God's Path Worthy of Following

 2 John     3 John     2 Thessalonians 1-3     Psalm 33     Proverbs 19     Chronicles 10-12     1 Kings 11-12

The personal letters of John are examples of addressing the needs of individuals in a way that helps far more understand the value of walking in God’s ways. Watching our children reflect love in the way Jesus did because they learned it from us is powerful encouragement.

Paul and the other leaders of the early church send a word of encouragement to those that feel the affliction of persecution for standing apart and teaching the ways of God as taught by Jesus Christ. He says that those that bring the affliction will reap what they have sown, and God will repay them.

We should never forget that there will be many that will try and deceive us and that it is easy to get carried away by those that make a sinful life seem right. When we turn from seeking out God’s ways and turn to our own desires God allows us to be fooled because the wicked ways bring temporary pleasure.  

When we pray for God to reveal to us his way of life in our current situation, we need to be prepared to follow his instruction even though they will bring us into conflict with many. When we seek out God and his ways we will be rescued from this evil generation. God will direct our hearts and life into that steady way of Jesus.

We must walk away from those that choose evil even though they know it is contrary to God’s way of life. It is not about being perfect but being willing to do the hard work of living as God calls us to live and when we choose not to, we should not be surprised by the lack of God’s blessing. At the same time, we are to continue to reach out to those that have lost their way and offer them a way back to the Lord through the grace, forgiveness and goodness of God through Jesus Christ.

Today we are reminded in song that the Lord is always worthy of our praise and thanksgiving. All the work of the Lord is done with faithfulness to the fulfillment of his promises. God loves to look upon those that seek right ways and justice for all.

When we stand back and look at God, we should be fearful of the awe that he inspires in all of us. By his word when he spoke it was done and that creation stood fast. God will frustrate the plans of those that seek to glorify themselves rather than point to the one worthy of our praise. God does look out over all the people of his creation, not just those that look, or act like us. No nation or person is powerful enough to overcome the Lord our God.

The Lord does look carefully at those who choose to follow in his ways and to wait upon God’s blessings.

It is better to be poor and have your integrity than wealthy and a fool. Foolishness, failing to listen to the counsel of the voice of the Lord, will end up in ruin. The false witness will not go unpunished and those that tell lies will perish in the end. The person who is slow to anger and willing to overlook a transgression can bring glory to God.

We can be a blessing to our spouse by keeping the commandments of God and not being lazy and idle.  We are called to be a blessing to those that are less fortunate than us as God has been gracious to us. People make many plans but when we follow the Lord’s instructions what we accomplish will stand. A healthy fear of the Lord will lead to an abundant life and God will judge the scoffers and fools.

While God allowed Solomon to become great and build magnificent structures so that Solomon and God became great in the eyes of the people. But as he grew old, Solomon turned away from the ways of the Lord and allowed his wives to lead him away from the Lord. God’s anger would burn against Solomon, but it would be his son, Rehoboam that would find the kingdom divided because of his disobedience. Part of that was his failure to listen to the wisdom and advice of the elders and allow his young advisors to mislead him leading to the division once again of the kingdom. The people that kept him in power were scattered and kingdom would be torn from his hands.

Putting our trust in God and his ways will lead to blessings and deciding to put our trust in ourselves or others that will mislead us results in the blessings being removed and possibly a curse taking its place. God will be faithful to those that seek his ways in all things and not allow themselves to be led away by the temporary pleasures of this world. He will also allow the destruction of anything that will distract the people from learning about him and his instructions for our lives.