According to the Bible, those who trust in their
own efforts are foolish (Galatians 3:1-3). They boast in their wisdom, strength
or riches, but their house is built upon the sand (Matthew 7:26).
However, those who walk in God’s wisdom are kept
safe. Since, they understand and know the Lord intimately, He exercises
kindness, justice and righteousness on their behalf (Proverbs 28:26; Jeremiah
9:23-24).
We often spend years of our life cautiously
watching God's dealings in the life of His children. His discipline frightens
us, but His blessings amaze us. We finally come to the place where we are
willing to make a commitment to Him.
At this point, we often swing to the opposite side
of the pendulum. We are totally committed to Christ and we do not want to displease
Him.
Therefore, we diligently search the Bible in order
to completely understand the rules and regulation of the law and what He wants
from us. We attempt to religiously adhere to even the most vague letter of the
law (Matthew 5:18).
Our heart is in the right place, because we do not
want to disappoint God. However, no amount of striving will produce any amount
of righteousness in us at all (Titus 3:5; Ephesians 2:9). Every bit of our
righteousness amounts to nothing more than a pile of old, dirty rags (Isaiah
64:6).
God knows that we will drive our self crazy, if we
continue to attempt to maintain control over our life. He continually attempts
to set us free from human effort and invites us to enter into His rest.
Prayer:
Father God, Your ways are perfect. Your Son is the
God of truth and there is no iniquity in Him (Deuteronomy 32:4). Yet, He
suffered the persecution and death of a common criminal to set us free from
bondage to sin and death (Romans 6:23) and to raise us up to walk in newness of
life (Romans 6:4).
Thank You that our old way of life is gone forever
and now everything is completely new (2 Corinthians 5:17). Thank You for
ordering our days and blessing us in every area of our life as we trust in You
(Psalm 139:16; 2 Corinthians 9:8).
Thought for the Day:
Spiritual battles are meant to be won; not in our
own strength, but by the power of God's Spirit working in us to perfect us
until the day we meet the Lord face-to-face; He delights in us and we are His
people; He is our Good Shepherd, and we are the sheep of His pasture (Psalm
95:7; 100:3).
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