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What God Wants
Daily Bible Reading – 2 Samuel 15,16; Psalm 32; Matthew 25
Today’s Key Passage – Psalm 32
Most of us spend a lot of time thinking about “wants”. We think about what we want to eat for dinner. We think about what our children want for their birthdays or Christmas. We think about where our spouses want to go on vacation. A better “want” to consider, however, is what God wants. The Bible helps us answer this question in many different ways. We know that He wants us to love Him. We know that He wants us to put Him first. In today’s key passage, we find more clues as to what God wants. Let us look at a few of those “wants” today:
- God wants us to be cleansed - (Vss. 1-2) – God wants each of us to receive the initial cleansing that comes from the salvation offered through Jesus Christ. In addition, he wants us to be continually cleansed by Him as we live our lives daily.
- God wants us to be convicted - (Vss. 3-4) – The Holy Spirit living in us convicts us of sins as they happen. When we sin, God will convict us and show us that we need to turn back to Him to restore our relationship. This conviction will not let us rest until we have dealt with our sin.
- God wants us to confess - (Vss. 5-6) – When we acknowledge our sins to God, He forgives us and cleanses us from our impurities.
- God wants us to rest in His protection- (Vs. 7) – God wants to be our “hiding place” from all of the troubles of this world. When we rest in Him, he will shield us from evil.
- God wants us to rest in His guidance - (Vs. 8) – God wants to instruct us and teach us how to walk in His ways. He wants us to trust Him to lead us only to what is best for us.
- God wants us to cooperate - (Vss. 9-11) – Some people in this world are stubborn. Rather than allowing God to guide them with love, they leave God no other choice but to lead them with “bit and bridle”. In other words, they force God to lead them using discipline and punishment. When we fail to acknowledge our sins before God, He may punish us to force us back to Him. God will use any means necessary to restore our relationship with Him.
As I read today’s passage, I am awestruck by the differences between God and man. Obviously, human beings are very different from God in many ways, but I believe one of the biggest differences comes in the area of forgiveness. When humans forgive others, we sometimes do it almost grudgingly. We know we “should” forgive someone, or we feel like we “need to” forgive someone. Sometimes we even feel like we “have to” forgive someone. When we do forgive, we very seldom ever forget. God, on the other hand, is not like us in this regard. God never feels like He should forgive, or that He needs to forgive, and he certainly never feels like He has to forgive. God wants to forgive us. In addition, when He forgives, He forgets completely that we have sinned. We do not have this ability on our own, but God does. He does not keep a record of wrongs. When God forgives us, we are washed clean in the blood of Christ and are made white as snow, and our relationship to God is completely restored. We do not have to live with guilt over sin. We do not have to live in fear of His punishments. We can find freedom and joy today through the forgiveness He offers us. The next time you are thinking about “wants” in your life, consider what God wants for you. Think of this Psalm, and rest in His promises.
During your Bible reading today, what “key passages” stood out to you? Leave a comment below to share what God is showing you about His Word today.
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May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.
A Lesser-Known Person, a Very Familiar Story
Daily Bible Reading – 2 Samuel 8,9; 1 Chronicles 18,19; Matthew 21
Today’s Key Passage – 2 Samuel 9:1-13
I would like to begin today with a pop quiz. What do you know about Mephibosheth? If you are anything like me, you might not know a lot about this lesser-known person in the Old Testament. I must admit that I tend to get bogged down with a lot of the names in the OT, so if someone were to ask me that question prior to today I likely would have had to consult my good friend Google. In fact, before today the one thing I could definitively say about Mephibosheth is that spell-check does not recognize his name as a word. Even if you have never heard of Mephibosheth, I can promise that you are going to enjoy his story. Why? Because despite the fact that you may not recognize his name, you have heard this story a million times.
