Are You Ready To Walk With Jesus?
Good Morning Friends,
Well we gave mom a great send off yesterday to join with dad. Thanks to all who shared in it. Some of it was a traditional memorial service and some took the road less travelled…on a narrow path. So, now standing at the crossroads we need to choose our next steps. Will we take the narrow crosswalk to heaven? Friends, most of the world is not a sanctuary. We need to be careful who we follow and into what are we crossing over. The key is to success is overcoming our mistakes. With that in mind today we read a special psalm of penitence that is often sung or recited during the Lenten season. It is about confession and the blessings and fruits of a confessing heart… salvation. Commentary from the Interpreter’s Bible indicates that it was a favorite of both Luther and Augustine. It is a wisdom psalm with a purpose of instructing us on how to act when we are troubled and afflicted. It is about God’s dealings with those desiring to be righteous…a picture of Jesus as our guide. Are You Ready To Walk With Jesus?
Scripture:
1 Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. 3While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up* as by the heat of summer. Selah.
5Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’, and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.
6Therefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to you; at a time of distress,* the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them. 7You are a hiding-place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. Selah.
8I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. 9 Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you. 10 Many are the torments of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord. 11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.
Psalm 32 (NRSV)
Therefore walk in the way of the good, and keep to the paths of the just. 21 For the upright will abide in the land, and the innocent will remain in it;
Proverbs 2:20-21 (NRSV)
13’Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy* that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. 14For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Matthew 7:13-14 (NRSV)
Message: Jesus said that there are two roads: one way…God’s way, leads to life and the other way, though very popular, leads to destruction. A single choice makes a difference. Ways lead to ways unless we follow Jesus. Thankfully God loves us. He loves us so much that He gives us grace… He gives us a way to get off the broad road that is trodden black with all its crazy and dangerous traffic. Jesus gives us a way to the narrow path…the green, grassy path for His sheep… Our choice makes all the difference. Soon we discover that only by walking with Jesus can we hope to find the path that leads to life. Through the eye of the needle we learn that it is best to follow the Shepherd even though it requires us to change. So
don’t spend the rest of your life regretting your past or your present. Engage God as your guide, confess your sins and be saved so you can share in the blessings. Today we are already one week into Lent… a time of self-denial and a time of healing. Friends, it is a time to address the hypocrisy in our lives. Only after we have laid our sins before God, after we have given up our guilty feelings… do we start on a journey of the heart. As we continue the long walk to the cross, where we see just how terrible our sins are, let us not forget that the cross is not the final destination. God has set things right. We are to depend on Christ’s righteousness not our own. He has risen. Indeed God is the purchaser and the price of our salvation. God has revealed His righteousness and He readily gives redemption, but He does require our reliance on Him if we are to be made spiritually new. The psalmist, David, describes his experience of how he gets a fresh start… how his slate, our slate is wiped clean so we can come closer to the Lord. The psalmist encourages us as he describes how confessing his failure to God changes his life. He holds nothing back, he lets out all his dark emotions and pressures. God’s mercy drives the healing, guiding him. This turning point of honest confession results in the sin and guilt disappearing. He prays his confession. And then having the knowledge of one’s self as a sinner and having come into wisdom, having unburdened his soul, he responses with obedience to the advice revealed, he bears witness to the pardon he has received and this births gratitude and then love. It ends with a shout of joy…a triumph of peace…a celebration with God our protector, God our forgiver, God our Guide. Here in this spring of life we experience something new in us as God uses us to make things right for others. As we share the reality that Jesus was made the wrong to put us right we come into the presence of His love and when we live and share the love of Jesus, the experience is always new. Here we discover that only He knows the way to green pastures. Friends, it makes all the difference if you choose to walk with Jesus.
Pray that we seek the small gate and the narrow road. Pray that we follow Jesus on paths of righteousness. Pray that we are followers of the Way of love. Pray for healing. Pray that Jesus walk with us on the journey of Lent and beyond to newness. Pray for the joy of forgiveness. Pray for the joy of Christ abiding with us from one generation to another.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 