Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Proverbs 30:11-14
Prov 30:11-14
11 There are those who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers. 12 There are those who are clean in their own eyes but are not washed of their filth. 13 There are those—how lofty are their eyes, how high their eyelids lift! 14 There are those whose teeth are swords, whose fangs are knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, the needy from among mankind.
Matt 23:27-28
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So, you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
It never ceases to amaze me how that most people never change. There are those who say that people are worse now than ever before, but they are mistaken. A few claim that we as a human race are better than ever before. But the truth is that we still suffer from the same temptations and sins that plagued the world thousands of years ago. Sexual sins. Egotism. Selfishness. Greed. Power hungry.
What is really sad is that there have always been those who think they are morally better than others but who do not truthfully look at themselves. They excuse their sins while condemning others for the same things (or less). This group tends to be the religious leaders of the day, in every generation. It was the Pharisees and Sadducees in the days of Jesus. It was the church rulers in the days that are now called the “dark ages”. God knows who they are today.
One of the great truths that Jesus taught often is personal responsibility. Each individual must answer for himself or herself. This is why he said that we are not to judge others, because our standard of judgment is faulty. We judge what we see but we are looking for a speck of sawdust in the eye of another, while our own eyes have a log in them. This is why Paul said that each of us will stand or fall before God, and he will make us stand. Until we know the heart of another, we must not try to judge them. Instead of judging, encourage. Instead of kicking them, lend a hand to help them get back up. Fix your own problems first.
O Lord God, help me always look upward to you and to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus, who is at your right hand. Secondly, help me look inward at my own heart and my own life instead of looking at others. I know there are people who are better than I will ever be on this earth but help me keep trying to be like Jesus and not get discouraged. I also know that there are those who do not even try to do what is right but keep me from looking at them and then becoming proud. Help me use Jesus as my standard. In his name I pray.
Robert
