Friday 25 May 2018

May 25: Ephesians 5:18-21

Key Verse: Ephesians 5:19
speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord,

Devotion:
Drinking to get drunk is a sin. Why? Because what we do is to voluntarily drink excessively so our minds and bodies are impaired; thus we have given in to either a habit or desire and opened ourselves up to all manner of things for which our mind no longer has control. We have given our bodies over to almost anything that may come our way! You may think it would not matter once or twice, but what is actually happening? It only takes once to die!

You are abusing your body; it is God’s gift to you and His dwelling place if you are trying to live a life with Him. You are closing yourself off from God because you are not being honest with yourself. Your mind is being hurt, your memory lost and your judgment impaired. It is depriving you of reason and setting yourself as a fool. It wastes your estate, makes you unfit for any duty, exposes you to shame… and we could carry on for a while. But it’s not just drinking I want to talk about, I’m just using it as an easy example. I want to highlight every sin in our lives which we willingly let in.

If we want to be able to stand up against these sins, then we have to have some way of reminding ourselves about how stupid it is to go and sin voluntarily. We have to have a constant reminder of all that is good. But we don’t like to listen to anyone who nags us continually, so we are the ones who have to somehow remind ourselves. How are we supposed to do that? One of the best ways is to remind yourself in songs, psalms, poems or other thoughts where you can involve God in your thought process. You don’t have to embarrass yourself by singing out loud (with a voice like mine you don’t want me to sing out loud) but with the God’s Words going through your mind (instead of random thoughts) you will be able to focus on things which are righteous.

Give Him the praise. Give Him the glory. Remind yourself just who is in charge. Remind yourself who your friends are and keep them close. Live together in fear of the Lord and He will continue to be your guide.

Points to Ponder:
How often do you sing or listen to music?

How often do those songs praise God?