Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalm 101:1-4
Psalm 101:1-4
1 I will sing of your love and justice; to you, O LORD, I will sing praise. 2 I will be careful to lead a blameless life--when will you come to me? I will walk in my house with blameless heart. 3 I will set before my eyes no vile thing. The deeds of faithless men I hate; they will not cling to me. 4 Men of perverse heart shall be far from me; I will have nothing to do with evil.
In his letter to the Colossians, Paul writes that we are to put off sin. We are to rid ourselves of all evil thinking, speaking and actions. We are to put off the old man and his ways. The world around us is filled with evil and it is so easy to become complacent and allow the world to influence us to gradually conform to their way of thinking and their way of life. But we are not to be conformed to this world but rather we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
Paul says we are to put off the old man of sin and the way of life that goes with it but then he says we are to put on the new. In another place he explains that we are to die to sin and live to God. It is not enough to get rid of evil and sin from our lives, we must replace it with good. We are created in Christ Jesus for the purpose of doing good works. This is a part of God’s plan from eternity; that we think in absolute purity and walk in his ways so that we are actually showing forth his image and his glory in our lives.
Jesus said we are to let our lights shine before men so they will see our good works and glorify the Father who is in heaven. We are not doing good works to be right with God. We are doing good works (living in his image) to show that we have been made right with God through Jesus Christ. We don’t live holy lives so others will praise us or esteem us above another but we live holy lives to bring glory to the Father and the Son. As we reflect him and his light others will be attracted to him and his way of life.
So as we focus on Jesus, we allow the Spirit to impart his wisdom in our hearts and his strength in our souls so that we are molded into the image of the Father and show forth his glory to all around us. Then, like Paul, we can say we are what we are by the grace of God so he receives all the glory.
Heavenly Father, I thank you for your wisdom shown to us in your word. I need more of this wisdom each day. Give me a pure heart and a devoted spirit to be more determined to live for you. Help me put away every evil and every form of wickedness from my heart and my life so I can be more committed to you and your ways. Help me show your love, your compassion and your mercy to those around me. Use me to encourage others who are hurting and who are struggling to live for you. I pray in the name of Jesus, my Savior.
--Robert
