Tiny Devotional for Wednesday, 12-16-2020

 A great good morning, to all my friends and neighbors in Internet Land! And, to family members who have dropped by, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Vanessa!

Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord;
Be assured, he will not go unpunished.
Proverbs 16:5, NASB

I recently had a conversation with my youngest bio-son, the Moose, about rules and people who break them. It was inspired by Episode 15 of The Mandalorian, in which a character breaks one of his basic rules to accomplish his mission. We agreed it was an acceptable violation.

What about other transgressions?

 When people criticized His disciples for plucking grain on the Sabbath, Jesus told them that the Sabbath was created for man, not man for the Sabbath. They didn’t like hearing that, being proud in heart; they KNEW they were righteous, because they followed the rules. 

Proud-in-heart also leads you to break the rules: I’m too rich, important, powerful to have to follow the rules. YOU have to follow them, but I can do whatever I want.

Usually, that approach results in disaster, here on Earth. Violate some rules, and go to jail; violate others, and you might die. BUT: the violator might be able to get away with it for a long time. 

That’s aggravating to me, even if I’m not directly affected. The aggravation is much worse when the violator acts blatantly, even flaunts their actions.  

Then, I think: 

  • “Is there no justice? 
  • Why are they permitted to get away with this? 
  • If only I was flying an attack helicopter!” (Too much? Over the top?)

This verse promises: 

  • There IS justice.  
  • They will NOT get away with it
  • God will handle it. I don’t have to shoot ANYBODY! (What a relief!)

Peace be on your household.

Comments

  1. ABEhrhardtDecember 16, 2020 at 10:44 PM

    When I get that way - angry at what other people are getting away with, constantly - I try to pray for them because soon, on cosmic time scales, they will face the Final Judge. The one who will know everything we see plus everything else there is. And I behave MYSELF, because that's true for me, too, and I will beg for mercy.

    It's better that way - I don't think they have plea bargaining.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Habakkuk21December 17, 2020 at 7:30 AM

    You hit the nail right on the head!

    ReplyDelete

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