It's Your Choice!

Monday's Devotion (2-21-05)

"For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee." Proverbs 23:7 (KJV)

What is a word without a heart? Many of us are guilty of speaking things that we don't really mean. Don't you wish that every time you were nice to your enemies, you could mean it in your heart? I wish for things like that often. Sometimes life is more about routine than it is about heart. You go to church on Sunday and give in the collection plate and think, "I have to give to my church, I don't want to, but I have to!" I often wake up and say, "I have to go write my devotion." Sometimes I'm up for it, and sometimes I'm not, but I about always do it. Most of the time that I'm not up to it, I don't think it turned out very well. I'm always glad that I did it, after I do it. Well, anyway let's get to the point. I write the daily devotion, because I choose to write it... not because I have to! You give to your church, because you choose to and not because you have to! Following the Lord and doing works for Him, is supposed to be because we want to do it and not because we have to. We all have options: We can either follow the Lord or we can go our own ways. Also keep in mind this fact: Just because you don't want to donate to church and you don't, doesn't mean you've chosen to go on your own path. Sometimes not doing what your heart is saying, will make the finished product a bad product. Let's say everyone in church is putting $20 in the collection plate, but you only want to give $5. You give $20 because everyone else did. What's going to happen here? You're not going to walk out of that church looking very happy, are you? If you do look happy, you aren't going to feel happy are you? If your heart only wants to give a small amount then only give a small amount, because you only amount to what's in your heart and not what shows on the outside.

If you're anything like me, then you want to want to do more. You want to want to give more, you want to want to do more for the Lord, and for others. You're not happy because you don't think you live up to being a Christian. If you're not living up to being a Christian, then it's because you think you have to! Jesus was asked, "What is the work that we are to do?" Jesus told that person, that the work we are to do is to believe in Jesus Christ. This is our only real duty! Once we get the concept of this and apply it to our lives, we will do more! If we realize that we don't have to give or do works, then we will want to do them more! If you realize that there's an extra reward for doing more, but you don't have to do it... you will want to do it more! Did anyone like going to school? I'm sure a lot of people did, but people like me didn't. It was a chore, it was something you had to do or get hauled off away from your parents. I think it would've been easier, if I wouldn't of had to go. If I would've been told, "Listen, you don't have to go to school, but if you do then here's the rewards: Better jobs, higher pay, higher intelligence, etc." I would've liked being treated like my own person, who makes my own decisions. The Lord, has chosen to treat you all like adults. He has placed so many options before you and it's your choice! I hope you pick the right choices and so does the Lord. There's also prayer to help us with our hardened hearts.

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 soften our hard hearts, make us want to do right in our hearts. Change our hearts and not just our outward actions. In Jesus, name. A-men!

God bless!

Hope you enjoyed. Please post your thoughts on this topic, on the message board or in our Guestbook.