The Devotional Jhn08

The Devotional

Comment: Do you ever consider what goes on in your heart (mind) on an hourly, or for that matter daily basis? Most of us just truck through life riding our emotional roller coaster until it runs out of gas at the end of the day. At bed time if our day has been more emotional than normal, we toss and turn like someone mixing a tossed salad. Sleep is a foreign experience throughout the week since we fail to monitor our heart as God has commanded that we should. Our excuse is; “Well, my scale of right and wrong is balanced, you know… do unto others and it won’t be done to you!” Besides I do not know the commandments of God as I ought so I do the best I can.” I say “hogwash! In that you do know the commandments of God, you simply ignore them and live in your emotions because the torture of living that way feels normal.” The commandments of God are no more than two: (1) “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'” Excerpt from Matthew 22:36-39.

Challenge: John 2:13-25 – The religion of that day in Jerusalem when Jesus Christ went there for the celebration of the annual Passover is somewhat similar to the religion of our day here in the United States of America We have our “Christian holidays and worship services” and we do seek to participate. Sadly most of these resemble the temple worship that Jesus found in Jerusalem. While we may not be purchasing the ox, the sheep and the turtle dove for sacrificial offerings, we do exchange our offerings to the LORD for an emotional moment in time, adding to our sleepless stresses of living out of our heart, rather than out of obedience to God. 

We ought to heed the Words of Jesus in John 2:16… “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” Someone will say! “What!” We do not sell things in our churches today! Again hogwash we set in our staff meetings (elder boards) discussing things like, “what can we do to bring more people in (not to learn of God’s commandment as we ought, but to gain more income”). Of course your response ought to be hogwash, saying we have great worship services and we teach people to love God so what are you trying to say?

Okay and you know who you are; many contemporary churches of today do NOT teach “destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”. No, these fail to teach the “sacrificial death of Jesus Christ and His physical resurrection on the third day” Sadly in many, if not all contemporary churches today in the United States of America you will not hear the message that changes the heart from an emotional pattern of disappointment, discouragement and death, to a heart of peace with God and with mankind because of the failure protect the gospel of God and learned to follow the LORD’s two simple commands.

John 2:23-25 – Jesus Christ is the discerner of our hearts, as in Jerusalem many believed in His Name as the Son of the Living God because they observed His signs, the signs of Jesus Christ are all around us today too, so we have no excuse just as these Jewish people. True worship of God is in the Spirit and in the Truth, John 4:23-24 Jesus Christ does not commit to us because we see the signs or wonders of false worship, in His Name. He knows and understands what is in our heart. Full of emotions that fade away when the sun goes down, faith in Jesus Christ is the only foundation that will get us through the night in a peaceful sleep and rise us up to face the new day.