Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 109:16-20
Psalms 109:16-20
16 For he never thought of doing a kindness, but hounded to death the poor and the needy and the brokenhearted. 17 He loved to pronounce a curse--may it come on him; he found no pleasure in blessing--may it be far from him. 18 He wore cursing as his garment; it entered into his body like water, into his bones like oil. 19 May it be like a cloak wrapped about him, like a belt tied forever around him. 20 May this be the LORD's payment to my accusers, to those who speak evil of me.
We come from such a wide variety of backgrounds it is hard to imagine how other people think. Some have been raised by parents who taught them from a small child about God, about Jesus and about his word. Likely these have gone to church all their lives with many of their friends being godly Christian people. To some this would seem to be a sheltered life and in some ways it might be because these children are never exposed to so much of the sin in the world.
On the other hand, there are those who were raised by parents that were very ungodly with no spiritual interests at all. These may have been involved in drugs, or the excessive use of alcohol. While living on the fringe of being legal in many ways it would be expected that the children would be exposed to things that they should never have seen or heard.
There is another group of people who are good honest citizens with a primary interest in work, sports and leisure activities but who have no interest in spiritual things. Many of these are taught there is a God and go to church, but only on special occasions and never really learn anything from the word of God. Some of these may never even open a Bible or even believe in God at all. These children often grow up with a view of life that is totally humanistic which fosters selfishness and disregard for the wellbeing of others.
The wonderful news is that it does not matter what our background may be, what our nationality is, what our ancestors did, believed or what happened to them, we all have sinned but can be forgiven by the blood of Jesus. At that point we are all one in Christ, we are brothers and sisters and equal in the sight of God. So we are to make every effort to maintain this unity of the Spirit given by God.
O God, my heavenly Father, I thank you for what you have given me in life. You have blessed me with many opportunities by placing me in my earthly family. Use me in the way you see best and help me always remember that I am what I am and who I am only because of your grace. Help me remember that on my own I am totally worthless but because of your love and forgiveness I am now a child of yours and worth everything. I pray in the name of Jesus.
--Robert
