Photo Credit: Erik Daniel Drost via Compfight cc

Holidays and special events are a fun excuse to get your family talking about faith.  Gather your family together for the following devotion time before the big game.

Verse to Remember:

“Training the body has some value. But being godly has value in every way. It promises help for the life you are now living and the life to come.” – 1 Timothy 4:8 NIrV

Talk About This:

It’s almost time for the biggest football game of the year.  Two teams.  60 minutes of game time.  Millions of fans watching around the world.  Everything comes down to this one big day to see who will become the ultimate champions.

What do you think it would feel like to play in such a big game?  Would you be excited?  Scared?  Nervous?

What would you do to get ready?  Would you work out and practice with your team or just sit around and eat donuts and watch TV?

You’d practice, of course!  You’d train, lift weights, run drills, eat the right foods, watch game videos and, basically, do whatever your coach told you to do.

If you were playing in the biggest game of your life, you’d do everything you possibly could to train yourself to win.

The Bible says that following Jesus is a little like that.  Every day of our lives is a big deal, bigger than any game.  Every day we’re either choosing to live life God’s way or just live for ourselves.  When we live life God’s way, people around us see Jesus in us and have the chance to become friends with God too.

But that’s not easy.  That’s why we have to go into training.

The Bible says, “Training the body has some value. But being godly has value in every way. It promises help for the life you are now living and the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:8 NIrV).

So, what does it look like to train to be godly?   Do you lift heavy Bibles and run laps while praying?  Not exactly.

It starts by with spending time with God.  When we spend time with God, He will begin to train us to be like Him.

Read the Bible.  Memorize verses. Talk to God.  Practice obeying Him in little things.  Do the right thing when no one’s looking.  Share with others even if it’s something small.

The more we practice these little things, the more we will be able to be like Jesus in the big moments of our lives.

So where are you going to start?  What is one thing you can do this week to begin training to be like Jesus?

Prayer

God, thank You helping me to become like Jesus.  Please show me how to train my heart to be more like Him every day.  Amen!

For Extra Fun:  

Make paper footballs and have an awesome pre-game paper football tournament.