Whose rules do you follow? Man’s or God’s.

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

” `These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men.’ ”
(Matthew 15:8-9 (NIV))

It is so easy to get side tracked by rules that men make. We like to come up with a vast multitude of rules for everything that we do. Sometimes these rules are good. Can you image any football or basketball game without rules? It would be utter chaos.

Man has even tried to create rules for how we can approach God. These rules have become rituals that often get repeated without end and eventually lose the meaning and the reason why they were created to begin with. When this happens, following the rules often becomes more important than the reason the rules were implemented. Following the rules becomes legalism and we soon miss out on the freedom originally intended.

We can be thankful that God has only given us ten basic rules to live by. These rules are the foundation for our society and our faith. However, we have had some problems keeping these rules. God gave us some additional rules to live by. These additional rules, if followed, allow God to overlook our shortcomings on the other rules.

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
(Acts 2:38 (NIV))

Whose rules do you follow? Man’s or God’s.

Copyright 1998 – 2015 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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What is your heart like?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.
(1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV))

We can easily deceive each other with our outward appearances. We can even deceive ourselves with the falsehoods and “white lies” that we tell on ourselves, but we can never deceive God.

God looks at us for what we truly are. He sees the sin behind the facade that we try to project. He sees through the smoke and mirrors that we use to convince others and ourselves that we are different from what we really are.

Would you ever consider letting your guard down long enough for those whom you work with to see the real you? What about the people that you worship with? Would they recognize you if they saw the real you? Would they shun you or would they, too, be shunned for the real person that they are hiding?

God knows each of us better than we know ourselves. If this is true, then why do each of us try to be a different person, a “better” person, than the one that God knows us to be? Perhaps it is because we are ashamed of the sin that has a hold of us. Rejoice, though, for Jesus has saved us from that sinful nature. We have been washed white as snow!

God knows us for the sinful creatures that we are. He also knows us for the sinless reborn creature through Jesus Christ. If we have accepted Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior, then He sees a spotless person washed by the Blood of the Lamb. He still knows our heart, but He also knows that we have made a decision to willingly change that heart.

What is your heart like?

Copyright 1998 – 2010 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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