Crazy Love Week 2
Day 1: "Life is a vapor"
- Watch the video above.
- In your Crazy Love workbook read the paragraphs before question 1 (Pgs. 25, 26).
- Then answer questions 1 in your book (Pg. 26).
- Finish in prayer.
Day 2: SOAP Through Acts 2
- Read Acts 2, then use the SOAP acronym to study it. It would be helpful to have a notebook to write these out. You could also use your phone's notes app.
- Scripture- Write down one or more verses that stood out to you.
- Observation- What is an observation you have from this passage?
- Application- How can you apply this passage to your life today?
- Pray- Write a short prayer in response to today's passage.
- Then, in your Crazy Love workbook read the paragraphs before questions 2-3 and answer questions 2-3 on page 27.
- Finish in prayer.
Day 3: "You Will Live Forever" (James 4:13-17)
- Read the devotional Below.
- Then, in your Crazy Love workbook read the paragraphs before questions 4-5 (Pgs. 27-28) and answer the corresponding questions on page 28.
- Finish in prayer.
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.” 14 Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes. 15 Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So it is sin to know the good and yet not do it. James 4:13–17 (CSB)
In The Dead Poets Society John Keating whispers, "Carpe Diem. Seize the day." He remarks that we are just food for worms. Because life is short make it extraordinary.
I don't like to think about how short life is. It is true, as I get older the days seem to move quicker. It's a phenomenon I do not understand. When I was a child my birthdays would seem to take forever to arrive. Now that I'm grown I will have two of them before I even have time to reflect on one! The idea that life is a vapor becomes more real every year.
This seems to be a universal human experience. In James 4, James, the brother of Jesus, reminds us that life is like the vapor evaporating off my fresh hot coffee. Which is to say it does not last long in comparison to the eternal God. This idea used to give me incredible anxiety. I was plagued by the thought that I may be wasting my life. Every day my life was just ticking away. Every morning that I woke up meant one less day in the bank and one more day spent.
Yet, it was when I understood my eternal nature that I received peace of mind. C.S. Lewis once remarked that there are no mere mortals. At the risk of seeming to contradict myself, in one sense, you and I are brittle clay pots, but in another we are eternal. The Christian must hold on to both of these truths. James is teaching us to live these few short decades from an eternal perspective. Do not be afraid of death, but understand that God has only given you one life to be faithful. So your goal is not to "Carpe Diem" the day because life is short and you owe yourself all the experiences you can fit into it. Carpe Diem for the Christian is all about seizing today with faithfulness, for God's glory, and with an eternal perspective.
Do you live from the perspective that life is both short and forever? If you were to begin making today's choices with eternity's consequences in mind, what would you change? Take some time today to ask for wisdom in seeing your brief life from an eternal perspective.
I don't like to think about how short life is. It is true, as I get older the days seem to move quicker. It's a phenomenon I do not understand. When I was a child my birthdays would seem to take forever to arrive. Now that I'm grown I will have two of them before I even have time to reflect on one! The idea that life is a vapor becomes more real every year.
This seems to be a universal human experience. In James 4, James, the brother of Jesus, reminds us that life is like the vapor evaporating off my fresh hot coffee. Which is to say it does not last long in comparison to the eternal God. This idea used to give me incredible anxiety. I was plagued by the thought that I may be wasting my life. Every day my life was just ticking away. Every morning that I woke up meant one less day in the bank and one more day spent.
Yet, it was when I understood my eternal nature that I received peace of mind. C.S. Lewis once remarked that there are no mere mortals. At the risk of seeming to contradict myself, in one sense, you and I are brittle clay pots, but in another we are eternal. The Christian must hold on to both of these truths. James is teaching us to live these few short decades from an eternal perspective. Do not be afraid of death, but understand that God has only given you one life to be faithful. So your goal is not to "Carpe Diem" the day because life is short and you owe yourself all the experiences you can fit into it. Carpe Diem for the Christian is all about seizing today with faithfulness, for God's glory, and with an eternal perspective.
Do you live from the perspective that life is both short and forever? If you were to begin making today's choices with eternity's consequences in mind, what would you change? Take some time today to ask for wisdom in seeing your brief life from an eternal perspective.
