Talk to someone who is struggling with a pornography addiction and sure enough they’ll use the excuse, “What I do in the privacy of my own home is my right.” And then they’ll follow it up with, “And I wasn’t hurting anyone with what I was doing alone at night.” They are rationalizing and attempting to explain away what they already know deep down in their heart is wrong. For we can’t hide anything from God’s sight. And no matter how dark it is…God still sees what we’re doing.
Category: daily devotional
I Corinthians 13:1 ” And now I will show you the most excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have no love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.”
You’ve been around them too…people who are all talk and no action. They may speak eloquently and have great ideas…but they lack followup and dedication to actually get the work done. They make a lot of noise, but that’s all. Paul is showing us here that it’s the love of Christ in our hearts that make the difference between just making noise and changing the world for Him.
Isaiah 1:18 ” Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”
In this verse God was confronting the nation of Judah. For they had been practicing religious festivals of their own design in direct rebellion against Him. In other words, they were taking God’s Word – adding and twisting it to fit their own desires and notions. Kinda sounds like religion today where God’s Word has been spun and misinterpreted to become more politically correct and not offensive anyone. But man’s job is not to reinterpret God’s Word in order to make everyone feel better. Man’s job simply is to obey what God has already written.
Romans 5:10 ” For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!”
Think back a moment to your “BC” days. (Before Christ) Maybe you had heard about Jesus, but He was far from what you wanted in your life back then. You were content to be in charge…doing things your own way. But in your rebellion you were also alienated from God…spiritually dead and blithely headed to Hell. It was while you were still estranged from God that He reconciled you to Himself through Christ. (II Corinthians 5:18-19) It was while you were still in rebellion that Jesus redeemed you… taking on Himself your sins that you may have a right relationship with God…and eternal life. The bottom line is…long before you were thinking about God…He was thinking about you.
Genesis 3:19 ” By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
Adam was made of the dust of the earth, for in Genesis 2:7 it tells us, “The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.” Now this shows just how fragile we are, for without God intentionally filling our lungs with breath day in and day out, we are just a lifeless being. And when there’s no longer that spark of life within…our body returns to where we came.
James 2:14 ” What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?”
James, the oldest half-brother of Jesus, was telling us here we should demonstrate our inward faith by outward actions. So it’s basically the difference between having living faith or lifeless faith. Between just giving lip-service to the needs we see around us or actually jumping in to help others. A few verses later James adds to this, “You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.” (James 2:24) So in the life of a Believer, faith and deeds must go hand in hand…there is not one without the other…and so in this lies the big difference between living and lifeless faith.
I Thessalonians 2:11-12 ” For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting, and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into His Kingdom and glory.”
In God, we have a good, good Father. A heavenly Father that wants only the very best for His children. So as Followers of Christ, we too should affirm the good in others. For if we have willingly and freely accepted the Lord’s invitation of salvation into our lives…we need to live out to the best of our ability His example. For there’s enough negativity already in the world today…but Believers can change that by simply seeing and affirming the good in others.
Joel 3:14 ” Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.”
As defined, The Day of The Lord is a significant period of time described as a day of wrath, distress and anguish, trouble and ruin, darkness and gloom for all mankind. Isaiah 34: 2-8 describes The Day of the Lord as God’s judgment against the Nations…or His ultimate intervention in the affairs of His people. For in the Valley of decision, mankind won’t have the option to choose anymore.
Hebrews 10:26-27 ” If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.”
God’s divine viewpoint is true truth. It is the redemptive revelation, or saving truth we receive when we acknowledge Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. But God’s truth is also uncomfortable, and makes us squirm as we face the unlovely parts of our life. So it’s much easier to water down and bend God’s truth than to change ourselves. That’s why we’re warned in II Peter 2:20, that when those who know Christ but then become entangled and overcome by sin are worse off at the end than when they were at the beginning. For there’s only one form of the truth, and when we intentionally embrace half-truths to make ourselves feel better…it’s still sin.
Lamentations 3:31-32 ” For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. Though He brings grief, He will show compassion, so great is His unfailing love.”
When it comes to our relationship with God, it’s man that proves to be the unfaithful party. For God’s merciful kindness towards us is everlasting and forever. In Isaiah 54:7 it says, “For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back.” So when you’re going through sorrow and you don’t feel God near…remember that His deep loving compassion for you can only but gather you back up in His arms.
Safetypinlove 