This 5-day devotional draws directly from Ricky Plummer's sermon “Spiritual Disciplines of our time retry” so you can keep engaging with the message all week. Read, reflect, and share it with your small group or friends.
When Faith Costs You Something
Monday — Understanding the Truth
Have you ever wondered why following Jesus sometimes feels harder than you expected? Like you signed up for peace and somehow ended up in a fight?
Today's Scripture "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, so that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed." — 1 Peter 4:12–13
Reflection The apostle Peter wrote these words to real people living under real pressure — scattered believers who were losing friends, status, and safety simply because they followed Jesus. And the first thing he says to them is: don't be surprised.
That's not a cold response. It's actually a deeply caring one. Peter is telling them — and telling us — that suffering for faith isn't a sign that something has gone wrong. It's a sign that something is going right.
When you live with genuine conviction — when you make choices at work, in relationships, or in your daily habits that reflect what you actually believe — it will sometimes cost you something. People may pull away. You may feel out of step with the world around you. That friction is real, and it matters.
But Peter doesn't stop at the warning. He immediately points to something greater: the glory that is coming. The suffering is not the end of the story. It is, in fact, a sign that you are in the story — the right one, with the right Author.
Today's Step Sit with this question today: Is there an area of my life where I've been surprised by the cost of following Jesus? Let the answer be honest, and bring it to God.
A Closing Thought You are not alone in the struggle, and the struggle is not without meaning. The same God who called you is faithful to carry you through.
You Are Not Suffering Alone
Tuesday — When It's Hard
Let's be honest — "rejoice in your suffering" might be one of the hardest things the Bible asks of us. It can feel almost impossible when you're in the middle of it.
Today's Scripture "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." — John 16:33
Reflection Jesus doesn't promise his followers a smooth road. He promises his presence on a hard one. And that distinction matters enormously when you're in a season that feels like it's costing you more than you bargained for.
Maybe you've tried to live with integrity at work and it's made things awkward. Maybe you've held a conviction that's put distance between you and someone you love. Maybe you've simply tried to be honest about your faith and felt the quiet sting of being on the outside of a conversation.
That loneliness is real. That exhaustion is real. And it's okay to name it.
The temptation in those moments is to quietly dial things back — to soften your convictions just enough to ease the tension. And the reason that temptation is so powerful is that it works, at least in the short term.
But Jesus speaks directly into that moment. He doesn't say the world will get easier. He says he has overcome it. That's not a dismissal of your pain — it's an anchor in the middle of it. The one who walked through the worst suffering imaginable is the same one walking beside you right now.
Today's Step Tell God honestly where you're tired today. You don't have to dress it up. He already knows, and he is not disappointed in you for struggling.
A Closing Thought The courage to keep going doesn't have to feel heroic — it just has to be real. And even a small, honest step forward is enough for today.
Small Ways to Live a Big Faith
Wednesday — Putting It Into Practice
Living radically for Christ sounds like something that happens on a mission field or in a pulpit. But most of us spend our days in office cubicles, school pickup lines, and grocery store aisles — and that's exactly where it counts.
Today's Scripture "So then, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust themselves to a faithful creator while doing what is good." — 1 Peter 4:19
Reflection Notice what Peter says at the end of that verse: while doing what is good. Trusting God and doing good — those two things happen together, in the ordinary moments of an ordinary day.
Radical faith doesn't always look dramatic. Sometimes it looks like telling the truth when a small lie would have been easier. Sometimes it looks like treating a difficult coworker with genuine kindness. Sometimes it looks like choosing rest and worship on a Sunday when the week has piled up, or being willing to say "I'm a Christian" when someone asks why you live the way you do.
The pastor in the sermon put it plainly: your ministry is with your coworkers, your neighbors, the people already in your life. It shouldn't be hard for the people around you to identify that something is different about you — not because you're strange, but because you're anchored in something real.
You don't have to have all the answers. You don't have to be a theologian. You just have to keep showing up, keep trusting the faithful Creator, and keep doing what is good — even when it's quiet, even when no one is watching.
Today's Step Pick one relationship or situation today where you can do one small, concrete good. Do it without announcement. Entrust the outcome to God.
A Closing Thought Faithfulness in the small things is never small to God. He sees every quiet act of courage, and none of it is wasted.
The Question That Changes Everything
Thursday — What This Looks Like in Real Life
Imagine someone who has spent years watching a coworker — quietly noticing that she never joins in the gossip, that she stays calm when things fall apart, that she seems genuinely at peace in situations that would unravel most people.
Today's Scripture "If you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you." — 1 Peter 4:14
Reflection One day, that coworker finally asks: Why are you different? And in that moment, years of quiet faithfulness — small choices, steady character, a life that didn't perfectly match the world around it — open a door that no argument or persuasion ever could have.
This is exactly what the sermon pointed to: when we stand firm in our convictions, even when it costs us something, people notice. They start to wonder. And that wondering can become a question. And that question can become the beginning of something eternal.
You may never know which of your choices planted a seed in someone else's life. The conversation you stayed out of. The boundary you held. The grace you showed when you had every reason not to. These things are not invisible. They are a kind of light — not flashy, but steady.
Peter calls it being blessed when you're ridiculed for Christ's name. That's a hard word to receive in the moment. But the blessing isn't just for you — it ripples outward. Your faithfulness becomes a witness. Your endurance becomes an invitation.
You don't have to be a preacher to change someone's eternal story. You just have to be genuinely, consistently, visibly you — someone who belongs to Jesus.
Today's Step Think of one person in your life who might be watching how you live. Pray for them by name today, and ask God to let your life be a light to them.
A Closing Thought You may never see the full fruit of your faithfulness on this side of eternity — but that fruit is real, and it matters more than you know.
Return to Your First Love
Friday — Carrying It Forward
As this week closes, here's a question worth sitting with: What would it look like if I took my faith just a little more seriously starting today?
Today's Scripture "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." — Galatians 2:20
Reflection All week, we've been sitting with a single, honest idea: genuine faith costs something. It might cost comfort, approval, convenience, or ease. But the cost is not the whole story — it never is.
Paul's words in Galatians capture something breathtaking. The life you're living right now, in your body, in your circumstances, in your relationships and your work and your worries — that life can be lived by faith in the Son of God. Not by your own willpower. Not by trying harder. By trusting the one who already gave everything for you.
The sermon this week was a call to return — to return to a faith that is real enough to be visible, strong enough to endure, and rooted deeply enough to withstand the pressure that comes with living differently than the world around us.
That return doesn't have to be dramatic. It might start with one honest conversation, one quiet commitment, one morning where you open your Bible before you open your phone. Small beginnings matter. They always have.
Going into the weekend, carry this with you: you belong to a faithful Creator. You are held by the one who overcame the world. And the life you live — even in its ordinary, imperfect moments — can be an act of worship.
Today's Step Write down one word that captures what you want your faith to look like in the week ahead. Keep it somewhere you'll see it.
A Closing Thought You were made for more than a comfortable, quiet faith — and the God who calls you to something greater is the same God who will carry you there.