READING: Mark 9:14-29, Matthew 17:14-21, Luke 9:37-43, Mark 9:30-32, Matthew 17:22-23, Luke 9:43-45, Matthew 17:24-27, Mark 9:33-37, Matthew 18:1-6, Luke 9:46-48, Mark 9:38-41, Luke 9:49-50, Mark 9:42-50, Matthew 18:7-35
It’s easy to:
- accept the world’s positive assessment of our ungodly choices
- rationalize our sin
- convince ourselves that our wrong doesn’t hurt anyone
- excuse ourselves by blaming someone else for our wrong
- live in ongoing compromise, ever allowing sin to lurk at the door.
It’s not so easy, though, to:
- eradicate sin from our lives
- reject the lies that convince us our wrong choices are acceptable
- take dramatic, drastic steps to avoid putting ourselves in the place of temptation
- hear others who lovingly confront us in our sin
- walk in godliness moment by moment, day after day.
The first one’s easy, but the second one’s tough. Here are the words of Jesus, though, that remind us which choice we need to make: “If your hand or your foot causes you to fall away, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to fall away, gouge it out and throw it away” (Matt 18:8-9). Jesus was intentionally using hyperbole to make His point, but the only right choice for a Christ-follower is clear. No matter how hard it is to do, we must choose obedience.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Which choice do you most often make?
DAILY PRAYER: “God, grant me faith and obedience to do whatever it takes to live in godliness.”
TOMORROW’S READING: John 7:1-9, Luke 9:51-56, Matthew 8:18-22, Luke 9:57-62, John 7:10-8:20
