Do You Profile For What You Think Is Your Own Best Interests Instead Of Choosing God’s Better Way?
Good Morning Friends,
We often do not know what we really want and sometimes what we think we want is not what we really need. No wonder we all too often choose the wrong things. Do You Profile For What You Think Is Your Own Best Interests Instead Of Choosing God’s Better Way?
Scripture: Say to those who are of a fearful heart, “Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you.” Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
Isaiah 35:4-7a (NRSV)
My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?
James 2:1-5 (NRSV)
Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”
Mark 7:31-37 (NRSV)
Message: James has a word or two to say to those who claim to have faith but do not demonstrate it in their behavior. That kind of faith is dead according to James. But maybe what James means to say is that it is not faith when individuals enforce their own will instead submitting to God’s will. Maybe we need is a funeral service for dead faith and a revival from God of the kind of faith God intends for us. We need to obey the path of wisdom and learn to love God as we respond to His love poured out through Jesus Christ. Maybe we need to realize that an act of true faith is a living faith. Friends, there is only one good faith. Only turning to God is good faith and it is more than blind optimism. Yes, we are justified by faith but if our actions do not demonstrate such an internal state of love for God and others, maybe we really do not believe in the right thing at all. Maybe we are getting in God’s way. Friends, sometimes we are to back off and sometimes to step in. Only if we really love will we know.
Pray we are open to God’s healing. Pray we are open to God’s way of salvation. Pray we not play favorites but extend love to those who need it most. Pray we seek and knock so the way will be opened. Pray we have the right state of mind. Pray we live in the moment of all moments as an infinite happiness that wants nothing. Pray we not mistake the world’s ways for the goodness of God. Pray therefor our faith is alive and filled with actions that nudge others closer to God.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 