August 28, 2026 | Be Connected
Watch Your Life and Doctrine Closely
Scripture: 1 Timothy 4:15-16(NIV)
15 Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. 16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Devotional
These two verses are packed with powerful challenges:
Be diligent.
Give yourself wholly.
Watch your life closely.
Watch your doctrine closely.
Persevere.
Much of the journey of faith is about the call to keep on keeping on.
Earlier this year Lisa and I visited our family in California. While there we went to Muir Woods National Monument north of San Francisco. This park is filled with massive redwood trees. Most of the trees there are over 500 years old. One could be as much as 1000 years old. In other parts of California there are redwood trees that are 2000 years old. And the tallest redwood in the state is 380 feet tall. That’s a 30-story skyscraper.
How do they get that big and old? One ring at a time. When they are young trees, redwoods can grow several feet a year. As they age, they keep growing, sometimes only an inch a year.
That’s us. We are called by God to keep growing, keep reaching to the sky, keep putting down deeper roots. Never settle.
How is God challenging you to diligently and persistently keep on keeping on in your faith journey? More specifically, what is the next way you are being called to grow a little more toward God?
