Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 38:13-17
Ps 38:13-17
I am like a deaf man, who cannot hear, like a mute, who cannot open his mouth; I have become like a man who does not hear, whose mouth can offer no reply. I wait for you, O LORD; you will answer, O Lord my God. For I said, "Do not let them gloat or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips." For I am about to fall, and my pain is ever with me.
Rom 7:21-25a
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord!
I would love to live a perfect life. I saw a post on social media that said something like, I really do want to be nice all the time but sometimes my mouth will not co-operate. It is a goal in my life to not ever make others unhappy, but to bring joy to them all the time. I do not want to sin against anyone, especially against God. Is this not how most of us feel, at least most of the time?
We set our hearts on serving the Lord and on helping others around us. We want to bring joy into our lives and into the lives of others. We love to see our efforts build up the faith of others. We want to be kind in our words and be patient in our attitudes. We strive to live just like Jesus and obey the Father in every part of our lives. The apostle John calls this “walking in the light” and says that as we walk like this, the blood of Jesus continues to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
An occasional guilty conscience is a good thing because it reminds us that we are not perfect and we do sin. It is a red flag to tell us we are headed the wrong way or that we have gone too far and getting on dangerous ground. But constant guilt is bad because it means we are not truly trusting God enough to accept his forgiveness or that we just don’t believe he has forgiven us. When God forgives us, we are free to accept it (let his love be perfected in us) and forgive ourselves.
Thank you, Father for your love and for your forgiveness in Jesus Christ. Thank you for the joy this affords me and the peace of mind it gives. As I seek to serve you, remind me that serving others is serving you. Give me wisdom to know what to say each moment of today so every word will honor you. Thank you for my family, both my physical family and your spiritual family. I ask you to give your healing to those who are sick and give peace to those who are hurting. Be with our nation and with our leaders that we can live in peace. In Jesus name.
Robert
