Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video and lyrics of the group Casting Crowns singing their song … Broken Together … poignantly singing of the truth that we’re broken and, as Christians, we need to live this life as BROKEN TOGETHER!
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Highlight Verse[s]: Ecclesiastes 4:9a, 10 [NLT] … 9a … Two are better than one, … 10 If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.
… Running in life TOGETHER!
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Highlight Passage [context]: Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Solomon, after faltering in life and trying to do life on his own, shares the truth that we must do life TOGETHER … no Lone Ranger Christians!!
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Reference Passage [NLT] : … Proverbs 3:5-6 [NLT] … 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on our own understanding; 6 In all your ways submit to Him and He will make your paths straight.
… Solomon - way before he penned Ecclesiastes - gives his son good advice about trusting God to lead him thru life.
Reference Passage [NLT] : … Philippians 2:3-4 [NLT] … 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
… Paul exhorts us, as Christians, to look to help others as well as to run the race ourselves.
Reference Passage [NLT] : … Hebrews 10:23-24 [NLT] … 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He Who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, …
… God gives us His advice on how we must live a life faithful to Him … by spurring each other onward, as Christians, toward love and good works.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Poh Fang Chia, uses a story from sports history to illustrate how we must lift one another up in this Christian life. The ODB author wrote: In the 2016 Rio Olympics, two athletes in the 5,000-meter race caught the world’s attention. About 3,200 meters into the race, New Zealander Nikki Hamblin and American Abbey D’Agostino collided and fell [see photo]. Abbey was quickly up on her feet, but stopped to help Nikki. Moments after the two athletes had started running again, Abbey began faltering, her right leg injured as a result of the fall. It was now Nikki’s turn to stop and encourage her fellow athlete to finish the race. When Abbey eventually stumbled across the finish line, Nikki was waiting to embrace her. What a beautiful picture of mutual encouragement!
It’s an apt picture of running the race of life as Christians, isn’t it? We humans are, by nature, selfish, self-controlling, creatures with a desire to run thru life on our own, … with a natural desire to control things - on our own!
But the Christian life is not for Lone Rangers! … Yes, we’re broken, with a selfish sin nature; but in Christ we have the choice to break free from our selves and surrender to our Savior. And when we do, He gives us the enabling/empowering grace to run the race of life TOGETHER! And after failing his God in life for many years as a king, Solomon discovered that life is not meant to be controlled on our own, and especially without God. So, in today’s highlight passage, we read of King Solomon, exhorting all who would come after him, to live as the group Casting Crowns sings in the linked song … being BROKEN TOGETHER.
So, are we trying to run our race thru life on our own; or have we been been able to repent of our selfishness and reach out, as exhorted in the reference scriptures, and do the Christian life TOGETHER with our fellow Christians? And I pray the latter for us all today.
My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … Dear Lord, … thank You for showing me that I need to reach out for help in running this race called life; and I pray that reality for any reading here today. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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