4k18 8/26 Devotional and "Tip-for-Today"
Dirt Road Community
By: Nick Steffen
2 Corinthians 12:8-10
Driving on dirt roads and having a dusty vehicle is part of living in western Kansas. There is no way to keep your cars clean in western Kansas unless you never leave the garage. The simple struggle of keeping your car clean is one of many constant daily reminders that we can’t live a spotless life. You all have places to go and people to see, and when you go see those places and people you will accumulate some dirt along the way. The 4K18 theme is challenging you to focus on four people/families this year. This is a great challenge to live out Christ’s command to love your neighbors, but this doesn’t mean you need to arrive with a clean car.
Corinthians 12:8-10 Paul says 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Paul understood that he didn’t need to clean up his act in order for Christ to work through his life. You don’t need to clean up your act in order for Christ to work through your life. The greatest picture of Christ’s love in our lives is when others can see Christ’s light shining through all our weaknesses. My pastor Rob Morgan summarized this idea very well, “When your purpose becomes greater than your person, your person becomes greater than your problem.”
The following poem does a great job encompassing the idea that our journey to Christ’s will being done must start with the honest acknowledgment that we all have some dirt on the car.
Hurts too deep to feel
Passion and mistake
Wounds too painful to heal
History too complex to face
Physical death is lurking
Earth is a fleeting dust
Great light is upon us
A reason to keep living
Refuge from fleeting lust
Purpose growing within
Smile on a face
Freedom from sin
A warm embrace
Firm in all weather
His Kingdom Come
Life together
His will be done
Tip for Today:
*Today’s “tip” is a bit different from what you will encounter moving forward because it is inward focused first. As stated in the devotional, reaching out and serving others also requires honest inward focus.
Write down all the weaknesses in your life that you would normally try to wash off before meeting people. Pray specifically that Christ would use these weaknesses to show the power of Christ’s love.
Nick Steffen currently resides in Ohio. He is a Technology Education Teacher at a local high school. Nick & Rachel have 2 girls, Elisabeth & Louisa. Nick & Rachel both worked at Grace Children’s Home in NE which is where they met Thayne & Janene.
Action Step for the Tip-for-Today
Here is a place where you can do the "tip-for-today."
Write down all the weaknesses in your life that you would normally try to wash off before meeting people. Pray specifically that Christ would use these weaknesses to show the power of Christ’s love.
