Devotional Song: Go to this link - Please take the time to meditate on this powerful song sung by the group Phillips, Craig and Dean, singing Your Grace Still Amazes Me, … reminding us as Christians that we always have God’s grace to choose instead of defaulting to our human feelings … especially that of bitterness.
=============
Highlight Passage: Hebrews 12: 14-15 … [Choosing feelings can lead to bitterness; … bitterness to sin upon sin.] … [NLT]
14 Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord. 15 Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.
============
Highlight Passage: Hebrews, Chapter 12, Verses 14-29… GO TO THIS LINK … [NLT] …
============
Reference Passage #1: Ephesians 4: 31 … [Letting bitterness grow in our soul will breed all kinds of emotional outflow.] … [NLT]
30 And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. 32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
Reference Passage #2: 2nd Cor. 12: 9-10 … [God’s grace is always sufficient to deal with our human feelings and our weaknesses.] … [NLT]
9 Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 10 That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
My Journal for Today: We live in a group of condominiums, clustered together in a relatively cozy space in our community. When they were built, some trees were planted and some already existed in the area; and now, some 40+ years later, the roots of some of those trees are growing down beneath our condos seeking water and breaking some of the pipes which carry water and sewage; and when the pipes break we have to call a plumbing contractor to fix the problem. But had the trees been planted more strategically 40 years ago, these problems could have been avoided.
As the graphic I’ve attached above represents, it is quite easy to let a root of bitterness be planted and grow in our soul (see the link I’ve provided above in Hebrews, Chapter 12). When someone wrongs us, it is so easy to default and let anger or unforgiveness become a root of bitterness; and when that happens, the root can grow into all kinds of behavioral sin such as that the Apostle Paul wrote about in Ephesians 4: 31 (copied above).
And right at the time that our lives are hurt or disturbed, we have a choice to make. We can choose to let the human hurt bring on the feelings which produce that root of bitterness; … OR … we can choose to surrender to God’s grace to snuff out the root, … not allowing it to grow into the evil emotions and behaviors which will result if we let our human emotions rule. As Jesus said to Paul (see 2nd Cor. 12: 9-10 above), … His grace is always sufficient to cover our weakness; but we have to CHOOSE to surrender and receive God’s grace rather than allow our prideful humanness to plant a root of bitterness, which will always grow to create damage in our soul just like the roots of those trees do in our condos.
Perhaps, as you read this, there are some roots of bitterness you need to allow God’s grace to cut out from your soul to prevent them from growing to damage your life any more than they already have. Maybe there’s someone you need to forgive or a habit of sin which has grieved God’s Spirit which needs to be cut out to halt it’s growth.
TODAY is the day to cut out that root of bitterness and to choose to feed your soul with the wonderful grace which Phillips, Craig, and Dean sing about in today’s devotional song (linked for you above).
My Prayer for Today … Yes, truly Lord, Your grace is so amazing to heal my soul.… Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online blog entitled Today God Is First [TGIF], authored by Os Hillman. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read Hillman’s TGIF blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
No comments:
Post a Comment