Oct. 18th Devotion
The Heart Of The Problem – Tony Evans
This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. - (John 17:3)
The heart of our problem in our nation today—in our lives, families, churches, and com- munities—can be captured and summarized in these verses found in 2 Chronicles 15, a portion of God’s Word talking about ancient Israel:
For many days Israel was without the true God and without a teaching priest and without law. . . . In those times there was no peace to him who went out or to him who came in, for many disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. Nation was crushed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every kind of distress. (vv. 3, 5–6)
The first thing missing was “the true God.”
The Israelites had not become atheists. Nor was their attendance at the temple down. The sacrificial fires continued to burn. Yet despite all of their religious activity, Israel had lost a correct view of the true God. They wanted a convenient God, one they could control. They wanted a kingdom with- out a King.They wanted a figurehead, a puppet with the trappings of kingship only. Yet any god or king you can boss around isn’t the true God, or the true King. The true God does not adjust to you. You adjust to Him.
Our culture doesn’t want the true God either. Our culture wants to pay homage only—to offer a nice little prayer before public meetings.
Yet any time we simply pay homage without aligning our thoughts and actions under God, we are reinforcing our culture’s false view of God as a harmless deity who doesn’t have anything significant to say about the educational, scientific, entertainment, civic, political, familial, legal, or racial issues of the day. Doing so, we seek to leave God the title of King in name only, but give His powers and authority to others, or even ourselves.
Reflection: What is the difference between paying homage and true worship? In what areas of your life do you treat God as a figurehead king and not your true Lord? How can we align our thoughts and actions under God?
Lord, may I never want a kingdom without You as the King. Grant me the wisdom and ability to seek You in everything that I do and to live a life reflective of Your kingdom agenda.
This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. - (John 17:3)
The heart of our problem in our nation today—in our lives, families, churches, and com- munities—can be captured and summarized in these verses found in 2 Chronicles 15, a portion of God’s Word talking about ancient Israel:
For many days Israel was without the true God and without a teaching priest and without law. . . . In those times there was no peace to him who went out or to him who came in, for many disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. Nation was crushed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every kind of distress. (vv. 3, 5–6)
The first thing missing was “the true God.”
The Israelites had not become atheists. Nor was their attendance at the temple down. The sacrificial fires continued to burn. Yet despite all of their religious activity, Israel had lost a correct view of the true God. They wanted a convenient God, one they could control. They wanted a kingdom with- out a King.They wanted a figurehead, a puppet with the trappings of kingship only. Yet any god or king you can boss around isn’t the true God, or the true King. The true God does not adjust to you. You adjust to Him.
Our culture doesn’t want the true God either. Our culture wants to pay homage only—to offer a nice little prayer before public meetings.
Yet any time we simply pay homage without aligning our thoughts and actions under God, we are reinforcing our culture’s false view of God as a harmless deity who doesn’t have anything significant to say about the educational, scientific, entertainment, civic, political, familial, legal, or racial issues of the day. Doing so, we seek to leave God the title of King in name only, but give His powers and authority to others, or even ourselves.
Reflection: What is the difference between paying homage and true worship? In what areas of your life do you treat God as a figurehead king and not your true Lord? How can we align our thoughts and actions under God?
Lord, may I never want a kingdom without You as the King. Grant me the wisdom and ability to seek You in everything that I do and to live a life reflective of Your kingdom agenda.
Recent
Archive
2024
January
January 1st DevotionDecember 31st follow-upJanuary 2nd DevotionJanuary 3rd DevotionJanuary 4th DevotionJanuary 5th DevotionJanuary 8th DevotionJanuary 7th Follow-upJanuary 9th DevotionJanuary 10th DevotionJanuary 11th DevotionJanuary 12th DevotionJanuary 15th DevotionJanuary 14th Follow-upJanuary 16th DevotionJanuary 17th DevotionJanuary 18th DevotionJanuary 19th DevotionJanuary 21st follow-upJanuary 22nd DevotionJanuary 23rd DevotionJanuary 24th DevotionJanuary 25th DevotionJanuary 26th DevotionJanuary 29th Devotion1-28-24 follow-upJanuary 30th DevotionJanuary 31st Devotion
February
February 1st DevotionFebruary 2nd DevotionFebruary 5th DevotionFebruary 6th DevotionFebruary 4th Follow-upFebruary 7th DevotionFebruary 8th DevotionFebrtuary 9th DevotionFebruary 12th DevotionFebruary 11th Follow-upFebruary 13th DevotionFebruary 14th DevotionFebruary 15th DevotionFebruary 16th DevotionFebruary 19th DevotionFebruary 20th DevotionFebruary 21st DevotionFebruary 22nd DevotionFebruary 23rd DevotionFebruary 26th DevotionFebruary 27th DevotionFebruary 28th DevotionFebruary 29th Devotion
March
March 1st DevotionMarch 4th DevotionMarch 3rd follow-upMarch 5th DevotionMarch 6th DevotionMarch 7th, 2024March 8th DevotionMarch 11th DevotionMarch 12th DevotionMarch 13th DevotionMarch 14th DevotionMarch 15th DevotionMarch 18th DevotionMarch 19th DevotionMarch 20th devotionMarch 21st DevotionMarch 22nd DevotionMarch 25th DevotionMarch 26th DevotionMarch 27th Devotion
2023
January
January 2nd DevotionFollow-up to January 1st teachingJanuary 3rd DevotionJanuary 4th DevotionJanuary 5th DevotionJanuary 6th DevotionJanuary 9th DevotionFollow-up to January 8th teachingJanuary 10th DevotionJanuary 11th DevotionJanuary 12th DevotionJanuary 13th DevotionJanuary 16th DevotionJanuary 17th DevotionFollow-up to January 15th teachingJanuary 18th DevotionJanuary 19th DevotionJanuary 20th DevotionJanuary 23rd DevotionFollow-up to January 22nd teachingJanuary 24th DevotionJanuary 25th DevotionJanuary 26th DevotionJanuary 27th DevotionJanuary 30th DevotionFollow-up to January 29th teachingJanuary 31st Devotion
No Comments