We Are Not Worthy!
Monday's Devotion (1-3-05)
"But oh that God would speak, and open his
lips against thee; And that he would shew thee the secrets of wisdom, that they
are double to that which is! Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than
thine iniquity deserveth." Job 11:5-6 (KJV)
An important thing to know is that none of us deserve
anything from God. To defeat pride, we need to know that we are not worthy of
what we receive from God: His mercy, love, grace, forgiveness through His Son.
We don't deserve any of that and as a matter of fact we deserve the opposite. We
deserve punishment for our sin, but God, is good. God, understands our
situations and He gives us things that we do not deserve. We don't receive the
good from God, because of our own works or righteousness, but because of the
righteousness and works of Jesus Christ! Speak these words out loud, "I deserve
to be in Hell right now, but I'm not going to Hell because God, still loves me
because God, is love and not because I did anything to deserve His love!" That's
the first important step is to believe that sentence and that will help you to
trust in God, for your salvation and that will help you overcome pride.
I see so many people and some of these people are believers, they act like they
did something to earn God's love. Why do I say that? Because they act as if they
can boast and like they're better than non-believers. You'll hear stuff from
these people like, "Oh man that Bill, he's going to Hell for sure!" They might
as well just say, "I'm better than Bill, I don't sin and I am going to Heaven!"
You're not going to Heaven because you are better than anyone, but because you
accepted Christ! If you had not accepted Christ, then you too would be on the
road to Hell and that's the only thing that separates the righteous from the
unrighteous and that's faith in Christ! The difference between you and the
prostitute down the street is that you have accepted Christ! If you had not
accepted Christ, then you would be no better than the prostitute down the
street. So, instead of judging the prostitute pray for the prostitute and
instead of saying, "They're going to Hell!" say, "I too am a sinner and am no
better, but I am saved by the blood of Jesus!"
Don't take me wrong, I am not teaching tolerance for sin, but rather that we all
see that we really aren't any better. Sin is sin and what we need to be doing is
praying for these people and not condemning them. The main point of my message
is to be humble and not to exalt yourself and your works, but to realize that
you are saved by the works and righteousness of Christ! We are not worthy of
God's mercy!
Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this message and for all things.
Please forgive us of all our sins and we forgive all those who've wronged us.
Please help us not to be prideful and not to glory in our own works, but to see
that it is your work that saved us and by your grace that we do not even
deserve. Thank you for that. In Jesus, name. A-men!
God bless!
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