Mephibosheth was the son of Jonathan and the grandson of King Saul. We first hear about him in 2 Samuel 4:4 when he was five years old. When word came that Saul and Jonathan had been killed, his nurse picked him up to flee but as she did Mephibosheth fell and was crippled in both feet. In today’s key passage, we see him again as a grown man. As the descendant of a former king, Mephibosheth did not have much of a life. He was separated from the new king and the kingdom. He remained in hiding, for fear that King David might want to destroy anyone who had a claim to the throne, but David wanted to show kindness to one of Saul’s descendants and sought out Mephibosheth. When Mephibosheth was brought before David, he was terrified, not knowing what was going to happen to him. To his relief, Mephibosheth was saved from his miserable life by David and was given his inheritance. He did nothing to earn it – it was granted to him freely. All he had to do was accept David’s kindness. David treated Mephibosheth as a son, allowing him to eat with the other sons at the King’s table.
Do you recognize the story? Does it sound familiar? Just as Mephibosheth was separated from the kingdom, today every person on this earth is born separated from God by sin. Fortunately, God seeks us out and wants to show kindness to us through his grace and mercy. More often than not, at first we are afraid to come to God. We do not know exactly what will happen or if we will even be welcomed, but God welcomes us with open arms. We are saved from a miserable life and given an inheritance in Heaven when we accept God’s free gift of salvation. The price for sin has been paid by the blood of Jesus Christ. All we must do is accept God’s free gift through faith in His Son. When we do, we are treated like sons and daughters, and we are given a seat at God’s table for eternity.
If you already knew the story of Mephibosheth, my hat is off to you. If you did not know it, now you do. Perhaps you know others who do not know the story. Perhaps you have friends, neighbors, or colleagues who have never heard it. Share the story of Mephibosheth and ultimately the story of God’s free gift of salvation with someone today. You just might save a life.
During your Bible reading today, what “key passages” stood out to you? Leave a comment below to share what God is showing you about His Word today.
To become a fan of The Daily Bible Plan’s Facebook Page, CLICK HERE.
To follow me on Twitter for inspirational tweets, click the follow button – Follow @kevin_griggs
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May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.
Related articles
- How David showed God’s Kindness (thoughtsonscripture.com)
- “Mephibosheth” (pttyann.wordpress.com)
- How To Show Kindness to the Unkind – 2 Samuel 9:1 (dianneguthmuller.com)
- Dinner Invitation! (relyingdailyonjesus.com)
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The Parable of the Vineyard Workers
Daily Bible Reading – 2 Samuel 7; 1 Chronicles 17; Psalm 2; Matthew 20
Today’s Key Passage – Matthew 20:1-16
Grace is a tricky thing. Most of us are quick to want it when it comes to our own mistakes and sins, but extending it to others can be difficult, particularly if the other person in question is notoriously wicked. In 2011, the news broke that a raid by brave members of our US Armed Forces led to the death of Osama bin Laden. The news was met with widespread joy and celebration across the country, and most people (myself included) believe that bin Laden is currently in hell eternally separated from God. Here is the thing about grace, though – we do not know that to be a fact. Only God knows the condition of someone’s heart when he dies. While it is highly unlikely, it is possible that as death neared, Osama bin Laden repented of his sins and turned to God. While it is highly unlikely, it is possible that before he died he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. While it is highly unlikely, if that had happened, the Bible says that Osama bin Laden would be in Heaven right now. Does that seem hard to believe? Jesus knew this concept of grace might be difficult for us to understand, and that is why in today’s key passage He tells us the Parable of the Vineyard Workers.
In His parable, Jesus tells us about a landowner who went out early in the morning and hired men to work in his vineyard. The pay he offered was one denarius for the entire day. At about the third hour, the landowner went and found more men and agreed to pay them one denarius for the day. He continued to hire men at the sixth hour, the ninth hour, and the eleventh hour, and he agreed to pay all of them one denarius. At the end of the day, the landowner paid all of the men one denarius, starting with the last ones he hired, and all of the men who were hired early in the morning were angry to see that the men who had only worked a short time were being paid the same amount they were being paid. So what does this parable mean? The landowner is God, and the denarius is salvation.
