(I am the writer for a weekly devotion that goes to the email list of a local ministry. This is this weeks devotion about God’s Divine Love”)
“…Divine love surpasses the love of my parents who sacrificed much for me. It surpasses the love of my husband who knows me and accepts me just the way I am! It surpasses my own love for my four kids who I willingly laid down my wants, my desires, and my plans in order to see them excel and succeed…”
Many are seeking for a life of success. Our libraries are filled with self help books that give “The key to happiness, fulfillment, wealth, etc.” Google search after Google search will point you to the ways to happiness, peace of mind, prosperity, etc. But Proverbs 10 lays out THE TRUE KEY to what we are all looking for— a blessed life. That key is “righteousness”.
Righteousness is defined as having a holy heart, a heart set apart for a sacred use, God’s use. When our thoughts, our decisions, and our feelings are completely submitted to God, obedient to God and depending upon God, we experience a life of fulfillment, joy, and happiness. (Verses 6, 7, 16) We experience the blessed life!
The blessings of a righteous person are many: The righteous person is delivered from spiritual death. (Verse 2) They are spiritually fulfilled. (Verse 3) A righteous person’s mouth is a fountain of life. It is life giving. (Verse 11) It has the good fruit of wisdom (Verse 31). The prospect— hope or expectation — of the righteous is joy…” They are firmly planted not uprooted. They know what finds favor (Verse 32).
How do we experience this blessed life of righteousness? This righteousness that pours out blessing after blessing in our lives isn’t found in all the good works we may do. It is found in Jesus alone! He give His righteousness to us so we can live the blessed life. Our role is to receive what He has given and live His way— submitted to Him. This is the only place we can experience what so many are searching for the true life of blessings in His righteousness.
We come to Jesus for many reasons: Perhaps we see our life is a wreck and we need Him to save us from our poor choices. Maybe we see the direction of our lives and realize that we are separated from Him, eternally lost, facing an eternity in hell. It is true that Jesus came to extend the invitation promised in John 3:16.
““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 ESV.
We come to Jesus longing for safety from hell, but that safety is not the totality of why Jesus extended the invitation to a relationship with Him. We are to become like Him. The question then remains, what is Jesus like?
He is Holy. He is set apart by His sinlessness, His purity, His perfection.
“but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”” 1 Peter 1:15-16 ESV
Reading these words may seem like an impossibility. It may seem that God has set the bar too high for us to jump. Let me assure you,God’s commands are for our good and for His glory!
Sin is like a cancer to our soul. It eats away and weighs us down with death, darkness, and destruction. God knows that the only way we can truly experience all His goodness and all of His life is for us to be like Him, free of sin!
He wants us to not only experience the assurance of salvation free from fear of punishment and hell. He wants His life to be flowing through us, His holy and pure life, free from the destruction of sin!
We may see this as nothing but impossibility. Because we know how badly we fail time and time again. Here is where the good news comes in.
We know that Salvation that gives us the assurance of eternity with God is free! Jesus paid the price. He did it all! Holiness that makes us more and more like Him, free from sin, is not what we conjure up and work on our own. Jesus works this within us when we give ourselves to Him 💯. He does it all!!
“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”Philippians 2:13 NLT
There is more to be said about this. For today I want to encourage you to ask God to show you what all this means in your life.
Your Love 