Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21 ESV
Key Question:
Are you wholly attached to Christ or is He just "a piece of the pie"?
Read MoreChapter 21 Detached LivingKey Verses:
treasure chest
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21 ESV
Key Question:
Are you wholly attached to Christ or is He just "a piece of the pie"? Read Chapter 21: Detached Living
1. In what ways have you tried to make Jesus part of your life pie, instead of Him being the entire pie?
2. When you look at your life, how have you resembled the seed sown among the thorns, letting the worries of the world, the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things crowd out God?
3. How are these ways of living (from #2) antithetical to living the reality of Christ in you?
4. Ask God what aspects of your life He says subtract from true life, rather than add to it?
5. How might God be calling you to reorient your life, so that “Christ in you” is a lifestyle, not just another piece of the pie? What in your life, from God’s perspective, may not be necessary?
6. If we truly give ourselves to our passion, what does our life as we currently live it say about what our passion is? How can we make God more our passion?
7. How does Dan define detached living (bottom of page 217 and top of page 218)? How did Christ’s life demonstrate detached living?
8. What struck you about what Dan said about the desert fathers?
9. At this point in your walk, how could you press right in on Jesus? What would that look like?
files1
"It must be here somewhere!" "I knew we still had that!"
"Oh, wow! I forgot all about that!"
"Look at this!"
...and similar expressions have been ours as we've started tackling the ever-constant, hanging-over-our-heads-for-years project -- OUR FILES!
By the time John & I graduated from Moody Bible Institute in 1976, we had developed quite a filing system. From education files to engineering files to Bible and Theology files, we had drawer upon drawer filled. Then we added years of files from Bible teaching and ministry, home schooling our own children, preschool teaching, ESOL teaching, GED teaching, etc. etc.
filing cabinet
Needless to say, the thing has gotten out of control. We haven't even looked at much of it...for YEARS!
So we decided, after years of feeble attempts to get into the cabinets, to tackle the job for a couple of hours each weekend.
Some treasures have emerged. I thought maybe you might enjoy some of them with me.
So the next few blogs will be some treasures buried in those voluminous stacks. I hope you will laugh, cry, and/or be blessed by these...findings in our files.
Janet Renner Loyd has been a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ most of her life. Her formal education includes a degree in education from the University of Arizona and also a degree in Bible & Theology from Moody Bible Institute. For more than thirty years, she has been involved in teaching and leading women’s Bible studies, retreats, and meetings…most notably Precept upon Precept and various studies that she has personally developed. Professionally, Jan recently retired from teaching language and writing to GED and adult ESOL students.
About her life, Jan says, “The most important thing about me is my relationship with my Father God through my Lord Jesus Christ. I am forever grateful to Him for His love, mercy, and grace to me and my family and friends...and the world.”
Jan has been happily married to John Loyd for more than forty years. They have two adult, married children and five lively young grandsons.
