TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment. 1 Kings 19:21b
Read: 1 Kings 19:21b
Listen: 1 Kings 19
TODAY’S MESSAGE
Elisha kills the cows and burns his plow. He’s no longer Elisha the farmer—he’s Elisha the assistant of Elijah. There’s no going back. The cows are dead. The plow is a pile of ash. He didn’t hedge by putting the cows in the barn and the plow in storage. He’s deliberately made it difficult to give up and go back to farming. It’s a done deal. He’s all in.
Jesus wants us to “kill the cows” and “burn our plows.” Because he gives us a brand-new identity, we can’t be partially in on Jesus. Our value comes not anything we can do on our own but from our relationship with him.
Spiritual drift occurs when we refuse to walk away from our past identities. We drift back to them, searching for our identity and value in what we think we can do on our own. There are things in our life that we need to cut ties with. Some of us need to stop chasing the next job title. It could be that we need to give up trying to look perfect every time we leave the house. Maybe we need to tell God it doesn’t matter whether we get first chair in band. Some of us need to cut off other things that threaten to drag us back to a past identity.
IN YOUR CHAIR TIME TODAY
In your journal, write on the first line of page: I’m a follower of Jesus, not a _________ anymore. Journal about what might be that thing from your past identity that you keep returning to. Write a prayer of confession to God and ask him to help you find your identity in him instead of that thing.
Download a printable PDF of the BTW week here.
