As I sit with You this morning, Father, I realize that today is full of possibility! Sure, it will be full of routine things but with You by my side literally anything could happen. May I be a witness of Your touch on this day. Bless me by being a component of Your awesomeness in my life today! Amen.
James 4:17 (<<click here)
“…it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.”
Lord, we have this great tendency to label sin as things that we do that we are not supposed to do. But James reminds us that it is also sin to not do what we are supposed to.
My study Bible* has two very good examples.
“It is a sin to lie; it can also be a sin to know the truth and not tell it. It is a sin to speak evil of someone; it is also a sin to avoid that person when you know he or she needs your friendship.”
Life is replete with examples of where not doing the right became a wrong thing. I read a true story recently of a church where at the end of a service a wonderful Christian family came forward to express their desire to join as members of the church and at the same time a trouble young man came forward to pray and to be prayed with.
Over the next few weeks, the pastor was thrilled that the family joined the church and took up roles of responsibility. But the troubled young man, with whom the pastor had prayed, slipped through the cracks. Intentions had been there to follow up with him but he was forgotten.
A short time later the pastor stood in the pulpit and confessed his sin of not doing the right thing. He had picked up the local paper the day before and one of the headlines told of that troubled young man’s arrest. He had shot and killed an elderly woman in their community.
How could things have been different if the time had been invested in that young man’s life? What pain and loss and heartache might have been avoided?
Lord… I would pray that You would help me to avoid doing and saying and thinking things that are wrong. But equally as important, help me to say and do and think things that are right. Give me Your eyes and heart to see the world and myself. Amen.
Sept 30th, Fri, 6:26 am
Life Application Study Bible New Living Translation
