NorthStar Community Daily Devotional

March 17

Scripture focus: The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law. Deuteronomy 29:29 NIV

If you’ve ever read through the entire bible, I bet you’ve noticed that there is some really weird stuff in it. And have you noticed that three different people can take one tiny verse and come up with three wildly different interpretations?

Don’t even get me started on the book of Revelations – man, that’s an interesting read – but what does it mean?

There are a lot of mysterious things in scripture.

There are also some very plain and simple truths.

Things like – don’t kill (amplified by Jesus when he said that when we are angry is subject to judgment), don’t commit adultery (defined by Jesus as a man looking at woman who was not his wife with lust), don’t be vengeful, don’t hate your enemies. There are some simple “do’s” – give to the needy, forgive, pray, love others and more.

So here’s what I suggest – let’s keep it simple.

Acknowledge the wacky and the mysterious but keep reading. Then, when we get to a part that makes sense, apply it to daily life. This may work pretty well for awhile, but at some point we will meet some resistance. Maybe we will find a straight forward “do” or “don’t” – and simply not want to heed it. That’s not the end of the world – it’s an invitation!

At that moment, we will learn something about ourselves. We’ll get to consciously choose who or what we trust in. Trusting God will require that we follow him. As we follow, we find that we can change. We can learn how to say the right things….and do them too! Oh sure, we won’t get it right all the time. But each time we mess up, we’ll not only learn something about ourselves, but also about our God. He’s in the restoration business. He’ll grant us a fresh start. Let’s get started and see what happens!

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