My Mondays

On Mondays I try to obey I Timothy 4:16 - "Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers." You guys know how much I talk on Sundays and it would be very easy to forget it all on Monday. Yet, if what I say on Sunday doesn't make a difference on Monday I am guilty of not obeying James 1:22 - "But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." One person says that we can become guilty of becoming "professional sermon" listeners. We are so good at hearing and yet not good at applying it to our lives.

In order to attempt to practice what I preach I spend time on Mondays reviewing the lessons from the day before and try to strategically apply them to my life. For instance, one of the main lessons from the two sermons on Friday night and Sunday morning was that on the cross God the Father exchanged His Son for my sin; God the Father crushed His only begotten Son for my sins. God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

For me to apply that work I must do a little thinking, with the help of the Holy Spirit, on the reality of my own sinfulness. Sin is defined in the Bible as lawlessness. I sin every time I break God's Word in word, thought or deed. That means God crushed Jesus for my unhelpful words to my friends, my laziness at serving my wife at home, my lack of devotion to prayer and most importantly for my failure to love God with all that I am and my neighbor as myself (The Great Command). Thinking about the reality of my sin and then remembering why Jesus died makes me thankful for God's continuing love and also makes me want to stop my sinning. I can't think about My Savior being crushed for my sins and then willingly continue in those things for which He died and stop and pray and honestly tell Him how much I love Him and how thankful I am for what He has done for me.

Mondays are a great opportunity to reflect on what we are learning from God's Word and apply it strategically to our lives. If we are not doing this then we need to re-examine the reason for coming together on Sunday mornings. My prayer is that we would not become "professional sermon" listeners, but spend time strategically thinking of ways to practice the truths we are learning from God's Word.

Is this a regular practice for you or when do you stop and think over what you are learning?