Daily devotion

Which Way to Go?

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But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them. 1 John 2:11 NIV

Don’t you wish that following God’s guidance could be like entering an address into your GPS? Then knowing the right direction would be as simple as listening to the calm pleasant voice alerting us to turn at the next intersection.

smartphone car technology phone

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But finding the right career path, soul-mate or next apartment is not about knowing which way to turn. God’s word is clear that what matters to Him is in how we treat the people around us. In fact He tells us that we are stumbling through life because we are mistreating, manipulating or using others for our own advantage in ways that God calls hate. When we treat anyone with hate then we walk straight out of the presence of God and down a dark path. It reminds me of when we were driving home from Northern Vermont. The GPS in our car kept saying, “Satellite transmission lost”. We kept going the wrong way and sometimes even in circles until we stopped at a gas station and asked directions.  In the same way finding the right spiritual direction means following directions from someone who can show us the way. That someone is Jesus Christ, who loved us even when we were his enemies and showed us the way to His Home.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. 1 John 4:11 KJV

Listening Ears

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Why is it that a child who didn’t hear you ask them to pick up their toys hears the song of the ice cream truck two blocks away?

person wearing ice cream

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As I have gotten older my hearing has dimmed so that  sometimes I just politely nod though I am not really catching all of the conversation. An even a bigger problem for me has been my tendency to ignore other people’s advice. “I’ve heard it all before!” I hear myself saying. A big danger for all of us is that we grow calluses over our ears so that we don’t even hear when God speaks. When Jesus ran into people who had grown dull of hearing like me, He left a short but important counsel.

He said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”  Mark 4:9 ESV

Our biggest difficulty isn’t uncovering some miraculous way of hearing from God such as angels or visions. Our greatest challenge is to listen to the truth and then put it into practice. Remember that God gave us ears for listening. Most often God speaks with His still small voice. May we have the grace of a quiet spirit ready to listen to His advice!

 

 

 

 

 

Window Washing

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Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2 ESV

As we were doing work in our kitchen I took down the curtains to wash them and noticed that our atrium window needed some big time cleaning. I started first with the inside panes but then I noticed that some of the dirt was on the outside. Okay so I went outside with the step-ladder and when I finished I saw that Lo and behold there was more on the inside I had missed! That reminded me of how God wants to clean up my ways of thinking.

He promises to give the mind of Christ but only if we will yield ourselves to Him. We cannot do this window washing on our own but the Holy Spirit can’t wait to come and wash our windows inside and out. (And He won’t miss any spots!) Only He can transform us but only we can choose to yield ourselves to Him today.

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For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:16