Some people are saved early in life and they spend their entire lives working for Christ and following Him. Others are saved in the middle of their lives and only spend half as much time working for Christ and following Him. Still others are saved at the end of their lives, some even on their deathbeds, and they never really get the opportunity to do much work for Christ. All of these people, whether saved as a child or saved 1 minute before death, receive the same wage – eternal salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” Just as the landowner was well within his rights to pay the men who worked in his vineyard whatever amount he wanted, our God is completely sovereign and can choose to extend grace to whoever He chooses. God chooses to extend grace to anyone who comes to him with a true heart, repents of his past sins, and accepts Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. Regardless of past deeds, Jesus saves.
Does it make you slightly angry to think that people bin Laden, Hitler, or Stalin could be in Heaven? If so, you have not yet fully grasped the concept of grace. In fact, the very idea someone so wicked could actually end up in Heaven is a wonderful thing! It tells us that none of our sins are so bad that God cannot forgive them, and it tells us that it is never too late to come to Christ. Rejoice in the fact that our God freely gives His grace and mercy to everyone who seek it, and rejoice in the fact that eternal life is available for everyone willing to turn to Jesus Christ. While it is highly unlikely that bin Laden turned to Christ at the end of his life and was saved, it is certainly possible, and that, my friends, is a very good thing indeed.
During your Bible reading today, what “key passages” stood out to you? Leave a comment below to share what God is showing you about His Word today.
To become a fan of The Daily Bible Plan’s Facebook Page, CLICK HERE.
To follow me on Twitter for inspirational tweets, click the follow button – Follow @kevin_griggs
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May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.
The Unforgiving Debtor
Daily Bible Reading – 1 Chronicles 14,15; Psalm 132; Matthew 18
Today’s Key Passage – Matthew 18:21-35
In today’s key passage, Jesus teaches us about having an unforgiving attitude. Peter asks Jesus how many times he needs to forgive someone who has sinned against him, and then he offers up his own possible answer of seven times. Before we move on, we need to understand this in the context of the day. Jewish law mandated that you must forgive another person three times, so when Peter offered up the answer of seven times he probably believed he was being very generous with his forgiveness. He was likely expecting Jesus to commend him on his answer, but instead Jesus told Peter that he should forgive his brother seventy-seven times. (Note that some translations say seven times seventy times or 490 times total, but the point Jesus is making is that we should not worry about counting how many times we forgive someone and should instead always forgive others. The fact is, if we are keeping count of how many times we have forgiven a person, we probably have not actually forgiven them at all.)
In order to illustrate His point, Jesus goes on to tell the Parable of the Unforgiving Debtor. In this parable, there is a man who owes the king ten thousand talents. (Most scholars believe this is the equivalent of roughly $10 million, but some scholars estimate it as high as billions of dollars. The point is the debt was large enough that it could never realistically be repaid.) The king wants to collect his money, but the servant is unable to pay him this large debt, so the king threatens to sell everything the man owns as well as his family to repay the debt. The servant drops to his knees and begs the king for mercy, and the king agrees to cancel his debt completely. Now imagine you have just been forgiven a $10 million debt. That would be a pretty good day right? You would likely celebrate your good fortune! Instead, the debtor went out and found a fellow servant who owed him a hundred denarii. (Most scholars estimate this to be roughly $20.) He grabs the servant who owes him $20 and chokes him, demanding to be repaid, and he ultimately has the man thrown in jail over the $20 debt. When the king hears this, he calls the servant back in and reinstates his debt of $10 million and puts him in jail to be tortured until he can pay.
