Devotional for April 29

The Love of the Lord Is Everlasting

13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.
14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
16 For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.
17 But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children;
18 To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them. Psalm 103:13-18 (KJV)

The Morning Exhortation

The illusion of youth is that youth will last forever. It is has been said of old that youth is wasted on the young because they waste so much time in the vain pursuit of pleasure. Most people consider themselves blessed if they survive the foolishness of youth with only a few scars and some small pieces of unwanted emotional baggage. It’s only when we realize how short life actually is that having fun becomes much less important than the wellbeing of our soul. The pattern for the well-being of the human soul has been given to us in the Holy Bible. We must start with the Alpha (God) and consider our end when our soul returns to the Omega (God). The means is just as important as the ends for determining whether or not our lives are pleasing to the God. Let your every intention be to glorify God. Let your motive be the love of God, and your means be to conform to His word. The littleness or greatness of our work in the eyes of other people doesn’t matter. Doing the will of God from the right motive and the right means gives even the mundane and routine things of life an eternal value of great worth.

Question

Why is inner peace so hard to find in those of us who live in this modern world?

Answer

It is because the love of many has grown cold (Matthew 24:12) and we are constantly bombarded with evil reports at every turn–at home, at work, when we go out, when we come in, and all day long on the smart phone glued to our hands (Numbers 13:30-14:2). An evil report is simply the relaying of predictions or perceptions of circumstances, events, and happenings without acknowledging the infinite greatness of Almighty God (Revelation 1:8; Hebrews 4:9-13; Psalm 10:4; Psalm 42:5; 2 Timothy 1:7; 1 Peter 5:6-10). There can never be rest for the heart that refuses to come to the knowledge of the God of Peace (Hebrews 4:1-7; Psalm 24:7-10; 2 Corinthians 1:3-4; 2 Thessalonians 3: 16-18).

The Prayer Appointed for This Week

O God, who by the glorious resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light: Grant that I, who have been raised with him, may abide in his presence and rejoice in the hope of eternal glory; through Jesus Christ my Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be dominion and praise for ever and ever. Amen. from the Book of Common Prayer