Are you fulfilling your duty?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.
(Ecclesiastes 12:13 (NIV))

Do you fear God?

If you are anything like how the media portrays society, chances are that your answer is a no. However, if you are who the media and certain aspects of society target, then your answer is probably a yes. What we are seeing in society is a direct attack on anything godly, while anything that is ungodly is being touted as good. Is this fearing God? Is this keeping His commandments?

I see things in the news almost every day that make me realize that the concept of fearing God is no longer even on the minds of most people. I see things in public places that just a few years ago would have been considered shameful even in the privacy of one’s own home. Sadly, too many people who claim to be followers of Jesus are doing these things themselves. Is this fearing God? Is this following His commandments? Do they think that they get a free pass to continue to sin just because they claim to follow Jesus?

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
(John 14:12 (NIV))

I honestly don’t think that Jesus went around blatantly sinning. In fact, I know that he didn’t sin at all. If that is the case, then what makes so many people believe that Jesus will forgive them if they keep on sinning? All we have to do is remember what Jesus told the woman caught in adultery.

Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
“No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
(John 8:10-11 (NIV))

Jesus didn’t come into the world to condemn us. We do a fantastic job of that all by ourselves. He came for a much different reason.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
(John 3:16-21 (NIV))

It is apparent that those who do not fear God and keep His commandments love the darkness of their sin. Sadly, they are fulfilling their own evil desires that lead to death. All of us should strive to fulfill God’s desires. We should strive to fulfill our duty in this manner.

Are you fulfilling your duty?

Copyright 1998 – 2019 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Have you believed?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God–
(John 1:12 (NIV))

Have you been given the right to become children of God?

It is an offer that is open to anyone and everyone, but it is not an offer that all will accept.

I know that it is sad, isn’t it?

All that anyone has to do is receive Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior and believe that Jesus is the Son of God. I know that it sounds simple, yet, far too many people choose to make it complicated. They look at this whole thing with human eyes and a physical perspective. They fail to receive and fail to believe because it doesn’t make sense from a worldly point of view.

They fail to look beyond the world!

It takes the ability to see the universe with something other than your eyes. It takes the ability to let yourself go and rely on something, on someone, more than you can see and understand. It takes faith!

Think about faith.

Our society relies on the media to entertain us, to inform us, and far too often, to educate us. We see media magic and we are no longer willing, we are no longer able, to believe that things can be more awesome than the tricks we see on television or at the movies. We fail to realize that no matter what we may see, it is only a trick. it is not real. Perhaps this a one of the ways that the enemy gets us to believe the lies he tells. We see things and we no longer are awed by the things that God has done. We no longer have the faith to believe because we think that we understand how the awe and wonder is created. We don’t receive and we don’t believe because we can choose to see things that make it hard to believe.

Think back on your childhood.

Wasn’t it a time of innocence? Wasn’t it a time when faith played a bigger part of your life?

We can all be given the right to be children of God. All it takes is a simple act of belief.

Have you believed?

Copyright 1998 – 2016 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Just what is real knowledge?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;
(Philippians 1:9-10 (NIV))

Just what is real knowledge?

If you follow the media and the larger universities, many are claiming that what was once called wisdom is no longer true. They claim that we have become educated and the old wisdom and knowledge is no longer relevant. They claim that we, as humans, can apply our knowledge and solve any problem.

Are you laughing as hard as I am at this thought?

Human knowledge has its limitations. It has its errors in judgment and reasoning. It is flawed and no matter how much humanity claims that it can perfect human knowledge, there will always be circumstances that push human ability to understand, reason and to respond.

All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
(Isaiah 64:16 (NIV))

With this truth before us, there is only one true knowledge. There is only one real knowledge. God is good and that Jesus Christ is His only begotten Son.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
(John 3:16 (NIV))

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
(John 1:1-5 (NIV))

When you gain knowledge, it is said that you are enlightened. Jesus is the light. Knowing Jesus and following Jesus will not result in senseless results of rash decisions based on false knowledge. Jesus will walk with you in all that you do. He will be with you. The knowledge of the Holy Trinity will be with you.

Do you know the real knowledge that God desires for you to know?

Copyright 1998 – 2013 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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