Devotions for Dieters

Barb hated it when her husband went away on business trips. He was her conscience when it came to watching what she ate. Besides, when she was lonely she had the tendency to eat to compensate. It was so much harder to diet when he went away. It is good to know that we have a refuge and strength that never goes on vacation. God is ever with us, and He will help us whenever we need Him. When the temptations are the greatest, then we can be confident that God will be the strongest.

Today's thought: I will turn to God when my diet gets too tough!
Copyright © 2008, Crosswalk.com. http://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/fordieters/

Idol Worshipers

Isaiah 17-19, Ephesians 5:17-33
Key Verses: Isaiah 17:7-8

Man has the innate ability to look more to what can be seen and made than to the unseen God, who is the Maker of all things. That is the lure of idolatry. A person can see an idol or make or designate something to be an idol. The problem with idolatry has always been that whatever the idol is, it is worthless. It may have some monetary value, depending on the materials in it, but it has no spiritual worth.

Even Christians, while perhaps not actually putting an idol on a shelf in their home, can have eyes that wander from the true God to other things. It may be the skill of their hands that becomes the object of their trust. A person's investment portfolio can be viewed as the source of security. Someone might rest in his accomplishments, as if having done this much will enable him to get through whatever might come his way.

To the people in Damascus, the prophet said that a day would come when "men will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel" (17:7�?). When people forget God, living as if He doesn't exist, they become like the people of Damascus, who had turned their eyes from God to idols.

We might chafe at being compared to an idol worshiper, but when our eyes are off God and on other things, we are really the same.

Is your trust in God or other things? Think hard about this. If your trust is first in yourself, then get your eyes right. Look to God.

Genesis 12:5

Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.

Obey All the Way

Louis Cassels once wrote, "Obey . . . take up your cross . . . deny yourself . . . it all sounds very hard. It is hard. Anyone who tells you differently is peddling spiritual soothing syrup, not real Christianity." Perhaps that’s why so many Christians stop short of complete obedience.

Even Abraham struggled with this problem. As a great man of faith, Abraham had obeyed when God told him to "get out of your country" (Gen. 12:1). Immediately he packed up his possessions and left. But God also had said, "from your kindred and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you" (emphasis mine). It was here that Abraham stumbled. Genesis 12:5 notes that he took "Lot his brother’s son" with him. Perhaps Abraham felt responsible for his nephew since Haran, Lot’s father, had died. But this act of incomplete obedience became a cause of grief for himself (Gen. 13:5-7) and eventually for his nephew as well. Lot lost everything but his two daughters in the destruction of Sodom (Gen. 19:12-26).

Obedience is often hard, but partial obedience will not make things easier. The lack of total obedience may seem justified—especially if it involves a family member. It may even seem as if we are shirking our duty to loved ones if we do as God has instructed us. But God has a reason for every command, and not to obey Him completely always means forfeiting a blessing.

What is God asking of you today? What obedience is He prompting from you right now? Are you willing to obey all the way? Remember, incomplete obedience is the half-brother of disobedience.

Trust and obey—there’s no other way.

What Is Your Heart Condition?

"O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise." David begins this psalm by reminding us of the importance of a steadfast or "fixed" heart in the Christian life.

What is a fixed heart? First, it trusts in the Lord for salvation. Jesus died for us on the cross. If we have trusted Him, we have fixed our hearts upon Him, and we have experienced His mercy. "For Your mercy is great above the heavens, and Your truth reaches to the clouds" (v. 4).

A fixed heart is also devoted. Jesus said that we can't serve two masters. We're going to love one and hate the other or be loyal to the one and despise the other. We can't serve God and money--or, for that matter, God and anything else (Matt. 6:24). So a fixed heart is devoted and loving--a heart that is devoted solely to the Lord.

Marriage is one of the many pictures of the Christian life found in the Bible. Those who trust Jesus Christ as Savior are married to Him. We are waiting for that day when the Bridegroom will come and claim His Bride, and we'll enter our heavenly home. Meanwhile, we want to be faithful to Him. We do not want to be guilty of spiritual adultery, being unfaithful to our Savior.

A fixed heart is serving. If your heart is fixed, you will be busy serving others. A person fixed upon the Lord in faith and love reaches out to serve others--to put others ahead of himself.

Finally, a fixed heart is hopeful. We anticipate the return of our Lord. When you love and trust someone, you look forward to being with that person. We wait and hope for the day when we will be in the Lord's presence.

