Confession

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Guard Your Heart

Proverbs 4:23

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

Recently – I was scanning the different news stations – trying to find some information about the most recent results from the Iowa caucuses. I came across several stations that were giving completely different reports on the caucuses results – at least it seemed so to me. Some said this first election was very important – some saying it had no bearing on the election this fall or even for this party’s eventual candidate. Some were calling the results a historic win for the candidate that won – by a landslide – greater than ever – and some were not even reporting on it or allowing the winning candidate to be aired as he gave his victory speech. Some were calling it the beginning of this candidate’s rise to the office of President – while the others were saying his election would be the end of democracy and our nation. I got the feeling – that if I didn’t believe their truth – I was wrong and ignorant. There were no reports of the facts and allowing me to interpret them for myself. I thought of this proverb – urging me to guard my heart.

Apparently – these were not news stations – but rather programs with an agenda – a predetermined worldview of what they were going to report. If the news didn’t fit the narrative they desired – they would form it to that narrative. Gone are the days of Walter Cronkite or Paul Harvey – people who would tell us the news or a straight forward account of the events of the day. We need to guard our hearts these days – not only from the devil who tries to tempt us – but from those who would try to give us their insights and expect us to fall in line with them. Some seem to want Lemmings or mindless bots. Lemmings by-the-way – are real animals that seem to follow the crowd. They were also part of an early computer game – following the leader off a cliff – seemingly without any effort to divert from the leader’s plan or direction – think the followers of Jim Jones drinking cool-aid. Sisters and brothers – guard your heart.

While We Were Still Sinners

Romans 5:8

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

While we were still sinners! That is a phrase that as stuck with me over the years. How could Jesus love me? That is a question that often comes to my mind. I mean – I am His and He is mine – but I haven’t always been a child of God and even now – a redeemed child of God – redeemed by His grace and mercy – I don’t always trust Him and walk in His way or will for me.

As I write this devotional – ‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus is playing on my computer (Amazon Music). I know what it is like to trust in Jesus. I also know what it is to seek my own will. I was talking/typing with a young person recently – and they expressed feelings of guilt when they went to church or spoke about their faith. It isn’t that they don’t have faith. They said they were saved and gave their life to Jesus – but – when they try to approach God – they feel guilty. I told them I could identify with what they were saying. I too – feel so unworthy – that He would love me. I mean – I know me better than most people do – and I know that I am not always faithful. I too feel – at all times – unworthy when I approach God.

I usually turn to several Scriptures when I feel this way. Here are a few. By-the-way – none of us are worthy – on our own to approach God.

James 4:7–10 – ⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Remember Our Sins No More

Jeremiah 31:34

No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

Are you like me? From time to time – I think it is the devil – I remember my sins – or at least some of them. They run around in my head. I think about what I did and what I should haver done instead. Anyone like me?

When these times come – I can’t just allow myself to stay in that place – because it would be very depressing and could take my mind and heart to a place I do not want to go. When we dwell on our sins – unless of course we are reviewing them in confession and seeking forgiveness – those sinful thoughts or remembrances of sinful behavior – can take us to a dark place where we might repeat those sins or beat ourselves up for having committed them in the first place.

Being Jesus’ Disciple

Matthew 16:24

Then Jesus said to his disciples, Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

Sunday past – we preached about Letting Go and letting God take control of our lives. We were reminded that God wants total control of our lives. God wants to be Lord of our lives and that unless He is Lord – He cannot be our Savior. That doesn’t mean we are perfect or never sin – but it means that we intentionally – and purposefully – yield control of our lives to Jesus. You can listen to the message in the service link here.

Remember – we’re told Jesus responded to the request for the greatest commandment with these words. Mark 12:30 – Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. We’re to love God with our all and al – not just on Sunday mornings or a few times a week or even daily during our devotional time. We are to love God with our everything – all the time.

Jesus was speaking to His disciples and told them that in order to be His disciples – they needed to deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Him. Here is today’s passage in partial context. Matthew 16:24–27 – ²⁴ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ²⁵ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. ²⁶ What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? ²⁷ For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.