Daily Devotional For Monday, July 21, 2025

Good morning and I am so glad you are reading this. We have been and still are looking at what it means to follow Jesus. The main reason Jesus gave His disciples the Holy Spirit was for them to make disciples. The reason Jesus has given you His Holy Spirit is for you to make disciples. We Christians are good at smoke screens. Some well meaning Christians when pushed about doing missions say, “Well, don’t we have the same needs here. There are millions in America who are lost. We need to reach them.” Well, that is true but my experience and observation has been that this statement is just a smoke screen. Why? Because the people who make these statements are not trying to reach all the lost people around them personally. 

Most Christians are not sharing the Lord. Most Christians are doing everything else to feed the hungry or clothing the naked or taking care of the sick around the world. They are not being intentional with Jesus commands and warnings in Matthew 25:31-46. Out of sight, out of mind. I know, I know! Some say, “Well, what about the United States. We have people in poverty struggling to survive because they do not have the basic necessities of life.” True but there are 8 billion people on our planet. The United States has 340 million. That is 4%. So, our focus is going to be limited to 4% as disciples of Jesus?

About ⅓ of the world’s population claim either to be Christian or affiliate with the Christian faith. That is around 2.6 billion people. That leaves another 5.4 billion people who all live outside of the United States. We have fostered the idea that if you have a concern for global missions, pursue it only. If you have a concern for missions here in America, then pursue it only. Nowhere does that ideology agree with Scripture. When we look at Jesus’ command in Matthew 28:19-20, we should make it as a command for a very small select few. This is a command to every single Christian, Christ follower and disciple. We are to make disciples wherever we are – at work, at school, in our neighborhoods, in the supermarket, while on vacation, in our city, our state, our nation and around the world.

In the American dream, success is defined by moving up and up the ladder. In God’s dream, His definition of success is moving down and down to where the greatest need is around the world to share the Gospel and make disciples. Let me share with you a couple of stories of people who took Jesus’ words in Matthew 25:31-46 and Matthew 28:19-20 seriously:

• “And let me introduce you to Jeff, a businessman like the one I mentioned earlier, who climbed the ladder of success, only to realize that success in the kingdom of God involves moving down, not up. As a young professional, he scaled the heights of success in our culture in almost every conceivable way. I’ll let him tell his story in his own words in excerpts from a speech he gave to other executives in his company during one of their conferences.

My career has been a complete whirlwind in ways more successful than I ever anticipated it could be. I am paying more in taxes than I ever expected to make in a full year! I have been incredibly blessed. I was able to bring my wife home from work. Then we purchased our dream home in the exact neighborhood where we always wanted to live. I purchased the BMW; I bought the big beach house; and we went on great vacations. On top of all this, I was growing a business that I truly loved in an industry that I am passionate about. But somehow something was missing from my life, and and I couldn’t figure out what it was. I have been a Christian since I was seven years old, but through my pursuit of business and success, I somehow had replaced seeking the Lord with pursuing stuff and success.

Then something happened last year that changed my life. I stood in a city dump in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. I saw men, women, and children who were living in a dump where they scoured for food and shelter. Humbled by the reality of parents raising their kids in a dump, I reached my breaking point when I saw a woman eight months pregnant walk by me, looking for food. I couldn’t decide which was worse—the fact that the baby was conceived in a dump or that it was going to be born there. In the middle of this scene, God asked me, “What are you going to do with what I have given you? How are you going to use your influence, your leadership, and your resources in the world around you?” (Source: David Platt, Radical, Apple Books, p. 32).

• Here is a second story about a retired couple in their 70’s named Ed & Patty. They typically are home in the states about 11 days out of each year. They travel to countries where disasters have hit and do disaster relief. They have done this in Africa and Sri Lanka. When asked why they do this. Ed said this, “What are we going to do with our retirements? We just want to tell as many people about the Gospel as we can” ((Source: David Platt, Radical, Apple Books, pp. 32-33).

Both examples believe the purpose of their lives is deeper than having a nice job, raising a decent family, living a comfortable life, and tacking church attendance onto the end of it. They believe Jesus has called them to a much higher plane and given them a much greater dream. They believe God has shown them great grace in order that He might use them to accomplish the glorious, global, God-exalting purpose that has been primary since the beginning of time, and they don’t want to settle for anything less than radical abandonment to that purpose. What might your life look like if you did this? You may think, “Well. in another world maybe. This all sounds too unrealistic.” It probably does, but it is biblical. 

Assignment: Take a moment to reflect – are you pursuing the American dream for your life or God’s dream for your life? Are you attempting to accumulate more and more or are you abandoning more and more the Lord? Are you more about making “dough,” or making disciples? Are you more about how much cash you have or about how much you can do for Christ for all He has done for you?

Scripture To Meditate On: Psalm 96:3, “Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples” (NASB).

Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, when I think of that hymn, ‘I surrender all,” I haven’t. I love my comforts, my conveniences and my cash. To be honest Lord, I love these more than I love You. I am willing and want to do what You say in Matthew 6:33. Please show me how. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!’’

I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly