Tuesday, August 8, 2023

Tuesday, August 8, 2023
1 Timothy 6:17
As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.

Jesus said that it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God. What He meant wasn’t that material wealth prohibits you from getting into Heaven. Rather, that wealth can corrupt, and that the wealthy of Jesus’ day considered their money more important than their faith. Compared to most, you and I are rich. Be sure that, despite what you have or don’t have, that the closest thing to your heart is Jesus. For what would it profit a person to gain the whole world, but lose their soul?

Monday, August 7, 2023

Monday, August 7, 2023
Matthew 6:20-21
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

This life isn’t built to last, and nothing here will go with you into Heaven. The house you live in, the car you drive, the money you put away… ask yourself, how much does it really matter? This life is a vapor; a tiny speck compared to the Kingdom of God, which will continue forever and ever, making your time here on earth infinitely smaller and more forgettable with each passing day. What are you going to delight in when you’ve walked on streets of gold for ten thousand years? The possessions you earned in the world, or the treasures you earned for Heaven? For the good things you do, for the deeds that make God smile, He has promised to reward you with abundant, eternal gifts. What in this world could be worth trading for that?

Friday, August 4, 2023

Friday, August 4, 2023
Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast

Nobody can brag about their salvation… after all, it’s not like you earned it! The beauty of salvation is that it’s a gift: an eternal gift given to tiny, insignificant you by the all-powerful, all-merciful God. No one is more eligible for Heaven than another, for all have sinned and fall short of His glory. The only thing between us and the second death is Christ on the cross, and His resurrection from the dead. The obedience and allegiance we give to Him shouldn’t be an attempt to replace His sacrifice. Instead, you ought to obey because of that sacrifice; because even while you were still a sinner, Christ died for you.

Thursday, August 3, 2023

Thursday, August 3, 2023
James 2:26
For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

Good works are the evidence that Christ lives inside you, not the payment for His grace. You can never do enough to outweigh your sins and earn a seat in Heaven, but because the Lord of Heaven came down to earth and died on a tree, the debt has been paid. To accept it, all you need to do is believe that Jesus was indeed the Son of God, and that God raised Him from the dead. If you truly do understand that Christ and God are one, and if you truly comprehend the weight of your sins and the agonizing price that was paid to rid you of them, that should change you. He will change you, from the inside out, so that your good works and obedience come naturally, not out of obligation, but out of sincerity, gratitude, and love.

Wednesday, August 2, 2023

Wednesday, August 2, 2023
Romans 6:16
Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

In this life, you can only serve one master: either yourself, or God. You can give into temptations and live for yourself, putting the Lord in second place and ignoring what’s right and wrong, or you can devote your life to your Creator and Savior, living how Christ would live. You’re still going to mess up from time to time, because you’re human, and as human’s we’re inherently sinful and flawed. But at the end of the day, what matters is who you give your allegiance to. Will you run into the arms of temporary, worldly pleasure, ignoring the Holy Spirit that God has put in you, or will you run into His arms, determined to become more like Christ every day?

Tuesday, August 1, 2023

Tuesday, August 1, 2023
James 1:22-24
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.

Are you a doer or a hearer? You can know your way around the scriptures, retelling the stories and parroting things that Jesus said… but knowing is only half of it. To make it anything more than knowledge, put God’s Word into practice. Love your enemies, treat others as you want to be treated, love the Lord your God with all your heart. Loving the unlovable and honoring a God we can’t always see isn’t easy. It goes against your nature as a human being. But thankfully, you don’t have to rely on your humanness to make you more like Christ; that’s something He does from the inside out, when you allow Him to come into your heart and start making real changes.