Tiny Devotional for Tuesday, 10/20/20

 A great GOOD MORNING! to all my friends and neighbors out there in Internet Land! And for the family members who have dropped by,  it gets better!

Who can say, “I have cleansed my heart,
I am pure from my sin”?
Proverbs 20:9, NASB


 Within the 300 word limit of Tiny Devotional:

This verse is NOT so much about current behavior only (if at all), but about a particular consequence of the past. 

I speak of memories; painful memories, to be specific. These seep into our daily life, and poison us, and everything we do, if not handled properly.

IMPORTANT: It’s not just memories of things we have done wrong, although those are addressed in this verse. This morning, though, I’m thinking of the memories of past trauma, and of things done wrong TO us, not BY us, that we can’t cleanse from our hearts.

Can we cleanse ANYTHING from our hearts? YES, and this is essential! A Tiny Devotional can’t address this fully, but: don’t lie, rage, or slander, for a start. And, when we DO those things, we must admit we are wrong, as soon as we can, and make it good, if possible.  That will keep our hearts from accumulating additional dirt.

But some dirt won’t come out easily, and that’s because it’s stuck with glue. The nature of the glue can vary, but fear and dishonesty will account for most of it. If we examine those persistent painful memories, we find that they are adhering either because we are lying to ourselves about something, or that we are afraid. 

Afraid of WHAT? (Again, limits of Tiny Devotional!) Usually, that we aren’t good enough, or that people won’t love and accept us.

And THAT requires God’s cleansing. (LIMITS!)

Peace be on your household. 

Comments

  1. Habakkuk21October 20, 2020 at 5:30 AM

    Sigh. This is such an important topic that I couldn't ignore it, but it DOES require a much more in-depth treatment.
    Fortunately, such courses are available elsewhere.

    ReplyDelete

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