Good Morning Friends,
“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the
devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to
you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve,
mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble
yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” (James 4:7-10)
There are responsibilities that we have
before God.
When tempted to be disobedient to God’s
direction, we have a responsibility to say “yes” to God and to say “no” to the
devil. When we do, the devil will flee! But the devil won’t flee as long as we
waver in indecision. He’ll hang around as long as there’s a chance that we’ll
give in to his evil schemes.
When we have drifted away from the Lord, we
have a responsibility to turn back toward Him. God will pursue us, but He won’t
force us back to Him. And when we do make the slightest turn toward God, we’ll
find Him there, waiting to embrace us again. Remember the story of the prodigal
son? When the son turned toward home he found the father waiting for him – actually
running toward him.
When we give in to temptation and sin, we
have a responsibility to confess and repent. Forgiveness is readily available. God
wants to wipe the slate clean and make our relationship with Him right again. But
God won’t until we bring the sin to Him, that’s our responsibility.
If we keep a proud heart and God will bring us
back to reality. But if we humble ourselves, then God will lift us up. In some
ways, God’s reaction to us is determined by our own heart!
His, by Grace,
Steve
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