Day 1: Marriage Changes Things
Scripture: Ephesians 5:31–32
Devotional Thought
Marriage changes things.
When two people say "yes" to one another, life is no longer lived as two completely independent people. Decisions about time, money, relationships, priorities, and the future now have to take the other person into consideration.
Marriage creates a new allegiance.
Paul takes that familiar picture from Genesis and says it points to something even bigger: Christ and the Church.
When we say yes to Jesus, our lives change too.
Following Jesus isn't simply adding Him to everything else we're already doing. He becomes our first allegiance. Our relationship with Him begins to shape every other relationship, every decision, every priority, and every part of our identity.
That's why the question isn't simply, "Do I believe in Jesus?"
A deeper question is:
"Does belonging to Jesus change the way I live?"
If Jesus is truly first, then our relationship with Him should affect how we spend our time, how we treat people, how we use our money, what we pursue, and what we give our lives to.
The Church is called the Bride of Christ because we belong to Him.
And belonging to Jesus changes things.
Reflection Questions
Prayer
Jesus, thank You for calling me into relationship with You. I don't want You to simply be an addition to my life. I want You to be my first allegiance. Shape my priorities, my relationships, my decisions, and my future so that my life reflects that I belong to You. Amen.
Day 2: Watch for the Competitors
Scripture: Matthew 6:33
Devotional Thought
Healthy relationships require attention.
The sermon reminds us that competing relationships can threaten a marriage. Friends, family, hobbies, work, children, and countless other good things can become unhealthy when they begin to crowd out the covenant relationship.
The same thing can happen in our relationship with Jesus.
The competitors aren't necessarily bad things.
That's what makes them so difficult to recognize.
Family is good.
Friendships are good.
Work is good.
Hobbies can be good.
Serving others is good.
Even church activities can be good.
But a good thing can become a competing allegiance when it begins taking the place that belongs to Jesus.
That's why we need to regularly ask ourselves:
"What have I been obsessed with?"
It's the question the sermon says is asked in Life Groups—not as a way to shame one another, but as a way of keeping a hand on the pulse of our allegiance to Jesus.
What has occupied your thoughts this week?
What has received your best time?
What has captured your attention?
What would be hardest for you to surrender?
Sometimes the answer reveals a wrinkle that Jesus wants to work on.
Today, don't simply ask whether something is good.
Ask whether something good has begun competing with what is best.
Jesus doesn't want to take everything good away from us.
He wants to be first.
Reflection Questions
Prayer
Jesus, search my heart and show me anything that has begun competing with You. Help me recognize the things that have quietly taken too much of my attention, affection, or devotion. I want You to be first. Give me courage to re-prioritize anything that has taken Your place. Amen.
Day 3: We Are Better Together
Scripture: Ephesians 2:14–19
Devotional Thought
Jesus didn't come simply to save individuals.
He came to create a new community.
Paul describes Jesus as the One who breaks down walls of hostility and creates "one new humanity." Those who were once separated are brought near through Christ.
That's the beauty of the Church.
We come from different families, backgrounds, schools, economic situations, cultures, experiences, and perspectives.
We may have very little in common naturally.
But Jesus gives us something more important in common:
Himself.
The sermon points out that old allegiances can threaten the health of the Bride. In Ephesus, Jewish and Gentile Christians struggled to come together because their previous identities continued to divide them.
We have our own versions of those divisions.
The school we attended.
The neighborhood we live in.
Our economic circumstances.
Our political perspectives.
Our family background.
The communities we grew up in.
None of those things are necessarily bad. But none of them should be allowed to become more important than our identity in Christ.
Jesus came to tear down dividing walls.
So part of being the Bride of Christ means protecting the unity of the Bride.
That means we don't have to agree about everything to love one another.
We don't have to come from the same place.
We don't have to have the same story.
We simply have to remember that Jesus has made us one.
Reflection Questions
Prayer
Jesus, thank You for creating a family that is bigger than our differences. Tear down the walls that divide us. Help me see other believers first as people who belong to You. Give me humility, patience, and love so that my life contributes to the unity of Your Bride. Amen.
