Passage of the Day: Psalm 50: 21 – These things you have done [addressing evil done by those claiming to be believers] and I kept silent; you thought I was altogether like you. But I will rebuke you and accuse you to your face.
My Journal for Today: In our western, post-modern world, laced with humanistic relativism, it’s so easy to let our idolatry shape our image of God. I believe A. W. Tozer was right when he declared, “… no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God.” And today’s psalm, penned by Asaph in David’s court, is God’s warning in musical lyrics that we must not humanize God with our idolatry. As John MacArthur writes in today’s entry from Strength for Today, “… the essence of idolatry is possessing thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him.” We cannot let such satanically or selfishly driven forces, like materialism or entertainment or the cultural epidemic of sexual sin shape our concepts of God. If we do, we have fallen prey to Satan’s ploy to have us worship him rather than the one-and-only true God. Or Satan would be just as happy if we chose to worship selfish pleasure; … anything to take our eyes off Jesus; and anything which does so is an idol.
Our western culture drives us to substitute a lifestyle of truly worshipping God by focusing our minds and our time on education, science, entertainment, or psychology, all of which can/will distort our image of God if we let them. I pray that, in my own life, nothing I think or do or pursue will ever take away from my earnest and sincere goal (see yesterday’s journal entry) to know God – the one true God – Who seeks the first fruit of my attention in my relationship with Him [see Matt. 6: 33]. May I – may we – never allow our hearts to fall into the trap of idolatry and to let our deceitful hearts (Jer. 17: 9) see God blurred by the image of some idol we pursue in our lives.
My Prayer Today: O, my Lord, help me to know YOU; and let nothing in my life detract from that pursuit in faith and love. Amen
Showing posts with label moral relativism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label moral relativism. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
Thursday, March 25, 2010
2010 – Mar. 25 – The Chaos of Moral Anarchy
Study from God’s Word…Judges, Chapters 19 - 21 … Passage for Reflection: Judges 21: 25 … NIV 25 In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.
My Journal for Today: When one reads and meditates on the last few chapters of the Book of Judges, as I was led to do today by my devotional study, that one – me – has to be touched with the moral anarchy which results when man turns away from the one true God. These last few chapters of Judges chronicle a horrible segment in the history of God’s people, who, even when a remnant of believers tried to stem the tide of sinfulness, they were overcome by their own culture of sinful living. It’s tough to read this without setting back and reflecting on what is transpiring in our own world today.
Reading the sad line above from Judges 21: 25 could be a headline in an internet blog today. ”In these days the people served no God; and everyone did as he saw fit!” … could easily describe what I look around and see in our world; … could it not? We live in an era where there is moral anarchy and it produces more and more sinful chaos. Today there are people who mock God’s truth (through His word); and some are doing all they can to even eradicate the use of the Bible or Christian words such as “God” or “Christ” from the public arena.
There is an ongoing political and/or social move afoot in our world to villainize Jesus Christ so that any who follow His ways will be seen by the world as enemies of the people, even to the point that what used to be seen as good is now seen as evil; and what we at one time called “evil” is now seen as “good.” And as I write this, I can’t help but think of how Isaiah saw this, prophesying, (in Isaiah 53: 6), We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him [i.e., The Messiah] the iniquity of us all.
And it is that last phrase which gives us hope, … i.e., those of us who believe in and follow Jesus Christ. With all that any Christian reads in the book of Judges about how God’s people continued and repeatedly strayed from God’s way and His will, one has to come away, from knowing the entire Bible, with the very real truth that we know and serve a Lord who truly will never leave, nor forsake those whom He has raised up and separated in the world for His purposes. Somehow, in some way, God stayed with His people, Israel; and He will, as He promises in Deut. 31: 6 and Hebrews 13: 5, never leave us. However, to see Him activate His power for His purposes, we, His remnant, are going to have to do what He has exhorted in 2nd Chron. 7: 14, praying corporately, diligently, and humbly for our Lord to intervene and cleanse our land.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, I do so pray for Your deliverance. Amen
My Journal for Today: When one reads and meditates on the last few chapters of the Book of Judges, as I was led to do today by my devotional study, that one – me – has to be touched with the moral anarchy which results when man turns away from the one true God. These last few chapters of Judges chronicle a horrible segment in the history of God’s people, who, even when a remnant of believers tried to stem the tide of sinfulness, they were overcome by their own culture of sinful living. It’s tough to read this without setting back and reflecting on what is transpiring in our own world today.
Reading the sad line above from Judges 21: 25 could be a headline in an internet blog today. ”In these days the people served no God; and everyone did as he saw fit!” … could easily describe what I look around and see in our world; … could it not? We live in an era where there is moral anarchy and it produces more and more sinful chaos. Today there are people who mock God’s truth (through His word); and some are doing all they can to even eradicate the use of the Bible or Christian words such as “God” or “Christ” from the public arena.
There is an ongoing political and/or social move afoot in our world to villainize Jesus Christ so that any who follow His ways will be seen by the world as enemies of the people, even to the point that what used to be seen as good is now seen as evil; and what we at one time called “evil” is now seen as “good.” And as I write this, I can’t help but think of how Isaiah saw this, prophesying, (in Isaiah 53: 6), We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him [i.e., The Messiah] the iniquity of us all.
And it is that last phrase which gives us hope, … i.e., those of us who believe in and follow Jesus Christ. With all that any Christian reads in the book of Judges about how God’s people continued and repeatedly strayed from God’s way and His will, one has to come away, from knowing the entire Bible, with the very real truth that we know and serve a Lord who truly will never leave, nor forsake those whom He has raised up and separated in the world for His purposes. Somehow, in some way, God stayed with His people, Israel; and He will, as He promises in Deut. 31: 6 and Hebrews 13: 5, never leave us. However, to see Him activate His power for His purposes, we, His remnant, are going to have to do what He has exhorted in 2nd Chron. 7: 14, praying corporately, diligently, and humbly for our Lord to intervene and cleanse our land.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, I do so pray for Your deliverance. Amen
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