Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Proverbs 15:7-12
Prov 15:7-12
The lips of the wise spread knowledge; not so the hearts of fools. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him. The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but he loves him who pursues righteousness. There is severe discipline for him who forsakes the way; whoever hates reproof will die. Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the Lord, how much more the hearts of the children of man! A scoffer does not like to be reproved; he will not go to the wise.
Matt 6:31-34
Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Jesus went about doing good. He said that he came to do the will of the Father. I don’t know about you, but too often I see in myself what Paul said about himself to the Corinthians, that the very thing I hate, I do and the thing I don’t want to do, I do it anyway. But thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! Since we are saved by grace and not our own doing, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ and are being forgiven by the cleansing blood of Jesus.
God loves it when we seek to be righteous in every thought and action. He wants us to think and act like Jesus and to never sin in any way. This means that we live up to his glory, but we all fail at times. As we become more dedicated to his will and the more we allow the Spirit to mold us, the more we succeed in being like Jesus. But when we have done our best, we are still just forgiven servants.
But the more we aim for perfection, the closer we will get. Like in the modern manufacturing world, our goal is zero defects. The more time we spend in reading and studying his word, the closer we will get to our goal. The more time we spend in prayer, the more we will draw closer to him, and he will draw toward us.
O Lord God, be with our nation and give us leaders who respect you and your wisdom. Give us people who want to be like Jesus and not those who flaunt all kinds of immorality and ungodliness. Help us as a nation to be at peace with each other, even when we disagree. Especially be with your people that we can show love and respect to each other and to those around us. Help us remember that we are, first and foremost, citizens of your kingdom and we are not of this world. Use me to help those who need it in any way. I pray in the name of Jesus.
Robert
