We often take our success for granted. We feel entitled
to receive the rewards of all we accomplish, because we forget where our
blessings actually come from or to show gratitude to God for His provision in
our life.
We expect to live a pleasant life and to reap the rewards
of our hard work and planning, regardless of our behavior. We even grow lax
spiritually and compromise our holiness by dabbling in the devil's den of
iniquity.
We can be sure, however, that our sin will find us out
(Galatians 6:7; Numbers 32:23). We will eventually reap the destruction that we
are sowing. Our quality of life may suddenly be jerked right out from under us
as this devastation catches up with us.
We start to reap the rotten fruit, which is the result of
the tainted seeds we planted in our garden of life for so long. We saw nothing
wrong with our little indiscretions with Satan's suggestions, because we worked
hard, provided for our family and lived for righteousness more than giving in
to sin.
Yet, God will not be mocked, and evil corrupts our good
morals and grieves the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 15:33; Ephesians 4:30). God
will not endure our disobedience forever. There comes a time when we have to
pay the dues of our corrupt flirting with sin.
We may experience God's discipline in small,
compassionate ways, which brings our repentance; or we may harden our heart and
continue in immorality until we eventually lose the blessings of God on our
life, which we are used to experiencing.
We tend to get angry with God at times like these,
railing against Him for expecting us to walk uprightly before Him all the time,
comparing our self to the lives of other people rather to understand God's
requirements that we live a holy life before Him (Luke 12:48).
If we stand firm in our pride and resist the Spirit's
drawing, we will sink lower and lower into the mire of destruction and
wickedness, continuing to blame others for our behavior and making excuses for
our thoughts, words and deeds.
However, if we surrender to God's discipline, humble our
pride and accept our fault in the circumstances, repenting with our entire soul
and spirit for our duplicity, then God can favor us with His blessings once
more.
Prayer:
Father God, human pride and self-assurance are snares of
the enemy. You show us in Your Word how You want us to live our life. Unless we
walk justly and love mercy and walk humbly before You, we will reap the
corruption of our sin regardless of how inconsequential that we consider it to
be (Micah 6:8).
Draw us close to You, never let us go, restore to us the
joy of our salvation and help us to lay down our sins so we can hear You
rejoicing over us with singing (James 4:8; Psalm 51:12; Zephaniah 3:17). Never
allow us to grow so lax in our spiritual walk that we compromise Your values.
Thought for the Day:
When we choose to enjoy the momentary pleasures of sin,
we set our self up for the loss of God's blessings in our life; sin is
ultimately destructive and always leads to disparaging times of injury for us.
- Hebrews 11:25