Day 4: "Rejoicing vs. Anxiety" (Philippians 4:4-7)
- Read the devotional Below.
- Then, in your Crazy Love workbook read the paragraphs above questions 6-8 and answer the questions as you go along (Pgs. 29-30).
- Finish in prayer.
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6 Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4–7 (CSB)
Have you ever heard someone quote the Scripture, “Be anxious for nothing” as if they were some magic words that are supposed to make all worries go away? I have found myself getting frustrated at that as well. We all deal with different forms of anxiety or worry, even if it’s just the everyday stresses of life. So, in an attempt to take that Scripture and understand it a little better, let’s take a look at the context and what Paul is really getting at.
Before Paul even starts talking about anxiety and worries, he begins by getting our focus where it should be... on Jesus. “Rejoice in the Lord always.” The order of this is important because it shows our priorities. If my first priority is glorifying God and investing in my relationship with Him, then I look at the worries and anxieties of life with a different outlook. Why? Because I start from a place of trust that God is ultimately in control. When my first priority is myself and my own life, then the worries and anxieties have more power and control over my life than they should. What is my first priority each day?
Now let's look at the rest of the passage after establishing the priority order: “Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” This is much less frustrating to me than someone just telling me to stop worrying because the Bible says so! I love that we get specific steps from Scripture to walk us through how to handle stress and anxiety. God quite literally is telling us to come to Him when we are feeling those pressures of life. I find it particularly interesting that it says to pray, ask him for help, but to do so again with thanksgiving. It is as though Paul is telling us that rejoicing and being thankful are the key ingredients to combatting these anxieties. That’s not natural for me. However, it is our thankfulness and rejoicing in God and the love He has for us that rearrange our thinking, and ultimate lead to the promise that we all would love to have more often... the peace of God that is beyond what we can even understand.
So, my challenge to you this week is to try to use these steps to combat worry, stress, and anxiety:
Before Paul even starts talking about anxiety and worries, he begins by getting our focus where it should be... on Jesus. “Rejoice in the Lord always.” The order of this is important because it shows our priorities. If my first priority is glorifying God and investing in my relationship with Him, then I look at the worries and anxieties of life with a different outlook. Why? Because I start from a place of trust that God is ultimately in control. When my first priority is myself and my own life, then the worries and anxieties have more power and control over my life than they should. What is my first priority each day?
Now let's look at the rest of the passage after establishing the priority order: “Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” This is much less frustrating to me than someone just telling me to stop worrying because the Bible says so! I love that we get specific steps from Scripture to walk us through how to handle stress and anxiety. God quite literally is telling us to come to Him when we are feeling those pressures of life. I find it particularly interesting that it says to pray, ask him for help, but to do so again with thanksgiving. It is as though Paul is telling us that rejoicing and being thankful are the key ingredients to combatting these anxieties. That’s not natural for me. However, it is our thankfulness and rejoicing in God and the love He has for us that rearrange our thinking, and ultimate lead to the promise that we all would love to have more often... the peace of God that is beyond what we can even understand.
So, my challenge to you this week is to try to use these steps to combat worry, stress, and anxiety:
- Start by thanking God for His love and the relationship that you have with Him.
- When worries come, talk to God openly and honestly about them.
- Thank Him for being in control.
- Expect God’s peace that surpasses all understanding in your life.
Day 5: SOAP Through Ecclesiastes 7
- Read Ecclesiastes 7, then use the SOAP acronym to study it. It would be helpful to have a notebook to write these out. You could also use your phone's notes app.
- Scripture- Write down one or more verses that stood out to you.
- Observation- What is an observation you have from this passage?
- Application- How can you apply this passage to your life today?
- Pray- Write a short prayer in response to today's passage.
- Then, in your Crazy Love workbook read the paragraph before questions 9-12 and answer questions 9-12 on pages 31-32.
- Finish in prayer.
Final Day: Attend Community Group
Congrats! You made it through week 2 of Crazy Love. Now go to community group and share, learn, and enjoy time with your church family.