Mondayitis! series (part one)

“A Whole Life”
Small group devotion

The intention of this discussion is to get the group thinking more critically about how we live our lives as Christians during the week.

On Sunday, Jordan used the image of different spheres (balloons) which make up our scattered lives (e.g. church, work, uni, family etc.). To begin with you might like to repeat the exercise specific to your group. Blow up balloons and write on them the different “spheres” that make up your life. Alternatively draw up a whole series of apartment windows on a piece of newsprint. Draw/write in each window a different “compartment” of your life.

Read James 1:1-8

James writes his letter to the scattered tribes of Israel. What does a scattered life look like today?
(See leader’s notes for suggestions on how to direct this)

Do you think our compartmentalised lives are contrary to following Jesus? Why or why not?

Read v.4 again: “Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything”. What does being “mature and complete” look like? (See leader’s notes for more information that might help guide the discussion)

What “trials” do you struggle with in the workplace (these could be faith-related or not)?
How do you persevere through these?

What do you think it means to rejoice in this perseverance?

Return to the balloons/compartments of life… go through some of them. What does it practically look like to be a Jesus follower in each of these.

Read vv.5-8 again. What do you think James means?
In what ways does it speak into today’s society?

Leader’s notes:

Jordan mentioned a number of ways we live scattered lives. Here are a few that might get conversation flowing:

• As Christians we are “scattered” in an increasingly secular society that is indifferent if not hostile to our Christian belief.
• We live compartmentalised lives e.g. Church rarely interacts with our work life and vice versa.
• Society atomises right down to the family unit. Our immediate family is often the most important community we have. Compare this to other village-based societies like in the Pacific Islands.
• We separate our consumption from where the goods come from (e.g. we buy everything in a supermarket, we buy cheap clothing that isn’t fairtrade, we drive everywhere etc.). Our lives are frequently one-step removed from the effect our living is having on the environment or on others.
• Technology means our lives are increasingly lived through a screen — what does this mean for how we live our lives/interact with others?

In verse 4, the word for “finish” (teleion) and “mature” (teleioi) has the same root. It is the same root as the word telos which is used a lot in scripture to talk about the “end” of the age. It means completion, perfection, end, close etc. In verse 4, perseverance is directly linked to our being perfected/being made whole.

Talking about our scattered existence, v.4 takes on renewed significance. We tend to understand maturity and completion in a very individualised, spiritualised sense (i.e. individual sanctification). But what if James was talking more broadly about the wider community living life directed towards one another? Sanctification is perhaps less about personal holiness and more about our scattered lives becoming part of a whole. Food for thought…and certainly counter-cultural today!