Sorrow-Motivated Life

ALL – Psalm 48:1-14
ALL – Proverbs 22:17-19
OT – Ecclesiastes 7:1-9:18
NT – 2 Corinthians 7:8-16

Interesting passage for the day: For God sometimes uses sorrow in our lives to help us turn away from sin and seek eternal life. We should never regret his sending it. But the sorrow of the man who is not a Christian is not the sorrow of true repentance and does not prevent eternal death. – 2 Corinthians 7:10, The Living Bible

Thought: We just looked at our motivation for doing right, and found that the promises of God give us a desire and a drive to obey Him. But what about our motivation for turning away from what’s wrong? I mean, let’s be honest. Sin is often pleasurable. Temporarily pleasurable, but still. We often have plenty of desire to do what is wrong. Finding the motivation to turn away from it—a motivation above and beyond the bare truth, “I know I shouldn’t be doing this”—can be pretty difficult.

And so we find that while God’s promises are one form of godly motivation, sorrow is another. Yes, that’s right. Sorrow can motivate us to turn away from wrong. Sorrow can motivate repentance. Sorrow sparks in us a deep desire to set things straight, to reconcile broken relationships, to mend what we’ve destroyed. In sorrow we can finally set aside our pride enough to admit what we most hate to admit: “I was wrong.”

When you sin, do you care that you’ve sinned? When you hurt someone, do you squelch that feeling of regret that begins to rise up in your gut? Do you perhaps even add literal insults to injury, talking yourself and everyone else into the twisted belief that your hateful words and behaviors are justified?

May God give us hearts that can still feel deep, genuine, true sorrow. Not the kind of sorrow that people sometimes wallow in—more a mire of despair, really. But the kind of sorrow that motivates us to make a move, to change course, to commit our lives into Jesus Christ’s hands, to seek forgiveness, to deal with our sins. May our sorrows move us to gladly walk by the Spirit, praising God for freeing us from the lives that apart from sorrow we would still live.

Question: Which sins and pains especially lead your heart into change-motivating sorrow? And once you’ve answered that question, consider this one: Which of your own personal sins leads you into repentance-motivating sorrow? Some of us may not sorrow over that kind of sin in our lives as we should. Help us to understand how destructive your particular sin can be. Please. Lead us into godly sorrow.

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

Promise-Motivated Life

ALL – Psalm 47:1-9
ALL – Proverbs 22:16
OT – Ecclesiastes 4:1-6:12
NT – 2 Cor. 6:14-7:7

Interesting passage for the day: And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For you are God’s temple, the home of the living God, and God has said of you, “I will live in them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” – 2 Corinthians 6:16, The Living Bible

Thought: We all know that we’re supposed to do good. But what makes us want to do good? We recognize that God’s commands are right. But what makes us want to obey them?

How about God’s promises?

Take the one above, where God says that He shall live in us and walk among us, that He shall be our God, that we will be His people. He’s fulfilling that promise already! He’s already sent His Holy Spirit to live in us. He’s already become our God; we’ve already become His people. What a great God is ours! And we have more to look forward to. When Jesus comes again, this promise gets fulfilled in even more wonderful ways!

Doesn’t that make you yearn to please God? Looking forward to being with Him as fully as possible takes the concept of obeying Him and turns it from a “have to” into a “get to,” from a drudgery into a desire. I want God to be my God. He’s promised to be my God. So I want to please Him. God is so good.

Question: Which of God’s promises are especially inspiring and motivating for you? Please share them with us.

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

Loving Actions, Unmotivated Heart

ALL – Psalm 37:1-11
ALL – Proverbs 21:23-24
OT – Esther 8:1-10:3
NT – 1 Corinthians 12:27-13:13

Interesting passage for the day: If I gave everything I have to poor people, and if I were burned alive for preaching the Gospel but didn’t love others, it would be of no value whatever. – 1 Corinthians 13:3, The Living Bible

Thought: Why would I give everything I have to the poor if I didn’t love them? Why would I allow myself to be burned alive for preaching the Gospel if love wasn’t motivating me?

Sometimes we act as though the answers to those questions are obvious: “I wouldn’t.” But is that really true? I can think of other motivations. What if I didn’t love, but I was trying to prove that I did love? What if I was trying to convince myself that I truly loved God and the people He created? What if I was motivated by a fear that I wasn’t actually good and loving enough to walk with God forever? What if I really wanted to impress someone else? What if it was the only way of life I knew, and I tried to excel because I was scared to go in a new direction?

All I’m saying is this: it is possible to do the godliest of activities outwardly without any godliness inwardly. Obeying Jesus matters. But obeying Jesus isn’t about fulfilling duties and regulations. Obeying Jesus is about a whole life—both inward and outward—devoted to living out His Greatest and Second Greatest Commandments: Love the LORD your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.

Outward actions are the best evidence we have of inner motivations. And supposed inner motivations without outward actions are pretense. Love calls for our whole existence to be devoted to our God—inward and outward.

Question: Given the Scriptural importance of love, why do we pray for so many other gifts and fruits first? When is the last time you asked God to make you a truly loving person—both inwardly and outwardly—toward Him and all those around you?

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.