A Thought for the Day – 074 – Part Two
I just cannot help myself… I like the way Solomon writes. He says here in
Ecclesiastes 5:18 “here is what I have seen” this is a first person singular
statement, like “I saw this in my life’s journey and here is my understanding
of what I saw.” Most of us today quiver in our boots to make such a dogmatic
comment, so when I write I challenge myself to use what I know to bring light
into the darkness of my little corner of the world. Tying what I know to the
Living Word of God helps me feel that I am fulfilling 2 Timothy 4:1-4.
Comments and challenges
Now
back to the epistle of James, James writes about works that are produced by
faith in God; Solomon writes about works without faith (yet this is not to say
that Solomon had no faith in God, he is simply excluding faith in God to show
that what man does under the sun without God is pure “VANITY”). Thus there is
an ongoing temptation for every human being to live life unconscious of God and
produce works that are an expression of glorifying his or her self-image. God
identifies these works as “good and evil” the works of man are not pleasing to
God simply because these works are mixed with evil, the production of all good
and evil works is SIN.
The
result of sin is total separation from God eternally, God’s Will is to have the
soul of man return to Him, there are many examples in the Bible of God’s desire
for the souls He has created. In Ezekiel God makes a few statements regarding
the soul, I like this one. Ezekiel 18:3 “As I live,” says the LORD God, “you
shall no longer use this proverb in Israel. “Behold, all souls are Mine, the
soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul who sins
shall die”… you can go on and read the rest of this through the end of the
chapter; it is an interesting read. (The Lord God is referring to the proverb
used by Israel found in verse 2 of Ezekiel 18; an explanation of this proverb
is found in an earlier devotional.
In order
to produce works that are pleasing to God, mankind needs to hear “Good News”
from God and as I am writing I see the need to have a “Part Three” to this
devotional. So I will be concluding this soon since it is after 9a.m. The good
news is that God in His love for you and me and all of the rest of the world
too provides the way to do good works that glorify Him. The only way for Him to
do this is to eliminate SIN, sin is the wall that separate all of mankind from
Him.
And now
I hear your wheels turning in thought, eliminate sin? If you are not a believer
under the Biblical definition of believing in God, then you have no problem
with this since you can say that you do not sin, you just do good while you
live out the evils in your heart which you cannot control because you do not
want to. And if you are a believer in accordance with the Biblical definition
you will be saying; I still sin so how is sin eliminated? These are not all of
the examples of questions that stir up the thoughts in us of how God deals with
sin and if you practice a religion you will have other views of error too. More
tomorrow.
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