Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 69:6-12
Ps 69:6-12
6 May those who hope in you not be disgraced because of me, O Lord, the LORD Almighty; may those who seek you not be put to shame because of me, O God of Israel. 7 For I endure scorn for your sake, and shame covers my face. 8 I am a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my own mother's sons; 9 for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me. 10 When I weep and fast, I must endure scorn; 11 when I put on sackcloth, people make sport of me. 12 Those who sit at the gate mock me, and I am the song of the drunkards.
2 Cor 13:5-10
5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you-unless, of course, you fail the test? 6 And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test. 7 Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong. Not that people will see that we have stood the test but that you will do what is right even though we may seem to have failed. 8 For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. 9 We are glad whenever we are weak but you are strong; and our prayer is for your perfection.
One of the things about being a Christian that is too often overlooked is that we are to put others ahead of ourselves. This is especially true in the spiritual realm where we have an influence on the behavior of other people. This means we may have to limit what we do and where we go, not because we believe it to be wrong but because we don’t want to cause a weak brother or sister to violate their conscience and sin in doing so. We may at times do things we don’t believe are necessary but will help others be faithful in their lives. This is not hypocrisy; it is putting others ahead of ourselves and serving them with our lives. Paul did this, Jesus did this and we are to follow their example in helping others be faithful.
We must never allow anything we do be used to speak evil of the truth, of God or the name of Jesus. We are to glorify Jesus as our Lord and as our Savior in all we do, all we say and our attitude toward others. We are his and live for him.
Heavenly Father I love you and want to behave and live just like Jesus but I know I fail in so many ways. I say things and wish I had not. I do things or leave things undone and wish I had done otherwise. I need your strength and your wisdom in my life every day and I also need your continued forgiveness. Thank you for loving me and forgiving me. Help me see the opportunities you give me and use each of them to lead others to you or to be more faithful. Give our nation your healing, physically, politically and spiritually. I pray in the blessed name of Jesus.
Robert