If you are a follower of Christ, you are like the debtor who owed an unimaginable amount of debt to the King. Our debt is our sins, and we all have a lot of this debt built up from our lives here on earth. Fortunately, God has cancelled our debt through the cross of the King of Kings, Jesus Christ. Though we have been forgiven so much, how often do we keep an unforgiving heart toward others? When we are wronged by others or treated badly, we hold onto that anger and refuse to forgive them right away, and we are in essence demanding payment for a “$20 debt” after being forgiven a “$10 million debt”. How often do husbands and wives say, “I can forgive my spouse for anything except this one thing”? How often do people say, “I just cannot forgive that person for what he or she has done”? Usually, when people have trouble forgiving others, it is because they do not completely understand their own forgiveness. Many people believe that God forgives them for almost all of their sins, but that God is still mad about one or two really bad things from the past. This is simply not the case! Colossians 2:13-14 says, “He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.” When we truly understand the forgiveness of God, we will find that it will become impossible to have an unforgiving attitude toward others. Do not hold onto an unforgiving heart over a $20 debt. Instead, rejoice in your own forgiveness and trust in God’s perfect righteousness.
During your Bible reading today, what “key passages” stood out to you? Leave a comment below to share what God is showing you about His Word today.
To become a fan of The Daily Bible Plan’s Facebook Page, CLICK HERE.
To follow me on Twitter for inspirational tweets, click the follow button – Follow @kevin_griggs
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May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.
Related articles
- Some Thoughts on Church Discipline… (andrewbmills23.wordpress.com)
- Seventy times seven… (ptl2010.com)
- The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant (brakeman1.com)
- Who bears the cost of forgiveness? (ptl2010.com)
- Steps To True Forgiveness (threepassionslingerie.wordpress.com)
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Freely You Have Received, Freely Give
Daily Bible Reading – 1 Samuel 27; Psalm 141; 1 Chronicles 9; Matthew 10
Today’s Key Passage – Matthew 10:5-10
In today’s key passage, Jesus is getting ready to send His disciples out into the world for the first time on their own. He has spent time with them and He has trained them, and now He is sending them to reach others. He tells them to go to the “lost sheep of Israel” and preach the message that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. He gives them the power they will need to heal the sick, raise the dead, and drive out demons. Just before they leave, Jesus gives the disciples a principle that they should use to guide their actions as they go from town to town preaching His message to others. He tells them, “Freely you have received, freely give.” (Vs. 8) When I first read this verse, my first reaction was that Jesus was talking about generous giving. God gives us so much in this life and blesses us in so many ways, that the very least we can do is share that wealth with others by freely giving of our time, money, and possessions to help others. While this is obviously sound advice and something that we should all practice in our lives, the more I read this passage today the more I started to believe that Jesus was talking about a lot more than just material goods.
As I sat quietly today talking with God and thinking about this passage, I tried to focus on all the different things we have received from Him. The more I meditated on it, the longer the list became, so I began to write down some of the things we freely receive from God that we can freely give. Below are some of the items on my list:
- Freely we have received His grace and mercy, and freely we should extend that grace and mercy to others.
- Freely we have received His forgiveness of our sins, and freely we should forgive others of their transgressions.
- Freely we have received His encouragement, and freely we should encourage others.
- Freely we have received His wisdom, and freely we should share that wisdom with others.
- Freely we have received His love, and freely we should show that love to others.
Perhaps the most important thing on my list that we have received from God is the Good News about Jesus Christ. Each of us has been saved by His grace through faith in Jesus, and the fact is that at some point in our lives we learned about our Savior because someone somewhere cared enough about us to share the Gospel with us. God freely gives us salvation, but in order for people to receive His gift, they have to first hear the Good News. That is where we come in. Freely we have received salvation through His Good News, and freely we should share that Good News with others. I encourage you today to make a list of all the things you have freely received from God that you can freely give to others.
During your Bible reading today, what “key passages” stood out to you? Leave a comment below to share what God is showing you about His Word today.
To become a fan of The Daily Bible Plan’s Facebook Page, CLICK HERE.