Day 4: Say Something When You See Something
Scripture: Galatians 6:1–2
Devotional Thought
Community means more than being around people.
It means caring about them.
The sermon says that part of living and functioning as a community is caring enough to say something when we see something.
That's not always easy.
It's much easier to mind our own business.
It's easier to ignore the warning signs.
It's easier to tell ourselves, "That's not my problem."
But biblical community calls us to something deeper.
We care enough to have difficult conversations.
We encourage someone who is drifting.
We remind one another of our commitments.
We help one another recognize the things that are creating distance from Jesus.
Of course, there's a right way to do this.
The goal isn't criticism.
The goal isn't control.
The goal isn't proving that we're right.
The goal is love.
A true friend doesn't feed the selfishness or destructive tendencies in another person. A true friend helps strengthen what is good and points us back toward Jesus.
And that means we need to be willing to receive the same kind of love.
Sometimes someone else sees a wrinkle in our lives that we can't see.
We need people who love us enough to tell us the truth.
And we need to become the kind of people who can lovingly tell the truth to others.
That's community.
Reflection Questions
Prayer
Lord, thank You for people who love me enough to tell me the truth. Give me humility to receive correction and courage to offer loving encouragement when someone else is struggling. Help me never use truth as a weapon, but always speak from a heart of love. Amen.
Day 5: Let Jesus Iron Out the Wrinkles
Scripture: Ephesians 5:25–27
Devotional Thought
At the end of the sermon, there's a powerful picture: the ironing board.
Jesus loves His Bride.
Wrinkles and all.
He sees the stains.
He sees the places where our allegiances have become divided.
He sees the relationships that have become unhealthy.
He sees the areas where selfishness, pride, fear, or misplaced priorities have created distance.
And He loves us anyway.
But His love doesn't mean He leaves us as we are.
He begins to work on the wrinkles.
The sermon describes that work as requiring pressure and heat. In other words, transformation takes work. Jesus is willing and able to do that work in us as He prepares His Bride.
Sometimes the pressure is uncomfortable.
Sometimes God asks us to surrender something.
Sometimes He asks us to change a priority.
Sometimes He asks us to apologize.
Sometimes He asks us to have a difficult conversation.
Sometimes He asks us to let go of an allegiance that has become too important.
But the pressure isn't punishment.
It's preparation.
Jesus is making something beautiful.
So when God shows you a wrinkle, don't run from Him.
Bring it to Him.
When He reveals something that needs to change, don't defend it.
Surrender it.
When He points out a competing allegiance, don't ignore it.
Let Him deal with it.
Jesus loves His Bride too much to leave her wrinkled.
And He loves you too much to leave you unchanged.
Reflection Questions
Prayer
Jesus, thank You for loving me exactly where I am while loving me too much to leave me there. Show me the wrinkles in my life that need Your attention. Give me courage to surrender competing allegiances and humility to allow You to transform me. Keep shaping me into the person You are calling me to become. Amen.
Weekly Challenge
This week, take some time to prayerfully examine your allegiances.
Ask Jesus:
"Is there anyone or anything besides You that has more of my love, attention, or devotion than it should?"
Then make a simple list of the things that currently receive your time, energy, attention, and affection.
Don't automatically label them as bad. Instead, ask:
And remember:
Jesus loves His Bride—wrinkles and all.
His goal isn't to shame us for the wrinkles.
His goal is to make us beautiful through His transforming grace.
Scripture: Ephesians 5:31–32
Devotional Thought
Marriage changes things.
When two people say "yes" to one another, life is no longer lived as two completely independent people. Decisions about time, money, relationships, priorities, and the future now have to take the other person into consideration.
Marriage creates a new allegiance.
Paul takes that familiar picture from Genesis and says it points to something even bigger: Christ and the Church.
When we say yes to Jesus, our lives change too.
Following Jesus isn't simply adding Him to everything else we're already doing. He becomes our first allegiance. Our relationship with Him begins to shape every other relationship, every decision, every priority, and every part of our identity.
