Today's Reading:
Isaiah 22:1-24:23
1 Peter 4:7-5:14
Psalm 140:6-13
Click on Text Link to Read Online
Focus Verses: Isaiah 24:8-10
8 The gaiety of the tambourines is stilled, the noise of the revelers has stopped, the joyful harp is silent. 9 No longer do they drink wine with a song; the beer is bitter to its drinkers. 10 The ruined city lies desolate; the entrance to every house is barred.
Insight:
Pride
and self-gratification are often at the root of sin. Prosperity is
often a precursor to careless self-indulgence. Eventually the parties
give way to pain, the drinking is overcome by the misery of a hangover,
and the songs turn into crying. Judgment is a wake-up call that forces
us to face reality. Life is not meant to be lived without God. We were
not created to gratify ourselves or serve our selfish desires. Rebellion
against God is fundamentally a refusal to recognize the truth.
Response and Action:
I
need to recognize God as my maker and the rightful and worthy owner of
my life. Self-gratification is not the path to fulfillment and
wholeness. Instead, I want to humbly acknowledge Jesus as Lord and to
live for him. Self-indulgence and pride are deceptive and result in
emptiness and ruin. I want to trust God, acknowledge him in all my ways,
and find direction and wholeness in the truth.
O
God, show me your ways, teach me your paths, guide me in your truth.
Give me the humility and wisdom to live for you and to follow you. Help
me to love you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. Amen.
Spiritual Formation Verses: Romans 13:13-14
13
Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and
drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension
and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ,
and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.
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