October 29 - If You Follow

Today's Reading:
Leviticus 25:47-27:13
John 7:1-30
Psalm 36:1-12
Click on Text Link to Read Online

Focus Verses:
Leviticus 26:3-4,14-16
3 "If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, 4 I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit. - - - 14 But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, 15 and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, 16 then I will do this to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and drain away your life. You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it."

Insight:
After God gave the Law to Moses, he gave solemn promises and warnings. They can be summed up like this: "If you do what I say, you will be blessed. If you turn away from me and disregard my guidance and commands, you will suffer the consequences." This is a good chapter to bookmark because you will see many of the warnings and promises are fulfilled during the destruction of Jerusalem, the years of exile that followed, and the eventual return of the exiles to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles - Esther).

Response and Action:
God is my maker. Therefore, his instruction and commands are best for me. When I walk in his ways I am walking toward blessing. If I turn away from his ways I am turning toward disaster and destruction.

It is not enough to know his ways, I need God's help to walk in them. I have failed to follow God's commands, but Jesus' sacrifice on the cross has atoned for my sin and made forgiveness and restoration possible. By the power of the Holy Spirit, God is purifying my heart and transforming my heart and mind. With his help and by his grace I can turn away from sin and turn, instead, toward his perfect will.

O God, show me your ways. Guide me in your truth and teach me. Only you can save me from sin; my hope is in you all day long. Thank you for Jesus who loved me and gave himself for me as a sacrifice to atone for my sin. Thank you for the Holy Spirit who is changing my heart, drawing me closer to you, and helping me to live a life that honors you. Help me to walk in your ways that I might enjoy the blessing and reward you have promised me. Through Christ, I pray. Amen.

Spiritual Formation Verses:  
Psalm 25:4-5
4 Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; 5 guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.

Resources:
Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ
by Dallas Willard