That's why the question isn't simply, "Do I believe in Jesus?"
A deeper question is:
"Does belonging to Jesus change the way I live?"
If Jesus is truly first, then our relationship with Him should affect how we spend our time, how we treat people, how we use our money, what we pursue, and what we give our lives to.
The Church is called the Bride of Christ because we belong to Him.
And belonging to Jesus changes things.
Reflection Questions
- What areas of your life have been changed because you belong to Jesus?
- Are there areas where you have added Jesus to your life without allowing Him to reshape your priorities?
- What would putting Jesus first look like in one practical area this week?
Prayer
Jesus, thank You for calling me into relationship with You. I don't want You to simply be an addition to my life. I want You to be my first allegiance. Shape my priorities, my relationships, my decisions, and my future so that my life reflects that I belong to You. Amen.
Day 2: Watch for the Competitors
Scripture: Matthew 6:33
Devotional Thought
Healthy relationships require attention.
The sermon reminds us that competing relationships can threaten a marriage. Friends, family, hobbies, work, children, and countless other good things can become unhealthy when they begin to crowd out the covenant relationship.
The same thing can happen in our relationship with Jesus.
The competitors aren't necessarily bad things.
That's what makes them so difficult to recognize.
Family is good.
Friendships are good.
Work is good.
Hobbies can be good.
Serving others is good.
Even church activities can be good.
But a good thing can become a competing allegiance when it begins taking the place that belongs to Jesus.
That's why we need to regularly ask ourselves:
"What have I been obsessed with?"
It's the question the sermon says is asked in Life Groups—not as a way to shame one another, but as a way of keeping a hand on the pulse of our allegiance to Jesus.
What has occupied your thoughts this week?
What has received your best time?
What has captured your attention?
What would be hardest for you to surrender?
Sometimes the answer reveals a wrinkle that Jesus wants to work on.
Today, don't simply ask whether something is good.
Ask whether something good has begun competing with what is best.
Jesus doesn't want to take everything good away from us.
He wants to be first.
Reflection Questions
- What has received the most of your attention and energy lately?
- Is there anything good in your life that may be becoming a competing allegiance?
- What would it look like to intentionally re-prioritize Jesus this week?
Prayer
Jesus, search my heart and show me anything that has begun competing with You. Help me recognize the things that have quietly taken too much of my attention, affection, or devotion. I want You to be first. Give me courage to re-prioritize anything that has taken Your place. Amen.
Day 3: We Are Better Together
Scripture: Ephesians 2:14–19
Devotional Thought
Jesus didn't come simply to save individuals.
He came to create a new community.
Paul describes Jesus as the One who breaks down walls of hostility and creates "one new humanity." Those who were once separated are brought near through Christ.
That's the beauty of the Church.
We come from different families, backgrounds, schools, economic situations, cultures, experiences, and perspectives.
We may have very little in common naturally.
But Jesus gives us something more important in common:
Himself.
The sermon points out that old allegiances can threaten the health of the Bride. In Ephesus, Jewish and Gentile Christians struggled to come together because their previous identities continued to divide them.
We have our own versions of those divisions.
The school we attended.
The neighborhood we live in.
Our economic circumstances.
Our political perspectives.
Our family background.
The communities we grew up in.
None of those things are necessarily bad. But none of them should be allowed to become more important than our identity in Christ.
Jesus came to tear down dividing walls.
So part of being the Bride of Christ means protecting the unity of the Bride.
That means we don't have to agree about everything to love one another.
We don't have to come from the same place.
We don't have to have the same story.
We simply have to remember that Jesus has made us one.
Reflection Questions
- What identities or affiliations tend to shape the way you see other people?
- Is there anyone you have allowed a difference with to create distance or division?
- What could you do to help protect the unity of the Church?
Prayer
Jesus, thank You for creating a family that is bigger than our differences. Tear down the walls that divide us. Help me see other believers first as people who belong to You. Give me humility, patience, and love so that my life contributes to the unity of Your Bride. Amen.
