Never 'Just' listen

Friday, July 7, 2023

Good morning, Lord

Verse of the Day: Psalm 18:30 New King James Version

As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.

Memory verse: John 10:27-28...27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

Today's reading: JOB 34-35 ACTS 15:1-21

Never 'Just' Listen

Have you compared yourself to Holy Scripture lately?

When you first hear that, it sounds almost unreasonable doesn’t it? It does sound some far-fetched-but it is what we are to do. We are to see ourselves up against what God's word says we should be.

Be careful-don’t be like the wicked described by King David in Psalms 36:2 :

‘In their own eyes they flatter themselves

too much to detect or hate their sin’.

They can’t see the forest for the trees. We have them everywhere. They govern our-states our country -they may even govern us-you know-the guy in the mirror. But can self love get in the way of seeing our sin? Yes, it can and does.

Listen to what James writes:James 1:22-25 Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)

22 Do what God’s teaching says; don’t just listen and do nothing. When you only sit and listen, you are fooling yourselves. 23 Hearing God’s teaching and doing nothing is like looking at your face in the mirror 24 and doing nothing about what you saw. You go away and immediately forget how bad you looked. 25 But when you look into God’s perfect law that sets people free, pay attention to it. If you do what it says, you will have God’s blessing. Never just listen to his teaching and forget what you heard.

Anytime we take God off the throne of our hearts, we put ourselves on that throne because we think we can handle it better. Our sin gets in the way. Our opinion of self blocks the view of God and His righteousness.

Deal with self and sin and clean up the view in your mirror. The fear of God does not seem to bother some. But even for those of us who really fear God, we still have a big problem with sins of self.

But there is a place of quiet rest. We have a lot going on in our lives-retired or working-children and grand-children-or not-there is still a lot going on. We must be able to find that place in God's presence. That place of peace is absolute and we can absolutely get to Him and stop and be still. Our God is not a God of chaos.

1 Corinthians 14:33 ►For God is not a God of disorder but of peace--

God wants us to know His peace...His order....His heart...His love. It is all there in His Word. Jesus died so we could forever 'measure-up'. Are you where you need to be? You're only a prayer away...

…because He loves us…

Father in Heaven,

Burden my heart to get self out of the way and put you back on the throne of my heart. Clean up my view-I want to see my life measure up to your word—but only in and for Christ—the right reason.

Great God of peace and mercy!

In Jesus' name

Amen