December 14, 2016

"Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth" (Joshua 24.14)

A parting admonition by Joshua to the people of Israel was wholehearted devotion to Creator and Father, Yahweh. Show the utmost respect for Him. Let your devotional and service to Him be marked by both sincerity and truth. Religious pretense and ritual would not be sufficient, nor would lack of knowledge. To love and serve Him would require genuine and truthful pursuit.

This admonition extends down through the ages to each of us today. Is it our passion to sincerely and truthfully know our heavenly Father? Not just know ABOUT Him, but personally know Him? And this can only be done through His Son: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." (John 14.6)

I've personally been taking a look back at some events in my life and, upon more careful reflection, realize my Father guided and protected more than I previously thought. My love and appreciation grows as I more clearly see His direct and compassionate involvement in my life.

To honor and serve Him in sincerity and truth involved both singleness of heart and mind, as well as passionately pursuing the truth about Him as revealed in His word. What can I learn about His character and nature? How can that help me develop a closer, more intimate relationship with Him? 

May Joshua's heartfelt plea and appeal to the people of Israel stir each of us today to pursue the One who so relentlessly pursues us.

Steve

©Steve Taylor, 2016
Be sure to also visit http://thetruthrevolution.wordpress.com/  

Amazon ebook & print devotional http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FQ1Q9GW
paperback print copy
https://www.createspace.com/4500045

December 6, 2016

Few of us know real hunger. Unless we have fasted for an extended period of time, we do not know the relentless gnawing that real hunger brings.

"He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord." (Deuteronomy 8.3)

The people of Israel knew real hunger before they knew true satisfaction. Desperate and without provisions, their forty-year wilderness exile would have led to certain death by starvation or thirst were it not for Yahweh's direct intervention. His miraculous provision of manna was designed to lead them to a realization of the great truth that Jesus quoted in the face of Satan's temptation: "man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord."  

I'm not sure I've even really been hungry enough for this truth to truly penetrate my heart and mind, nor have you. Daily bread is abundantly available to most of us. Our options are WHAT, not IF. 

Having just returned from a vacation experience that included sumptuous dining on some of the finest food I've ever tasted, talking about true hunger and satisfaction seems ironic and a bit hypocritical. But, thankfully there remains a hunger that only my Father, and His Son, can truly satisfy. 

The Bread of Life is God's greatest gift to us. May we taste and be satisfied through this manna man, who gives to us that which "proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord."

Steve

©Steve Taylor, 2016
Be sure to also visit http://thetruthrevolution.wordpress.com/  

Amazon ebook & print devotional http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FQ1Q9GW
paperback print copy
https://www.createspace.com/4500045