30 Days of HeartworkSample

Made To Love

HEART //

We were created for a purpose--to follow God’s example and walk in the way of love as sons and daughters of God. As we walk in this way, God grows us in wisdom. Just like children who start out making a lot of mistakes, we will fumble and fail, but as we stick by our Father, he tunes our minds and spirits to his very own. As we learn more about how God works, we learn how to do our work in his strength. His strength endures the hardest times and produces joy and thanksgiving. When we allow him to work through us, we have new eyes to see his beautiful Kingdom and to love deeper. Saint Augustine once said, “A Christian is a mind through which Christ thinks, a heart through which Christ loves, a voice through which Christ speaks, and a hand through which Christ helps.” When we trust God, we allow the Holy Spirit to think, love, speak, and help through us. And as Christians, that’s where we learn who we really are. We learn as a child learns, day after day, with our loving Father.

Wouldn’t it be great if we experienced that beautiful picture of growing in the Lord and never ran into bumps in the road? But, like kids do, we fall down. Getting hurt or not getting our way sometimes seems like the end of the world. But even when we’re down on the ground crying (figuratively or literally!), the truth is still true… we are children of the King, destined for great power and great responsibility. We have the honor of “walking in the way of love” with Love Himself. As we learn more about who we are in Christ this week, let’s keep this reminder of hope before us.

WORK //

In the past week, you have begun to let go of distractions, but when we let go of something negative, we must replace it with something positive. In the areas that you have let go, ask God to fill your heart with his perfect love and to make you aware of any opportunities to see that love in action this week.

Ok, here it comes... Make a list of the social media you’re on and the media (shows, video games, etc.) you watch. This week, consider taking a break. No posting, checking, playing, or watching. We want you to think about a couple of things:

How addicted are you? How often do you feel like checking some social media to see what people are up to, telling everyone what you’re doing/thinking/feeling, or seeing how many “likes” you have? How tortured do you feel that you won’t be catching up on your favorite shows or playing your video games?

If you are addicted, how much of your identity may be coming from this media? Is it all your friends talk about, or can you still be friends and have great conversations about other things? Do you feel less confident because you don’t know how your posts are going or because you miss out on things that are happening online? It's not bad to connect with people online, of course. But this challenge just gives you some time to consider whether real-life connections are still stronger than online ones and check in with your level of dependence on media.