To follow me on Twitter for inspirational tweets, click the follow button – Follow @kevin_griggs
If you like this post, please SHARE it with others to spread the Word of God.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.
Related articles
- “They saw the signs which Jesus did” (worryisuseless.wordpress.com)
- Week 11.3 Jesus Sends Out the Twelve pt 2 (dailybiblestudy.com.au)
- Freely, freely (sunshinemountain.wordpress.com)
Keeping a Clear Conscience
Daily Bible Reading - Numbers 1,2; Acts 24
Today’s Key Passage - Acts 24:1-16
The high priest Ananias and some of the elders went to Caesarea to bring their charges against Paul to Governor Felix. Specifically, they were claiming three charges against Paul – that he was a troublemaker who incited riots, that he was one of the leaders of an unauthorized religious sect, and that he tried to desecrate the temple. When Paul was given a chance to defend himself before Felix, he did so and plainly stated that the charges against him were false. Paul stated that he strives, “always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.”
What does it mean to keep a clear conscience before God and man and why is it important? We can start with taking a look at keeping a clear conscience before God. We do this by following His ways and living the way He wants us to live. We keep our conscience clear before God by staying away from sin and unrighteousness. Obviously we are not perfect, so when we do sin we immediately confess that sin to Him and ask for forgiveness. In addition, we repent (or turn away from) that sin and turn to God. Ultimately, we keep our conscience clear through our faith in Jesus Christ. Through His actions and through His mercy and grace we can live in right relationship to God and keep our conscience clear before him.
What about keeping our conscience clear before man? We do this by treating others the way we should treat them. We do this by not lying, deceiving, or cheating others and by showing them the love of Christ. We keep our conscience clear before man not by our own efforts, but by the actions of Christ who lives within us and gives us the power to treat others better than ourselves. Without His help, we would constantly fail in this area and we would never be able to keep our consciences clear before man, but He gives us the power to do just that.
So why is all of this important? Why should we strive to keep our conscience clear before God and man? Because guilt is a tool that the enemy uses against us. When we do not keep our conscience clear we feel guilty, and often that guilt stops us in our tracks and keeps us from fulfilling our mission for God. How many times do relationships fail (either relationships with God or with others) because of guilt? When people feel guilty, they tend to want to run away from the relationship causing it to crumble. Guilt can be a powerful thing, and we must fight it at every turn, and the most complete way to avoid guilt is to keep our conscience clear before God and man. Fortunately for us, Jesus provided us a perfect model to do this in Matthew 22:37-40 - “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” When we keep these two commandments, we will keep our consciences clear and never have to worry about guilt getting in our way.
During your Bible reading today, what “key passages” stood out to you? Leave a comment below to share what God is showing you about His Word today.
To become a fan of The Daily Bible Plan’s Facebook Page, CLICK HERE.
To follow me on Twitter for inspirational tweets, click the follow button – Follow @kevin_griggs
If you like this post, please SHARE it with others to spread the Word of God.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.
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Having a Heart Like God’s
Daily Bible Reading - Leviticus 13,14; Acts 17
Today’s Key Passage - Acts 17:16-23
While Paul was in Athens waiting for Silas and Timothy to join him, we read that he was, “greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols”. The word “distressed” is translated from the Greek word “paroxysm” which means a “sudden, violent emotion”. Paul was in a place filled with “religious” people, yet none of them really knew God. None of them had a personal relationship with the one true God and none of them knew anything about Jesus Christ. These people, though “religious” on the outside, were not saved. This gave Paul a “sudden, violent emotion”, likely a mixture of anger and sadness. This is relatively strong language – you will note that Paul was not just a little angry or a little sad. This scene caused his emotions to erupt inside of him. Why was it that he had such a strong reaction to these lost souls? Paul felt this way because he had a heart like God’s.
