“That the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you.
in Christ Jesus.”
Philemon 1:6
I would have to imagine that if you are reading this, most of you are “daily devotion” type people. That is, you spend time each day with some type of spiritual food to grow in the Lord. The question is, is this time effective?
I believe that there are a few important reasons to spend time with the Lord, each of them to make us “Effective”. First, I think it should be used to build our Spiritual being, that is to make us more like Jesus and affirm our identity in Christ. Jude writes “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life”.
But also, sharing our faith, having an effective devotion time should cause us to share with others. I never have a problem recommending a restaurant that I had a great meal at, why not share about the Lord who has done great things in us and trough us? Paul write in Philemon, “That the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you. in Christ Jesus.”
Another way is to follow up on sharing, to be willing to disciple young believers. The saying, “You can’t keep what you don’t give away” would apply here. If we forfeit our devotional time and neglect the purpose of the grace and mercy bestowed on us by not bringing up believers and encouraging others the Church becomes weak. I’ve heard it said that the world is making more disciples than the Church.
There are many ways to be “Effective”, but it all starts with spending time in God’s Word. Paul said it best in speaking to young Timothy,
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2nd Timothy 3:16, Amen!
