Today’s new cut from Sidewalk Prophets amazing album is a song that speaks volumes to my heart. The words are so important for this culture: “Let’s love deep and daydream. Go make some memories. Look each other in the eyes. Let’s turn off the TV ’cause we’ve got the real thing. We were made to live this life.” My 8-year old daughter and I have a constant battle over TV. She would spend her whole summer sitting in front of our television watching hours and hours of Disney+. It drives me crazy. I work nights and at least one day a week I need to sleep all day to make it through my next shift, and as much as I try to encourage her to keep the TV off, as soon as I am asleep, she has the TV on. There’s been times I’ve turned the TV off and told her to read a book only to find her in her room watching something on her Ipod. And usually our 3 year-old son is right there with her.
The epidemic of distractions is not infecting my family alone. I see it at my work as my coworkers scroll through their phones for hours on end. I see it with my extended family as they allow entertainment mediums to devour hours and hours of their time. How much could we accomplish as a society with all the time we waste binge watching mindless show after show? Even as a try to write this devotional as quickly as I can to get back to my kids, I hear them playing and laughing after I shut the TV off. Play time they would have lost to watching another hour of some silly Disney show. It’s about time we turn off the distractions and invest our time in each other.
July 8
8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10)
Here we see again how Paul points out that we are saved through grace, which was given as a gift. Grace is not something you have to earn through good works, it’s available to all of us, regardless of the depth of our sin, as long as we believe in Jesus and humble ourselves before Him.
What are you doing with that free gift of grace? Are you paying it forward and showing everyone around you the same loving grace? Are you sharing with the world the miracle of this gift of grace? Or are you just letting the gift of grace go to waste? Jesus provided the way. It’s up to you if you are going to follow it.
Reading plan: Ephesians 2:1-10
Deeper reading plan: Isaiah 1, 2, 3
Prayer and meditation: Pray for our country. Pray for love to conquer all. Pray that Christ infects our hearts and ignites a final fire of revival to sweep this land.
Fitness challenge: Here is our July circuit. Learn the movements this week. 14 reps, 3 rounds.
- Hand-release push-up
- Cross-punch sit-ups
- Flowsteps (14-each leg)
- Side planks with rotations (14-each side)
- Jumping lunges (14-each leg)
- Leg Lifts
- Burpees
Common Sense Reborn 