When God sees lost people, it grieves Him. When He sees people far away from him, He feels a “sudden, violent emotion”. God created man for fellowship. He loves each of us – from the “best” person on earth to the “worst” person on earth – exactly the same. He loves us with all of His heart, but since He is a perfect God and a just God, He cannot allow sinners to go unpunished. Anything less would simply not work for God. That is where Jesus comes in – He took this punishment for us so that we will not have to in the end. In this way, the followers of Jesus are seen by God as perfect and without sin, and they are reconciled with Him. For everyone who has not accepted Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior, they are not reconciled to God. They cannot be in His holy presence all alone with nothing but their sins – they are lost, and this grieves God greatly. Paul felt that same type of grief. We should all strive to feel that same type of grief. When you see someone far from God, how does it make you feel? Are you a little sad about it? Are you a little angry about it? Does your heart erupt with a “sudden, violent emotion”? As each of us grows in Christ and we continue to change, we will grow closer and closer to having a heart like God’s. We will begin to feel angry over the things that make Him angry. We will begin to feel happiness over the things that make Him happy. We will begin to feel grief over the things that grieve Him. Ask God today to give you a heart like His. Ask Him to help you feel pain for the things that bring Him pain and joy for the things that bring Him joy.
During your Bible reading today, what “key passages” stood out to you? Leave a comment below to share what God is showing you about His Word today.
To become a fan of The Daily Bible Plan’s Facebook Page, CLICK HERE.
To follow me on Twitter for inspirational tweets, click the follow button – Follow @kevin_griggs
If you like this post, please SHARE it with others to spread the Word of God.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.
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Making Restitution
Daily Bible Reading - Leviticus 4-6; Acts 14
Today’s Key Passage - Leviticus 5:14 – 6:7
There were five key offerings the Israelites made to God – the burnt offering, the grain offering, the fellowship offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering. All of these offerings were made by the Israelites in order to have their sins forgiven and to restore their relationship with God. Of course, the death of Jesus Christ would eventually make all of these sacrifices unnecessary because the sacrifice of the perfect Jesus would completely forgive all of our sins and restore our relationship to God forever, but we can still learn valuable lessons from these offerings. The guilt offering in today’s key passage offers us great insight into sins against our neighbors. Originally, if one of the Israelites had sinned against a neighbor, he would have to make restitution in full plus 20% interest to the neighbor and would also have to sacrifice a ram. While we no longer have to worry about sacrificing the ram, the idea of making restitution still applies to us today.
Have you ever sinned against one of your neighbors? Understand that by “neighbor” we are not just talking about the people who live next door to us. Jesus taught that a literally everyone that we know or meet is our “neighbor”. If we have ever lied to or about another person, stolen from anyone, found or borrowed something and failed to return it, or cheated anyone we are guilty of sinning against our neighbor. More importantly, we have not just sinned against our neighbor, we have also sinned against God. We may have even committed these sins unintentionally, but we are still guilty in the eyes of God. Anytime we sin against our neighbor, we should remember the guilt offering from Leviticus. As soon as we realize the sin, we must confess our sin to God and ask for forgiveness, apologize to our neighbor and ask for forgiveness, and then make things right with the person we hurt. While the guilt offering specifically talked about stealing, cheating, and deceiving others, how much better would all of our relationships be if we followed this pattern anytime we hurt another person. Whether we hurt them with our words or our actions, we can confess to God, ask the person for forgiveness, and make it right.
During your Bible reading today, what “key passages” stood out to you? Leave a comment below to share what God is showing you about His Word today.
To become a fan of The Daily Bible Plan’s Facebook Page, CLICK HERE.
To follow me on Twitter for inspirational tweets, click the follow button – Follow @kevin_griggs
If you like this post, please SHARE it with others to spread the Word of God.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.
