Just how much license does our liberty give us?

You tell us that if we are insensitive to the needs of a weaker brother that we are sinning against You. That is a powerful reason for us to show patience when we are inclined to do otherwise.

The Law, in stone, now carved upon our hearts.

You have told us that the truth is written on the hearts of Gentile believers. We, unlike Israel, who were given the truth by the law, have been given it in an indelible way; it is written upon our hearts.

I proclaim to know God. Does He truly know me, “intimately”?

Again we are taught that to “profess” to know You but to have impure thoughts and impure behaviors is not o.k. Help us, today, not to simply profess our faith, but to live our faith in complete obedience to Your word. Help us not to disqualify ourselves by misbehaving or worse yet, professing but not believing. We hear of dysfunctional families but You Father remove our stony hearts, replacing them with a new heart that is able to keep pace with Your perfect will, if we but seek You.

Is bragging always wrong?

Even as we tell others of our love for You and Your Holy word we see that You have entrusted us with this role, not to please men, but to pass the test of focusing on Your presence in the process. Our personal righteousness is truly as filthy rags.

My conscience…a flashlight on my soul.

Father, help us this day, not to publicly portray ourselves as Your children and then privately, in our hearts, go right on thinking wrong thoughts and doing things in private that are clearly sinful, as judged by our own hearts.

By choosing to draw near to You, You draw near to us…

Drawing near to You in all circumstances and at all times is Your desire for us. You have told us that Your thoughts toward us exceed number. What a wonderful reality. Help us, this day, to respond to that truth by acknowledging Your presence and asking for Your guidance

A built in lie detector…a painful truth!

Your Light is like a built in lie detector wherein every thought, action and vision is evaluated by You and taught to us. We are truly without excuse when we fail to turn to the Light.

Let the person who has not sinned cast the first stone

Then You teach us that the scribes (lawyers) and Pharisees (religious leaders) are in the role of accusers. You did not say they accused falsely, Jesus, You said they too commit sins of various kinds and if any of them thought they were without sin, then step up and cast the first stone in the killing process.

Feeling lost…discover a new path, now!

We no longer stand outside the Holy of Holies, but we are invited behind the veil, right into Your presence and there You call us friends. Picturing that moment is both difficult and sublime. Such truth is too great for us to fully comprehend.

Does God search my heart and test my mind?

If we only honor the good and gentle we have not distinguished ourselves from others in the world. We are to be known by our love for You and for our neighbor and if our neighbor has been granted authority by You (You, Father are sovereign), so be it. The test is theirs.