SUM 11: Day 27

1 John 1:5-7

Getting rid of the compartments in our lives means letting the Light of God shine on the dark places and being real no matter who we are with or where we are.

Compartments. What comes to mind when you think of compartments? For me, compartments mean organization. The first thing that comes to mind is a child’s plate. Remember how, when you were little, you had those plates with three different compartments for each type of food? Your mom put your PB&J in one spot, your Mac-n-Cheese in another spot and your apples in another. Each food was separated in it’s own spot. You did your best to keep your food from crossing over into the other compartment because, if one spot was invaded, all the food was tainted, untouchable and disgusting! Bring back memories?

So it can be with our lives. We lay out our lives like a divided plate. We have our school life in one spot, our church life in another spot and our family life in another. Most of our effort at school is spent keeping our church life and family life hidden so we don’t look weird or stick out. We spend our effort at church hiding the things we do at school and at home so we appear to have it all together and no one will know that we lie to our parents or party with our friends. We spend our energy at home keeping it all hidden from our parents, because what do they know, right?

God calls us to get rid of the compartments. To throw out the divided plate that we like to call “organization” and be real. Be real at home. Be real at church. Be real at school. In 1 John 1:5-7, we read, “God is light; in Him there is no darkness.” When we live with a divided life, we convince ourselves certain things are hidden, and no one will ever know. But what does light do to darkness? It exposes it. When we allow the Light of God to shine on our lives, the dark compartments we try to hide are exposed. He calls us to live a life without division. To be the same in school, at church and at home. Is your life a divided plate?

Pray: Pray that God will show you the divisions in your life and that He will shine His light to expose the darkness. Pray that you can be real and consistent no matter who you are with or where you are.

Do: Make a list of the different parts of your life (i.e. sports, school, family, church, work) and think of ways to live out your faith in each of these places.