* * *

The condition of a person's heart reveals much about the condition of his soul. A fixed heart is in tune with the Lord--trusting, devoted, serving and hopeful. What is your heart condition?

God Is Building a Temple

Ephesians 2:19-22

Jesus Christ is building His Church. When He was on earth, He said, "I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18).

We are living stones within God's building, and we also have a part as co-builders as we take the Gospel to others so they can receive Christ as Saviour.

Christ came and preached peace; now we who know Him as Saviour are to preach the Gospel to others so they may have this peace. Jesus told the Father, "As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world" (John 17:18).

Just before Jesus ascended to the Father, He gave believers the Great Commission: "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen" (Matt. 28:18-20).

Those who receive Christ as Saviour become living stones, precisely fitted into the building of God. Just as there are many shapes and sizes of stones, so individual believers vary from one another, but God has a special place for each in the building.

Those in Paul's day knew that it took much work to shape stones so they would fit precisely in a building. So Paul was emphasizing not only that believers are stones in God's building but also that it takes the shaping work of God to make them fit properly into the building.

The harder the stone, the longer it takes the builder to make it what he wants it to be. As living stones we sometimes find the process painful, but the end result is good.

That's why Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (1 Cor. 3:16).

Sin in the Camp

Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken.

Israel had just won the biggest battle in its military history. The impregnable fortress of Jericho was destroyed by the mighty hand of God. The inhabitants of Canaan trembled in terror before the armies of Israel. But as is frequently the case, a great victory had made them susceptible to a great defeat.

With the ashes of Jericho behind it, Israel now faced the next battle in its conquest of Canaan. Situated east of Bethel, in the foothills of the Judean highlands, was the tiny town of Ai. When spies returned from scouting this town they reported that three thousand soldiers were needed to seize this tiny, indefensible town. What they did not know was that, whereas God had gone with them into battle at Jericho, because of sin in their ranks God would not go with them in battle at Ai. The Israelites soon learned that the difference between victory and defeat is not military strength but the presence of the Lord.

The men of Ai routed the Israelite force, slaying thirty-six of them and chasing the rest all the way to Shebarim. Licking their wounds, they returned to Joshua and the elders who immediately fell on their faces before the ark of the Lord. Joshua thought he had been abandoned by God, but the Lord quickly revealed to him that the defeat at Ai was due to sin in the camp of Israel. "So he rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes (Joshua 7:16). The tribe of Judah was indicated. Then all the families of Judah were marched before Joshua and Zerah pointed out as head of the sinning family. From the family Zerahites, man by man, they were escorted into the presence Joshua and Zabdi was taken. The household of Zabdi remained and Achan, the son of Carmi, was accused.

Joshua bade Achan to give glory to the Lord God of Israel and make a public confession. Achan confessed that his sin began innocently enough when he saw the spoils of war. But immediately that simple sight degenerated into covetousness and to actually taking the accursed thing. But worse than that, because he thought he could get away with his sin, he hid the beautiful garment and the silver and gold he took in the earth beneath his tent. Although succumbing to the temptation to sin was evil enough, Achan's greatest mistake was thinking that he could hide that sin from God.

That we can never successfully hide our sin from God is the teaching of Jesus' parable of the lighted candle. Luke 8:16-17 records, "No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candle-stick, that they which enter in may see the light. For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither anything hid, that shall not be made known and come abroad." The seeing eye of God searches even the innermost secrets of men. No sin, however large or small, escapes the eye of God.

Exodus 2 describes how Moses spied an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, and he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no man watching him he slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand (Exodus 2:12). The very next day however Moses' sin was discovered and he had to flee from the land of the Pharaoh and spend the next forty years in Midian. Moses' sin was unsuccessfully hidden. Beloved King David had a similar experience. After sinning with Bathsheba and attempting to cover his sin through the death of Uriah the Hittite, the trespass of David soon came to light when Nathan the prophet pointed his finger in the king's face and said, "Thou art the man" (2 Samuel 12:7). In remorse King David said, "O God, Thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from Thee" (Psalm 69:5).

From the sad experiences of Achan and these others, let us learn well the truth that sin is never successfully hidden. We cannot hide our sin from God; we only can deal with it. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). Don't try to hide sin today; let God forgive it instead.

MORNING HYMN
Depth of mercy! Can there be
mercy still reserved for me?
Can my God His wrath forbear
Me, the chief of sinners spare?