Fully Devoted: An IntroductionSample

How Do We Live Out the Bible?

The journey of becoming a fully devoted follower of Christ doesn’t stop at knowing what the Bible says. Following Jesus means actually choosing to live as if what we say we believe is true. So while the Bible absolutely can inform us, reading it wisely involves allowing the Bible to transform us. 

How do we do that? 

Learn the Text. Live the Text. Reflect on the Text. Repeat. 

It is through the Bible that we are introduced to the story of God—and the story of us. This is how we discover the beautiful adventure we’ve been invited into. Growing as a follower of Jesus has less to do with learning more things and more to do with becoming more like Jesus. 

The measure of our spiritual maturity isn’t how much we know about the Bible, but how well we love our neighbor. So, as followers of Jesus, we can’t just stop at reading the Bible, because it could make us followers of Jesus who don’t actually follow Jesus. 

What we see in Jesus is that the Word became flesh—the Word of God walked on earth in the person of Jesus. And just as Jesus was the embodiment of God’s Word, we are also meant to embody the words of Jesus in our lives. 

A very powerful and often overlooked discipline to help us live out the words of Jesus is intentionally taking time to reflect on what we’re learning—by meditating. What does that mean? It’s simply finding space to slow down, pause, and think about how closely our lives align with Jesus’ life. 

Taking space to pause and ask God to show us where we aren’t actually following Jesus will help develop our self-awareness, guiding us to bring those areas into alignment with who we are as Jesus followers.

And then we repeat this process over and over again. This journey of following Jesus is a daily journey of opening ourselves up to the transforming power of God’s Spirit. And while this journey can sometimes feel like work, it’s absolutely worth it. When we’re walking with Jesus, we find so much more peace, purpose, joy, and satisfaction than we could find anywhere else. 

Journaling Questions

• Write down the Scriptures that stuck out most to you from today’s reading. What stands out to you about that Scripture? Why do you think it’s important? 
• Are you the kind of person who tends to be more excited about learning new things or applying new things to your life? 
• How well do you live as if what you say you believe is actually true? Why do you currently assess yourself this way? What is one thing you can change to live more consistently?

Memory Verse

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35 NIV