Daily Devotional

A Ministry of the Kerwin Baptist Church

January 10, 2018

by Pastor Hawtree

I AM PERSUADED THAT HE IS ABLE:

 TO NEED OUR LOVE

 Joshua 23:10 One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the LORD your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you. 11 Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God.

 The two Hebrew words here for “good heed” emphasize the idea of showing diligent attention. Making ever effort to be constantly aware. Aware Of what?

 Well, it is the most important thing we should be diligently aware of.

 When questioned in Mark chapter 12, this is what Jesus had to say, “ 28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? 29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment”.

 Have you noticed that God seems to ask for so little as compared to how much He gives. He always distributes more than He demands. He wins every battle that we most assuredly would lose. Then of course it is impossible to list and describe all the millions of things He does for us every day. Some we can see, and some we cannot. And yet of the few things that He has asked, the one He desires the most is for us to simply love Him. It is that important to Him.

 Seriously, how could we not fully love Him after all He has done for us?. How could we possibly be so self-centered that there would even be the chance that we would not love God as we should. That should be automatic. It should be our privilege, not a responsibility. It should be our honor, not our duty. It seems as if that is the least we could do. However, we sure do struggle with it. Why?

 Well, love comes from the heart, and Jeremiah 17:9 says “ The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”. That means we cannot fake this with God. Either we love Him or we don’t. And He knows if we do, and He knows if we don’t. Love must be sincere or it is not love. The Bible even tells us that out of our hearts  come the issues of life.  We cannot love God as He deserves if our heart is not right.

 That’s why we have to be diligently aware. That’s why we have to make every effort. That’s why we must take good heed unto ourselves. Keeping our heart right is not an easy task. And it is not a one time task. It’s a constant struggle. In fact, God knows the condition of our heart by judging the sincerity of our love for Him.

 I encourage you today to examine your heart. Our love cannot show on the outside, unless our heart is right on the inside.

 IT IS THAT IMPORTANT TO HIM!