Sunday, June 19, 2011

Daily Gospel Devotional: June 19

Matthew 12:43-45 / Luke 11:24-26…

Temporarily empty…

Using the example of demon possession, Jesus warned it is not enough to go through an initial period of repentance and removal of sin. Breakthrough is wonderful but follow through is necessary. Unless reformation continues and something positive is put in place the end might prove worse than the beginning. You can’t just let things be.

Sin is like water, it has a way of finding the hole and filling up any space left. We think we drive out the deadly desire, but we are not as mature as we suppose, and our troubles are multiplied. We can exhibit power over the enemy and still fall right into his trap of pride (1 Timothy 3:6). You must stay moving forward on the road, if you go back it is harder to get back, and the going will be worse than before (John 5:14 / 2 Peter 2:20-22).

The Pharisees were well known for being scrupulous in religious devotion. But in the process of building their reputation, they lost the heart of what God wanted. They traded truth for legalism, and while this made them feel superior to others, it replaced true devotion with an evil of their own making that allowed them to reject God’s Messiah. We might be very passionate to rid ourselves of certain sins, to be done with certain problems, but this only makes us more vulnerable if we do not replace the void with new, spiritual habits (Ephesians 5:18-21).

An empty heart will not stay empty for long; it will be filled up with something. The question is with what?

1 comment:

Even So... said...

In the course of one year we will read
• Every Verse
• Every Passage
• Every Gospel

We welcome your comments. We are not looking to be copying and pasting previous material...we are coming at this with a fresh look, each day, and going with whatever we see. We can send you a copy of the reading schedule (primesoul@hotmail.com). You can check www.voiceofvision.org for each day’s reading, or go to www.voiceofvision.blogspot.com to leave a comment. God bless you as you join in the walk with us...

This Daily Gospel Devotional goes out each day to many people by email...if you want to be a part of receiving it in your email each day, contact me: primesoul@hotmail.com

I receive many emails in response to these devotionals, but most are not published on the blog, and many are about private matters. I am grateful that these are reaching so many people, and touching lives. Glory to God!