Verse of the Day 11/22

Through the Bible - Ezekiel 28-29, 1 Peter 2

 

Good morning,

Our Pastor Bob's current series is titled "Destinations" with the underlying theme being direction determines destination.  Bob dealt at length this weekend with Proverbs 27:12 from several translations and several perspectives.

 

Prov 27:12 A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions.
The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.  NLT

 

One of our son Jeff's favorite statements from former President Bush was " not gonna do it, wouldn't be prudent". It comes from experience, perhaps disregarding the warning signs in the past, and deciding not to take that road, making precautions not to make that turn again. This starts with being willing to admit that you took the wrong turn.  In the Christian's life, walk, that means confessing that we blew it before, confessing it to God, and seeking His grace so that you don't go that way again.

 

We've been considering what "walking in the light" means.  For today's verse we'll go to 1 John 1 to a passage which the New Living Testament gives the heading "Living in the Light".

 

1 John 1:9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.  NLT

Paul David Tripp in his book ' Lost in the Middle: Midlife and the Grace of God' writes - "Confession is powerful and effective. It turns guilt into forgiveness. It turns regret into hope. It turns slavery into freedom. It turns you from mourning over your harvest to planting new seeds of faith, repentance, and hope. You see, you are not trapped! Things are not hopeless! The Lord, the great Creator and Savior, is the God who never changes, but at the same time he is the God who promises and produces deep personal change. The changes he makes in us are so foundational that the Bible's best words describing them are 'new creation.' God's plan is to change us so fundamentally that it is as if we are longer us; something brand new has been created!"

In Christ,
Mike
mikevw@bellsouth.net
http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com
Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace  NIV

1 John 1:5 -10 NLT

Living in the Light ⁵ This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. ⁶ So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. ⁷ But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

 ⁸ If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. ⁹ But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. ¹⁰ If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.