Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of Clay Crosse, Bob Carlisle, and Bebe Winans singing … I Will Follow Christ … powerfully singing of how we must run the race of life doing all we can to follow our Lord to the finish line.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Proverbs 12:24 [NKJV] ... 24 The hand of the diligent will rule, But the lazy man will be put to forced labor.
… God honors the diligence of those who work hard for His glory.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Proverbs 12:24-28 [NKJV] ... USE THIS LINK ...
… God’s Spirit, thru Solomon, shows us that diligence for God’s glory is a worthy undertaking.
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Reference Passage : … Ephesians 4:1-2 NKJV] … 1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, 2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, ...
… Joining with other Christians and staying with a task for God’s glory shows our worthiness as followers of Christ.
Reference Passage : … Colossians 3:23-25 [ NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
... Whatever we do as followers of Christ, we must do it with all diligence for His glory, not for our own recognition.
Reference Passage : … 2 Timothy 4:6-8 [ NKJV] … USE THIS LINK ...
… Paul exhorts Timothy (and us) to do as he did and finish the race of life well for the crown of glory ahead for any who do.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Dave Banon, uses an athletic analogy to illustrate that God honors those who work hard for His glory. … The ODB author wrote: It was the seventh-grader’s first cross-country meet, but she didn’t want to run. Although she’d been preparing for the event, she was afraid of doing poorly. Still, she started the race with everyone else. Later, one by one the other runners finished the two-mile course and crossed the finish line—everyone except the reluctant runner. Finally, her mom, who was watching for her daughter to finish, saw a lone figure in the distance. [see photo] The mother went to the finish line, preparing to comfort a distraught competitor. Instead, when the young runner saw her mom, she exclaimed, “That was awesome!”
What can be awesome about finishing last? Finishing!
The girl had tried something difficult and had accomplished it! Scripture honors hard work and diligence, a concept often learned through sports or music or other things that require perseverance and effort.
What do we need to do - even today - to prepare and finish something daunting which honors God merely in the doing? Perhaps - like the young girl in the ODB story above - we desire to excel in some difficult task in which we’d like to show our worthiness as Christians. Perhaps we need to join with other Christians to witness for our Lord in this difficult world.
Reading the exhortations of Paul in three of his epistles above certainly should spur us on to do all we can to finish the race of life for God’s glory. So, if we feel God calling us to prepare for such a race in life and then to finish - even if we finish last - then let’s get to it, my fellow Christian runners!!
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My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, ... for calling us to prepare for the race of life … and then to finish for Your glory.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me, to do all we can - even today - to run the race of life for God’s glory, knowing that finishing will bring us a crown of honor and glory. … 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.</ span>
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