Meditation

03/02/2020

“Those officials of Pharaoh who feared the word of the lord hurried to bring their slaves and their livestock inside. But those who ignored the word of the Lord left their slaves and livestock in the field. Throughout Egypt hail struck everything in the fields—-both men and animals, it beat down everything crowing in the fields and stripped every tree. But I know that you and your officials still do not fear the Lord God.

Those who do not have faith or who ignore God’s Word lose everything. They are lost to the good things of life, to joy and happiness, and to God Himself.

“Lostness” is the greatest of human tragedies. God’s people should be burdened and dedicated to share with others and danger in ignoring the Word of God and refusing to have Jesus Christ in their lives.

PRAYER FOR THE DAY:

Precious Abba, this no sadder feeling that to feel like we are separated from You. It is a feeling of truly being alone and unable to turn to You, but this is when we must turn to You and we do so in a penitent manner, seeking forgiveness for whatever we have done or said to You. It is then, that our relationship with you may be restored and we can then bask in the joy of being near to You. It is our sins, that separates us from You, and only You can forgive us. In Jesus’ precious name we pray. Amen.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY:

“Holiness is a sign of true repentance.”

KNOWING GOD:

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans6:23)

Sin pays fair wages—-eternal death. God in love gives what is not earned—-eternal life, You must decide whether to be content with your wages or accept Go’s gift. Until you accept God’s free gift, you are lost. Jesus liberates persons from sin and given them eternal life in exchange for their lostness. Holiness becomes the life-style for God’s people.

I AM:

“Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you! As when fire sets twigs ablaze and caused water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you! For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you. Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we be saved? All of us have become like one who is unclean, and ll our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we are shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and made us waste away because of our sins. Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. Do not be angry beyond measure, O Lord; do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look upon us, we pray, for we are all you people. Your sacred cities have become a desert; even Zion is a desert, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and glorious temple, where our fathers praised you, has been burned with fire, and all that we treasured lies in ruins. After all this, O Lord, will you hold yourself back? Will you keep silent and punish us beyond measure?” (Isaiah64:1-12)

People experience their own sinfulness and the absence of God. God’s anger stands over the lost person. Good deeds are worthless when the person is not rightly related to God. The only hope for a lost person is to confess sins and call on God for salvation. “Yahweh,” the God of Israel, is the only One who has demonstrated His deity by acting for His people. Sin destroys us spiritually and physically because God intervenes in our lives to discipline sinners. Habitual sin brings God’s judging anger from which salvation appears impossible. This sin makes us feel filthy, unworthy of speaking to God. We see our basic sin as failing to call on God in moments of distress because we feel He will not hear us. Still we have hope. We can express our feelings to God as the prophet did in this strong prayer of lament and confession. We are the people of God, totally dependent on our Father and Creator. As such, we can pray for forgiveness and ask God to take away His anger. He hears our prayers even when they are bold laments expressing our dissatisfaction and impatience.

Second Thought of the Day:

“While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and ‘sinners’ were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the ‘sinners’ and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’? On hearing this, Jesus said to them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’” (Mark2:15–17)

Evangelism helps lost people find a cure for their sin sickness. Self-righteous people are usually the last to acknowledge they are lost. Jesus is the only Physician who can cure sin sickness. He sends His followers not to judge others but to proclaim the good news to all people.

Even to judge others but to proclaim the good news to all people, even at the risk of being criticized by the self-righteous. Jesus paid special attention to those the religious hypocrites rejected. He calls us to follow Him to love sinners.