Day 4: Say Something When You See Something
Scripture: Galatians 6:1–2
Devotional Thought
Community means more than being around people.
It means caring about them.
The sermon says that part of living and functioning as a community is caring enough to say something when we see something.
That's not always easy.
It's much easier to mind our own business.
It's easier to ignore the warning signs.
It's easier to tell ourselves, "That's not my problem."
But biblical community calls us to something deeper.
We care enough to have difficult conversations.
We encourage someone who is drifting.
We remind one another of our commitments.
We help one another recognize the things that are creating distance from Jesus.
Of course, there's a right way to do this.
The goal isn't criticism.
The goal isn't control.
The goal isn't proving that we're right.
The goal is love.
A true friend doesn't feed the selfishness or destructive tendencies in another person. A true friend helps strengthen what is good and points us back toward Jesus.
And that means we need to be willing to receive the same kind of love.
Sometimes someone else sees a wrinkle in our lives that we can't see.
We need people who love us enough to tell us the truth.
And we need to become the kind of people who can lovingly tell the truth to others.
That's community.
Reflection Questions
- Who is someone you trust enough to speak truth into your life?
- Are you the kind of friend who helps others move closer to Jesus?
- Is there a conversation you've been avoiding because you know someone needs loving encouragement?
Prayer
Lord, thank You for people who love me enough to tell me the truth. Give me humility to receive correction and courage to offer loving encouragement when someone else is struggling. Help me never use truth as a weapon, but always speak from a heart of love. Amen.
Day 5: Let Jesus Iron Out the Wrinkles
Scripture: Ephesians 5:25–27
Devotional Thought
At the end of the sermon, there's a powerful picture: the ironing board.
Jesus loves His Bride.
Wrinkles and all.
He sees the stains.
He sees the places where our allegiances have become divided.
He sees the relationships that have become unhealthy.
He sees the areas where selfishness, pride, fear, or misplaced priorities have created distance.
And He loves us anyway.
But His love doesn't mean He leaves us as we are.
He begins to work on the wrinkles.
The sermon describes that work as requiring pressure and heat. In other words, transformation takes work. Jesus is willing and able to do that work in us as He prepares His Bride.
Sometimes the pressure is uncomfortable.
Sometimes God asks us to surrender something.
Sometimes He asks us to change a priority.
Sometimes He asks us to apologize.
Sometimes He asks us to have a difficult conversation.
Sometimes He asks us to let go of an allegiance that has become too important.
But the pressure isn't punishment.
It's preparation.
Jesus is making something beautiful.
So when God shows you a wrinkle, don't run from Him.
Bring it to Him.
When He reveals something that needs to change, don't defend it.
Surrender it.
When He points out a competing allegiance, don't ignore it.
Let Him deal with it.
Jesus loves His Bride too much to leave her wrinkled.
And He loves you too much to leave you unchanged.
Reflection Questions
- What "wrinkle" has Jesus been revealing in your life recently?
- Is there a competing relationship, priority, or allegiance that needs to be re-prioritized or surrendered?
- What is one step of obedience Jesus may be asking you to take?
Prayer
Jesus, thank You for loving me exactly where I am while loving me too much to leave me there. Show me the wrinkles in my life that need Your attention. Give me courage to surrender competing allegiances and humility to allow You to transform me. Keep shaping me into the person You are calling me to become. Amen.
Weekly Challenge
This week, take some time to prayerfully examine your allegiances.
Ask Jesus:
"Is there anyone or anything besides You that has more of my love, attention, or devotion than it should?"
Then make a simple list of the things that currently receive your time, energy, attention, and affection.
Don't automatically label them as bad. Instead, ask:
- Is this strengthening my relationship with Jesus?
- Is this strengthening my relationships with others?
- Has this become more important to me than it should be?
- Is Jesus asking me to re-prioritize it?
- Is there something I need to surrender?
And remember:
Jesus loves His Bride—wrinkles and all.
His goal isn't to shame us for the wrinkles.
His goal is to make us beautiful through His transforming grace.
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