But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
Memory of the Month: Psalm 33:4
4 For the word of the Lord is right and true;
he is faithful in all he does.
Today's reading: HOSEA 9-11 REVELATION 3
The 'Calf'
T.V. program- 'This Is Us'
Magazine name- 'Us'
The list could go on for a page or two. We are consumed by 'us' and what we have become. Our struggles and our victories and our accomplishments are points of pride. Our country is a point of pride. Our 'Bill of Rights' has become a 'list of entitlements'.
The cost of the 2016 elections cycle in our country was $6.5 billion. We gave $2 billion to feed the hungry in the world that same year-and brag that we gave more than any other country.('The Heritage Foundation')
The children of Israel made a statue of a golden calf and worshipped it and this was only the beginning. But--they were only doing 'what everybody else was doing', so what?
Hosea, chapter 10, starts like this:
10 Israel is a luxuriant vine
that yields its fruit.
The more his fruit increased,
the more altars he built;
as his country improved,
he improved his pillars.
2 Their heart is false;
now they must bear their guilt.
The Lord will break down their altars
and destroy their pillars.
3 For now they will say:
“We have no king,
for we do not fear the Lord;
and a king—what could he do for us?”
4 They utter mere words;
with empty oaths they make covenants;
so judgment springs up like poisonous weeds
in the furrows of the field.
5 The inhabitants of Samaria tremble
for the calf of Beth-aven.
Its people mourn for it, and so do its idolatrous priests—
those who rejoiced over it and over its glory—
for it has departed from them.
1 Corinthians 1:31 ►Therefore, as it is written: "Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord."
Of what are we the most proud? It is a simple question.
Is it the 'calf'? Our own calf?
Micah 6:8 ►He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Walking humbly involves no pride.
All this is to get us to pray for people in our country to have a desire for God-God's justice-God's mercy-God's peace. Pray we are not blind-Pray for our people to see the golden calf over which we stumble.
Give glory where 'tis due.
Our Lord is patient. Pray that we are pleasing to Him.
2 Corinthians 5: 9 So we make it our goal to please him...
...because He loves us...
Father in Heaven,
Forgive me pride over anything but my salvation in You.
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