Thursday Reading: Ephesians 5 6-11
Key Verse: Ephesians 5 9
9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth),
Devotion:
The worst lie you can tell is one that you will get away with! We go through life having to face seemingly insignificant lies so many of which we do not know the truth and we are taken in by them. The more that we face those lies, the more we are led astray from the path of truth. What starts off as a “small lie” in the beginning may well grown into something that we finally question because it has wandered so far from the truth; but far too many times we get pulled in and do not see the wood from the trees. Far too often we excuse such things as the frailties of human life and we expect that God will take no notice of them as we don’t. Don’t be fooled – God does see everything!
When we look at our little lies that we live with, we see them through our temporal eyes (earthly views) instead of through our spiritual eyes. By our earthly standards they do not seem to be much, they may even be of such insignificance that we do not regard them as issues at all. But just how far are they going to take us away from God’s Word? We need to take a step back from our lives and have a look into them to see just what we do allow into our lives. When we do that we may well see what our parents have warned us against...
We have all been there – we have all been tempted and given in to that temptation at some stage. What we do after that fact is what will establish us in our next few steps in our lives. If we are willing to ignore what has just happened and continue to go with the flow, we face certain defeat. If we reject what has happened and go against the flow, we face the wrath of our peers because they will still want to go with the flow. But that is the point; it is not about achieving the short-term goal but the eternal goal. If we are not going to stand up for what is righteous and godly, then should we expect God to stand up for us? We must do our best to try and prove that which is acceptable to God. Don’t be side-tracked by seemingly insignificant things...
Points to Ponder:
What temptation do you give in to most?
How many things do you bring before God?
Key Verse: Ephesians 5 9
9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth),
Devotion:
The worst lie you can tell is one that you will get away with! We go through life having to face seemingly insignificant lies so many of which we do not know the truth and we are taken in by them. The more that we face those lies, the more we are led astray from the path of truth. What starts off as a “small lie” in the beginning may well grown into something that we finally question because it has wandered so far from the truth; but far too many times we get pulled in and do not see the wood from the trees. Far too often we excuse such things as the frailties of human life and we expect that God will take no notice of them as we don’t. Don’t be fooled – God does see everything!
When we look at our little lies that we live with, we see them through our temporal eyes (earthly views) instead of through our spiritual eyes. By our earthly standards they do not seem to be much, they may even be of such insignificance that we do not regard them as issues at all. But just how far are they going to take us away from God’s Word? We need to take a step back from our lives and have a look into them to see just what we do allow into our lives. When we do that we may well see what our parents have warned us against...
We have all been there – we have all been tempted and given in to that temptation at some stage. What we do after that fact is what will establish us in our next few steps in our lives. If we are willing to ignore what has just happened and continue to go with the flow, we face certain defeat. If we reject what has happened and go against the flow, we face the wrath of our peers because they will still want to go with the flow. But that is the point; it is not about achieving the short-term goal but the eternal goal. If we are not going to stand up for what is righteous and godly, then should we expect God to stand up for us? We must do our best to try and prove that which is acceptable to God. Don’t be side-tracked by seemingly insignificant things...
Points to Ponder:
What temptation do you give in to most?
How many things do you bring before God?