Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 16:1-5
Ps 16:1-5
Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight. The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips. The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.
Gal 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
As I think about my life and the lives of others I know (and have known), it is easy to get discouraged. This is one of the reasons Paul said that we should not compare ourselves to ourselves. Other people are not our standard. There will always be some who seem to be more devoted to the Lord than I, and there will be those who are obviously less devoted than I want to be. The behavior of others does not make me better or worse. The Bible is my standard; Jesus is my goal.
When Paul said that he had been crucified with Christ and that Christ was living in him, he is contrasting this to living under a system of law with living by faith. His goal was perfection, but he knew that he did not live a life of perfection. But he put his trust in God and in his grace to be forgiven when he failed to live up to the perfect standard of Jesus. We have that same grace and forgiveness today.
An old hymn says: “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. When He shall come with trumpet sound, O may I then in Him be found; dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne.” Paul said that God caused Jesus to take on the guilt of our sin as though it were his own, and he did this so that in him we may be considered as righteous as Jesus who never even committed a sin of any kind. For those who really want to be like Jesus and never sin, it can be difficult to put our trust in him instead of our own doing. His grace is training us to deny ungodliness and to live godly for him.
O Lord God, creator of all things, giver of all that is good, you are the source of light and love. In your greatness which is beyond my ability to comprehend, you love me and through Jesus, you show me the way to eternal life. I thank you and I praise you. But I need your help to be more like you. It is easy to get distracted by the things and the cares of this world and to fail to put you first in my life. Help me open my heart more fully to your Spirit so I can be more like Jesus every day. Be with those who are hurting and discouraged. I pray in Jesus’ name.
Robert