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The Proper Response to Correction
Daily Bible Reading - Exodus 30-32; Acts 8
Today’s Key Passage - Acts 8:9-25
In the days of the early church, sorcerers and magicians were everywhere, and Simon was one of these sorcerers. Upon hearing Philip preaching the good news about Jesus Christ, many of the people who had been following Simon came to Christ instead, and Simon himself believed and was baptized. When Simon saw the power of the Holy Spirit, he offered Peter money to try to buy the gifts that the Holy Spirit allowed Peter to have. There is no doubt that Simon’s actions were sinful. Instead of focusing on the only true path to God and the only way to receive His power (repentance from sin and turning to God for forgiveness), Simon thought he could take the easy road and just buy his way in. When Peter heard the sinfulness from Simon (a fellow believer), he immediately and harshly called him on it. He corrected Simon as we are sometimes called to correct other believers who are sinning. Simon could have responded to this correction in a number of ways, but the route he took can teach us a lot about responding to correction. Simon asked Peter to pray for him.
If you are a believer in Christ surrounded by other believers who genuinely care about you, there will likely come a time when one of your friends might offer you a correction if you are getting off the path of righteousness. It is easy as Christians to do something that might not seem to us at first to be sinful, but to others it is. In these times, a fellow believer may attempt to correct your behavior and show you where you got off track, and our response to this correction can be tricky. Most people do not like being told they are wrong, so the initial response to a gentle correction by another believer can often be a combination of anger, embarrassment, hurt, or defensiveness, particularly when we might not immediately see our own error. Pride can be blinding and we can easily close our hearts and our minds to the possibility that we might be wrong in our thinking. When another believer comes to us in love, though, we must listen to the correction with an open mind and an open heart. Our immediate response to correction should be one of repentance. We should also ask for forgiveness – first from God and then from our friend or anyone else who may have been hurt by our actions if that applies. Finally, we should take a page from Simon’s book and ask our friend to pray with us and for us. When we learn from this lesson and can react as Simon did when facing correction, we can avoid allowing our own pride to compound our sinfulness even further.
During your Bible reading today, what “key passages” stood out to you? Leave a comment below to share what God is showing you about His Word today.
To become a fan of The Daily Bible Plan’s Facebook Page, CLICK HERE.
To follow me on Twitter for inspirational tweets, click the follow button – Follow @kevin_griggs
If you like this post, please SHARE it with others to spread the Word of God.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.
God Will Remember No More
Daily Bible Reading - Hebrews 9-11
Today’s Key Passage – Hebrews 10:11-23
We have all heard the saying “forgive and forget”. Practically speaking, for most of us even when we are able to forgive, forgetting proves to be much more difficult. It is hard to forget about past hurts and past injustices. Fortunately, our Father in Heaven does not have this problem. In the old Jewish system, the priests’ work was never done. They constantly had to offer sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins. They were always standing. Christ finished the job and took a seat – not just any seat, but the one at the right hand of the Father. While the priests’ work could not completely remove all sin, Christ’s work cleansed each of us from sin entirely.
Men who were guided by the Holy Spirit wrote the Bible. It is inerrant and absolutely true. God is our perfect creator who never lies. Therefore, when we read in Hebrews that God said, “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more” (10:17), we know that He means what He said. When we confess our sin to God, he immediately forgives us, but He does so much more than that. He also forgets about our sins, and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. When a person goes to trial and is found “not guilty”, legally his criminal record is expunged and it is as if he was never even accused of the crime. God’s forgiveness works the same way. Once He forgives us, it becomes as if we had never committed the sin in the first place.
For most of us, it can be difficult not to dwell in the past. It is sometimes hard for us to forget what we have done. It is hard for us not to want to ask for forgiveness for the same sins repeatedly. God tells us we do not need to do that. He says He has forgiven us and will remember no more. Let us all take a lesson from God on this – once you have confessed your sins to God, trust that He has forgiven you and then remember to remember no more.
During your Bible reading today, what “key passages” stood out to you? Leave a comment below to share what God is showing you about His Word today.
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May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.
