House Party Devo

What you do, does something to you

I was listening to a podcast earlier today and the guy that was talking said this sentence: What you do, does something to you. And man I have been thinking about that all day.

What we do, has a profound impact on who we become.

For those of you who don’t know me, I am not much of a video game guy. But one time when I was in college, my roomate had some sort of xbox or playstation, I don’t even remember. But there was this game called Splinter Cell and I just played that game for weeks, until I beat it. Just like every free moment I had. Then, once I beat it, I put it away.

But part of that game was you had to sneak around. So you could shoot out lights and things so people would not notice you and I distinctly remember, in the moments when I was not playing the game, thinking, “If I shot out that light and that security camera, I could get into this building without anyone noticing.”

This was in real life. Like I would be walking up to a building on my college’s campus or whatever. I did not even have a gun, so I am not sure how I thought I could maybe shoot out a light.

What I did did something to me. It made these paths in my brain that just led to those thoughts. But this is not about video games.

The things that we do, do something to us. What we do changes us, forms us, molds our patterns and habits. It is like that saying, you are what you eat. You are, or you become, what you do.

How do I know? Jesus when he is calling people to become his disciples, he does not say, learn these points of doctrine and theology. He says follow me. He says follow me.

Be with me. Become like me. Do the things I do.

I want to be a better disciple or a follower of Jesus. And so often I think that means just like reading my Bible more, or praying more (I am not discounting those things), not getting in trouble, but more than those things in themselves it is about spending time with Jesus and becoming more like him by doing the things he did.

So that means being more open. That means loving unconditionally. That means changing the things I watch and listen to, the things I say, the things I don’t say. It means spending time with people who don’t believe in Jesus and sharing with them the peace and justice and Beauty and Freedom that come with this Kingdom of Heaven stuff. It means turning my life upside down for everyone I know and meet. Even some people I never meet. Giving generously to anyone in need. Boldly speaking against injustice and corruption.

But understand, I am not saying, let’s all be good. Be on our best behavior. I am saying, let’s revolutionize the way we live our lives so that we can become more like Jesus. Let’s be bold and radical. Let us live our lives so completely in the pattern of Jesus that we are willing to die so that another might live. The Bible says that we can become the children of God, princes and princesses in the Kingdom. Your royal title gives you the authority to boldly take the Kingdom to everyone around you. You can live in that identity or choose not to. That is your choice.

Maybe you are saying, I don’t know how to be a child of the king. What we do, does something to us. So what I am saying is do something. Just do something and see what happens.