Undivided | Week Four

Staying Together Through Judgement

With social media, candidates, and news stations vying for your attention, time, and commitment, how can you follow God's lead and stick with the people around you? (Even when you disagree.) Sticking together through today's complex issues can feel impossible, even when you are trying to follow Jesus together.

Jesus invites everyone to come together around Him and His Word. He will help you bring your very best to the people in your life, even when blame, offense, anger, and more try to tear you apart. Sticking together will help you experience God's presence and more joy with the people in your life. Most importantly, the world will see Jesus more clearly when His people work to stay undivided.

This study follows the “Lectio P.R.A.Y. Model” to help you and the people in your life live Undivided. It can be done individually, but it is better to go through it with the people you are walking toward Jesus with.

Pause:

Pause and be still. Breathe slowly. Center yourself in God’s presence for 60 seconds.

Take several slow, deep breaths. As you quiet yourself, acknowledge God’s presence by saying, “God, you are with me.”

When ready, pray:

God, create in me a unified heart. Make me aware of anything in me that is threatening unity from happening around me. Grow my awareness of opportunities to pursue and create unity by the power of your Spirit.

Rejoice and Reflect:

“A single day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else! I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God than live the good life in the homes of the wicked. For the Lord God is our sun and shield. He gives us grace and glory. The Lord will withhold no good thing for those who do what is right. O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, what joy for those who trust in you. (Psalm 84:10-12 NLT)

Pause and pray 

Read the following account from Jesus in Matthew 7:

“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye. (Matthew 7:1-5 NLT)

Ask:

  • What in me causes me to feel judgmental toward others?

  • What is the point Jesus is making in this passage? What do you notice about the imagery He uses?

  • What support do I need to “remove the log in my own eye”? 

Yield:

Return to the passage again. Consider reading it in a different translation. If doing this in a group, have someone different read the passage. Invite God to show you something new as you read the passage a second time:

“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye. (Matthew 7:1-5 NLT)

  • What new insight do you gain from reading the passage again?

Pause and pray:

  • ·What prayer is rising up in you in response to today’s reflection? Speak out that prayer with your group or write it down.

 Act:

  • What people or places am I being invited to pray Psalm 84 over? How will my prayers be embodied in my actions?

  • Based on what you’ve heard from God during this reflection time, how will you respond in obedience this week?

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