What will you have to say for yourself?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.
(Romans 14:12 (NIV))

If you have ever written a resume or a bio, you have had to tell others about yourself. Perhaps you have found yourself in a conversation and you felt that you had to tell about your exploits. Perhaps you have had a work related situation that didn’t go as it should and you had to elevate yourself. In any of these situations, do you ever find yourself stretching the truth to make yourself sound better? Do you select words in such a way that they can be interpreted in your favor? It is human nature to “toot our own horn.” We have a tendency to embellish ourselves in such a way that we appear to be better than others at just about anything and everything.

Most of us don’t actually lie, but rather, we say things that drop hints without coming right out and saying something that isn’t true.

Is this lying? Is this aspect of human nature something that we just can’t overcome? In doing these things, we are actually judging others as not as important as we are. This even implies that we place ourselves above others in the eyes of God!

You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written:
“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bow before me;
every tongue will acknowledge God.'”
(Romans 14:10-11 (NIV))

God sees the truth because He sees the heart. Our words can be used to deceive, but our heart tells the truth. We need to make sure our words reflect the fact that we have invited Jesus into our hearts. If our words and actions reflect this in our daily lives, then our accounting of ourselves to God will reflect that as well.

What will you have to say for yourself?

Copyright 1998 – 2018 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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There is always more to God’s story!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
(Jonah 2:10 (NIV))

Do you think that you know the story of Jonah?

I thought that I did, and much to my surprise, there was more that I didn’t know than I did know.

We all know that God told Jonah to go to Ninevah and tell the people to repent. We know that Jonah ran from what God asked him to do because he did not want the people of Ninevah to repent. We know that Jonah boarded a boat and ended up in the belly of a great fish. This is where the passage picks up in the story. What we aren’t told in scripture is that the god and goddess that were worshipped in Ninevah were Dagon and Nanshe.

I hope that you pick up on God’s sense of humor when I tell you that the two gods that were worshipped in Ninevah were fish gods!

Imagine the reaction of the people when they witness something that looks like the gods that they worship vomiting out someone who is preaching for them to repent and to turn to the one true God. It would get my attention! No wonder there was mass repentance in the city of Ninevah!

I find it interesting that God will use the false beliefs of people to get their attention and to get them to repent. I was very intrigued when I discovered the additional details about Ninevah. God’s Word is full of hints at His majesty and how He works. I wonder how much more that we truly do not know. I would love to know the rest of all of God’s stories.

There is always more to God’s story!

Copyright 1998 – 2017 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Visit us on facebook