How To Ruin Your Life (And How To Come Back) 5-Day DevotionalSample

Day 1: Isolate Yourself (Hebrews 10:24–25)

To ruin your life, simply allow the foundation of your life to weaken. Then, toppling is inevitable.

If you ignore erosion of your integrity, you will implode. If you shrug at the explosives beneath the surface, explosives that threaten to weaken your character, you will implode. If your competence and gifting outpace your integrity, you will implode. If the weight of your responsibilities and burdens is greater than your character, you will implode

King David in the Old Testament—that great King whom God called “one after my own heart”—imploded. (Read 2 Samuel 11–12 for the full story.) The story of David’s implosion jumps out in the biblical narrative and disturbs us. It jolts us because David’s implosion is so out of sync with all we read about him beforehand. His implosion confronts us with the reality of our own fragility and struggles.

If you want to implode, the first step is to isolate yourself. This is exactly what David did. We read in 2 Samuel 11:1, “In the spring when kings march out to war . . . David remained in Jerusalem.” He was away from his responsibilities. He isolated himself. And by isolating himself, he left himself vulnerable to implosion.

We must guard against the same vulnerability. This is one of the many reasons the Bible exhorts us to stay connected to God’s people—to a local church. “Don’t neglect gathering together,” the writer of Hebrews tells us. Are you guarding against that vulnerability, or are you at risk of imploding? Are you living in a community that will hold provoke love and good works, or are you on the road to ruining your life?

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