Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Proverbs 17:1-4
Prov 17:1-4
Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife. A servant who deals wisely will rule over a son who acts shamefully and will share the inheritance as one of the brothers. The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the Lord tests hearts. An evildoer listens to wicked lips, and a liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue.
Rom 14:4
Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
As a child of God, you and I stand justified before God, that is, we are free from the guilt of sin. We have committed the crime and the just penalty for that crime is that we die and be separated from God forever. In the justice of God, he cannot just overlook the crime or the punishment for it, the debt must be paid.
The wonderful news is that even though we deserve to be separated from him, he still loves us and wants us to be with him, now and in eternity. So, because of his marvelous love, and in his infinite wisdom, he found a way for him to remain a just God and at the same time for us to be justified. The debt for that crime has been paid by the death of Jesus, his beloved Son who never committed any sin.
But since we were the ones who separated ourselves from God, we do not deserve to have our debt of sin forgiven. BUT GOD, being rich in mercy, because of his great love (even while we were his enemies) saved us by his grace and put us in the heavenly places with Christ! We are free from sin! There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus our Lord! By his grace we can go to sleep at night without any guilt in our hearts, we are forgiven by his blood.
Jesus said that since we are forgiven such a great debt, one that we are not even capable of paying, we should be willing to forgive each other from the heart. He also told a parable about one who thought he was righteous by his own doing and looked down on others as less right with God (a Pharisee). At the same time, a really bad sinner (a traitor tax collector) asked God to forgive him, and Jesus said the tax collector was justified rather than the Pharisee.
O Lord God, thank you for your wonderful love, your tender mercy, and your marvelous grace shown to me in the death of Jesus your Son. Thank you for his resurrection which shows me that in Jesus I will be raised to live forever. Thank you for your continued forgiveness by his blood which allows me to know that I am saved. Keep me from being self-righteous and thus judging others around me, knowing that you alone can test their hearts. In Jesus’ name I pray.
Robert
