as possible.
3. Your application should be possible. It has to be something you can accomplish.
4. Your application should be provable. Take some measurements, add a time line, so you know you've accomplished it.

Let's apply these facets to the idea of becoming like the teacher. To do that, I need to think more about the teacher. What does the teacher look like? Where don't I look like Him? It could be that my first step is simply to know more about Jesus than I currently do. Not all application is "action" per se. It may be knowledge, it may be attitude, it may be practice. In the New Faith Ministry at BCC we call this "know, do, be", a self-fueling cycle of growth. But if my choice is to learn more about Jesus, then I need to make this a concrete plan. One way to do that would be to write 10 traits of Jesus that I do know, and then commit to read the gospels over the next 3 months and discover 5 more traits. That would be a personal, practical, possible, provable plan.

In a devotional study, we may be looking for something to work on just for the day or the week. This is how most "daily" devotionals work, which is why they're called daily devotionals. They give you something to focus on for that day. The hope is that they will build on one another, transforming you over time. Since Biblical truths are repeated throughout Scripture, and we need to apply them in different ways at different times in our lives this approach should work over time. But in the case described above, once you've built out your big project, you need to focus on it. And you can do so, by applying this devotional technique we've been learning about to your reading of the gospels. You may wind up with smaller applications within your larger goal.

And so it goes. This is how life works, isn't it? Certainly our faith life. We are here to know, love, and serve the Lord. That's a life project. Within it, there will be days when just managing to focus on joy for the day, for example, will be task enough. The advantage of building your own devotional study is that it's unique to you, not imposed from the outside. With that in mind, let's finish today.

"It is enough for the disciple to become like his teacher, and the slave like his master." For Jim, for today, I need to act confidently that God cares more for me than the sparrows. Here we go.

1. Personal: I need to act confidently...
2. Practical: I need to act confidently by shifting my focus from how am I going to earn money, to how is God going to provide for our family.
3. Possible: When faced with anxiety, I'll turn my attention to this reminder to "become like the teacher."
4. Provable: For the rest of this week, every time I'm anxious over material issues, I'll act confidently like the master, by remembering His confidence in God's provision, instead of worrying. I'll keep a count for the day of when this happens.

Your own response to this could be radically different, which is the point, isn't it? Tomorrow, we'll add one more step, and then on Friday, I'll give you format you can use to organize your study. God willing.