Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 119:97-104
Ps 119:97-104 Mem
Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts. I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word. I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.
Gal 2:18-21
For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"
In response to what Jesus did for us on the cross, the old hymn says: “But drops of grief can ne’er repay the debt of love I owe. Here, Lord, I give myself away, tis all that I can do.” When we eat the supper of the Lord, we are reminded of his love for us and of our commitment to him. But do we just spend those few moments each time and then forget it in our daily lives? Do we give ourselves away? Can we, like Paul, say that we no longer live because Christ is living in us?
If we would only open the eyes of our hearts to see that God’s word is not a burden nor a yoke around our necks, but it is a book of liberty and freedom. It is freedom in Christ because he is showing us the best way to live to avoid many of the painful pitfalls that entrap the world around us. It is freedom because he will deliver us from the bondage of sin that too often controls us to our hurt.
No matter what we face in life, no matter how bad things may seem, no matter how unfair others are to us, we have the peace of God in our hearts and in our minds. With this peace controlling us, we can rejoice always. Even when being mistreated or persecuted, we rejoice because we are in Christ and he is in us.
O Lord God, giver of life, both now on earth and even more, eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord, I give you thanks for all you have done for me and all you do for me every day. Thank you for the opportunity to know you and to share your word with others. Thank you for the opportunity to work with young people who are learning to live for you. As I age, I thank you for the ability to use what you have given me to help others who are getting older and who are facing difficulties in their lives. Be with our nation and our leaders. I pray in the name of Jesus.
Robert
