Are you following the Lord?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded.
(Exodus 17:1a (NIV))

I hope that I am not the only one who finds the intricacies within God’s Word to be fascinating. I love the little things like the way God uses and reinforces meanings. He paints word pictures in order for us to understand Him better. One example is how Jesus is the Bread of Life and that He was born in Bethlehem, the place of bread.

Consider this passage from Exodus.

The Desert of Sin is another great example. Sinning is missing the mark. It is falling short of what God expects. It often leaves us barren and desolate. If you look up the word desert in a dictionary, it will probably be defined as a barren and desolate place. When we are trapped, when we are lost in sin, we are not capable of finding our way out of our desert. We cannot save ourselves. We need the Lord to guide us. What is described in this passage from Exodus is a perfect picture of how humanity is lost in a desert of sin and the only way out is to trust and follow the Lord. This is true collectively as well as individually.

Have you taken the steps to trust the Lord to lead you out of your desert? Have you turned your eyes upon Jesus and repented of the sins that left you barren and desolate? Have you recognized the meaning of the word picture that God has shown us? Without Jesus, each of us are left stranded and dying in the desert. With Jesus, we are lead to safety and righteousness.

Have you left your Desert of Sin?

Are you following the Lord?

Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Following Jesus requires us to be deliberate!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.
(Hebrews 3:1 (NIV))

What do you think about?

When you fix your thoughts on something, you make a deliberate effort to think about that one thing. Following Jesus is a deliberate process. You cannot simply set out to do whatever you want to and claim that you are a follower of Jesus.

Deliberate effort!

In other words, you must choose Jesus at all times. You must constantly think about Jesus and His actions and His teachings. These are the actions and the teachings that we are to follow. We are to fix our thoughts on these actions and teachings. We are to fix our hearts as well as our thoughts. We are to focus. We are to make every effort. We are to be deliberate in our thoughts and our actions so that they reflect Jesus in all that we do.

Following Jesus requires us to be deliberate!

We cannot be nonchalant in our faith.

Copyright 1998 – 2014 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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