Meditation

Meditation for 08/13/2019

“Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” (Psalm 34:14)

Biblical ethics begins with two basic principles: (1) negative, evil life-styles should b rejected, and (2) peace or wholeness is the goal of life. One must proceed from rejecting evil to choosing and action upon virtues which are positive. Peace (Hebrew – shalom is the all-encompassing value.

Peace represents a sufficiency in all areas of life so that the satisfaction with the full life ensues. Peace is more than the absence of conflict. It is the presence of all components of meaningful life. Peace does not come by passive waiting. Peace must be pursued.

PRAYER FOR THE DAY:

Abba, ethics is not something we are born with; rather, it is something we are taught and learn in our lives. Jesus taught on this, but just as importantly, He lived out His live on this earth in such a way that others sought to live as He did. We each have this same opportunity, to live out our lives as Jesus did and can become leaders for others by living the ethics we have been taught. With God’s help, we can become the people that represent God in the world we live in. All it takes is committing ourselves daily, to living out the will of God, just as Jesus did. With the Holy Spirit, we can choose to reject evil and embrace the peace that passes all understanding, which is the goal of our lives. Amen

THOUGHT OF THE DAY:

“Bible study is not just learning, it is living out God’s Word in our lives.”

KNOWING GOD:

“Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of he Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua24:14–15)

We freely choose to fear the Lord. Fearing Him requires us to serve Him in sincerity and truth and to forsake all idols. God is not another tribal or nation deity whom we can add to our collection of god. Every person faces ethical choices. The main choice is to serve God or serve something less than God. Ethical examples like Joshua encourage and strengthen us as we choose. Choosing to serve God means eliminating certain practices from our lives and live only for Him.

I AM:

Christian Ethics, Moral Imperatives: (Jeremiah31:33)

The picture of the new covenant for Jeremiah parallels the working of he Holy Spirit as described by Jesus in John 14:26. Moral imperatives do not form an arbitrary checklist for God to sue to punish. Nor are they a minimum standard we use to see if we are still making passing grades with God Moral imperatives are seeds God plants in our hearts to let us grow and realize the full potential He created in us. Understand?

Second Thought of the Day:

“Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.” (Romans 3:19-20)

Beloved, the law does not lead to salvation. The law makes us aware of our duty to God and our inability to fulfill that duty. The law lets us know we have failed God’s expectations and deserve the penalty—death.

Without imperatives showing God’s expectations, we would not be aware of our failures and would not understand our separation from God. God’s law does not provide us with righteousness. It provides a mirror to reveal our sin. The more law we know the more we are conscious of what we have done wrong, not of what we have done right. Obeying law will never lead to salvation—trusting Christ will.