July 29, 2013 … Presumption Versus Faith

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2013 - Day 210

Devotional Song: Go to this link  … Today please use this link and hear a song sung by the Kathy Troccoli, singing “I Will Choose Christ”, reminding at least this Christian to do all I can to insure that my choices are in following Savior rather than self.

Highlight Passage of the Day: 1st Chronicles 13: 10 [In the context of verses 9-10] … [NLT] …  
9 But when they arrived at the threshing floor of Nacon, the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah put out his hand to steady the Ark. 10 Then the LORD’s anger blazed out against Uzzah, and he struck him dead because he had laid his hand on the Ark. So Uzzah died there in the presence of God. 
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Contextual Study involving today’s passage found in 1st Chronicles, Chapter 13 … Go to this link
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Reference Passage of the Day #1: Jeremiah 17: 9 [Beware our deceitful flesh!] … [NLT] …  
9 “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?

Reference Passage of the Day #2: Proverbs 3: 5-6 [We won’t go wrong if our choices are centered in the Spirit rather than in the self.] … [NLT] …  
 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. 6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths.

Reference Passage of the Day #3: Galatians 3: 3 [Always striving to be in the Spirit rather than letting self get ahead of the Savior. ] … [NLT] …
  3 How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?

My Journal for Today: Oh, my fellow Christian, it is so easy to let human presumption and to jump out ahead of doing all we can to live in and by the Spirit. Take it from one, as they say today, who’s … “been there, done, that and has several t-shirts to prove it.” And the tragic story which Os Hillman used today in his workplace devotional to illustrate this very human tendency was the story of Uzzah, a Priest, who was chosen by King David to be one of the leaders when the Ark of the Covenant was transported back to the Temple. You probably remember the story from 1st Chronicles, Chapter 13, linked above, where the oxen carrying the ark stumbled; and Uzzah, reacting in the flesh, reached out to stabilize the ark, touching it against God’s specific command; and Uzzah’s reaction – in the flesh – caused him his life.

It is so easy – at least for this presumptuous and gullible Christian – to react in the flesh, rather than to make my choices in the Spirit, doing life God’s way rather than on my own. Yes, I know, from believing Jeremiah 17: 9 (copied above) that my heart (i.e., my flesh) is naturally deceitful; and I can so easily react out of presumption rather than to respond in the Spirit. And sometimes I genuinely wish God had not given us His “gift” of free will, especially after He imbedded His Spirit in us when we came to Him in faith, at least surrendering our will to Him at that moment of conversion and salvation.

BUT (and there’s that dangerous “but” again!) … as Paul wrote about to the recalcitrant Christians in Galatia (see Galatians 3: 3 above), so many of us – as born-again Christians – can all too easily, because of our presumptuous flesh, try to jump ahead of God’s Spirit, Who will always try to help us choose Christ, in the Spirit, rather than to choose our own way, … in the flesh.

And I can almost predict that you’re thinking – RIGHT NOW – of some foolish and/or selfish choice or action which you have taken, or are in the process of taking now, which was or is based in selfish presumption rather than Spirit-led faith. But we can’t fall prey to self pity and self condemnation. That’s exactly how Satan would want us to respond to our falling prey to presumption.

NO, … take the time to take in the song to which I’ve linked you this morning. Kathy Troccoli sings the truth and we must CHOOSE CHRIST; and the more we do exactly that, following His admonition in Luke 9: 23 (Oh surely you know that one by now!!), we will get in the habit of making choices to walk HIS way rather than presumptuously choosing to walk our own way.

My Prayer for Today … Lord, I choose to walk Your way today. Please shine Your Light brightly on my path. … Amen