Meditate. Consider the amount of time
you spend with the Lord.
The earth is the LORD's, and
everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him. For he laid the
earth's foundation on the seas and built it on the ocean depths. Who may climb
the mountain of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? Only those whose
hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never tell lies. They
will receive the LORD's blessing and have a right relationship with God their
savior. Psalm 24:1-5
Walking on a South Carolina beach.
A right relationship with God their Savior. Do you have that right relationship? How do you get that? Time and commitment. Sounds simple. Spend time with the Lord every day. Time reading His Word…time praying. If you give a tithe of ten percent of your money back to the Lord, can you give ten percent of your time back to Him, too? OK…let’s not get legalistic about this, but do you think it should be ten percent of your waking hours—not ten percent of each 24-hour day. The waking hours…16 hours a day would mean that 96 minutes of tithe time. One hour and thirty-six minutes. That is a long time for most people. How long do you spend in any relationship with any family or friends on a daily basis? You likely eat meals with someone, but is it quality time that is spent really focusing on each other’s lives? How are your relationships with those family members and friends?
This scripture passage focuses on everything belonging to the Lord question and asks a question about who can stand before the Lord…in His holy place? This side of the cross all ground can be holy ground…where we meet the Lord, not just the Holy of Holies in a Temple that once stood in Jerusalem. Who can stand in His holy place? David answers that with… Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never tell lies. They will receive the LORD's blessing and have a right relationship with God their savior. Pure hearts and hands. Those who don’t worship idols or lie. Pretty specific. It goes along with the commandment that we should love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind…and our neighbor as ourself. Loving God would mean to worship Him only…not an idol. If we love ourselves and our neighbor, there would be no lies involved—not even those little white ones. Purity before the Lord…and ourselves.
Back to those 96 minutes. Can you do it? Try it for one day—maybe break it up into three parts of 30-32 minutes each. Morning, midday and evening? Just think…when you drink eight glasses of water, you don’t drink it all at one time. So maybe “drinking” in God’s word would be best done in smaller sips so that you could meditate on it. Just a thought. I consider my blogging time my time with the Lord…and sometimes a spend hours blogging…reading different scriptures. I pray for others…but I know I could improve on that too—more focused time. Let this be a mid-year challenge. Let us draw closer to the Lord and build a deeper relationship with Him. All it takes is time and commitment.
Prayer ~ Lord…May I receive the Your blessing and have a right relationship with You, my savior. From Psalm 24:5.
Verses of Salvation ~ Did God's
people stumble and fall beyond recovery? Of course not! They were disobedient,
so God made salvation available to the Gentiles. But he wanted his own people
to become jealous and claim it for themselves. Now if the Gentiles were
enriched because the people of Israel turned down God's offer of salvation,
think how much greater a blessing the world will share when they finally accept
it. Romans 11:11-12
Parenting Day By Day - Daily Devotional for Building Character
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