Walking in the LIGHT III

Scripture for the day: Proverbs 3:7-9 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones. Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the first-fruits of all your increase;

Thought for the day: Love the Lord, your God; Imitate the Lord, your God; Glorify the Lord, your God. What could be better than that? What more is there? Well, there’s always a bit more, isn’t there? The next ingredient to successfully walking in the LIGHT is this: H – Honor the Lord, your God. And how do we do that?

The first thing that comes to mind, at least for me, is the Ten Commandments. God is honored in our lives when we refuse to allow anyone or anything to take precedence over Him in our lives, when He is so important that everything else pales in comparison. God is honored when we allow nothing to become an idol; He alone is worshiped. God is honored when we set aside the Lord’s Day and keep it as a time when we focus particularly on Him through praise and worship. God is honored when we refuse to take the name of the Lord in vain, which encompasses much more than not swearing. The Lord our God is honored when we honor our father and mother, do not engage in murder (which includes character assassination) steal, or bear false witness against others or against the Father. God is honored when we refuse to covet. Why? Because falling into a covetous attitude leads to our breaking of all the other commandments.

The Lord, our God, is honored when we are generous in our giving, relying on Him to meet our every need, material and spiritual. We must remember that we don’t give to Him because He has a need that only we can fill. As one friend of mine is fond of saying, “God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and He owns the hills as well.” We give to demonstrate our faith in His ability to provide for our every care in life. We give to honor a Biblical principle that was instituted by God and honored by the Savior (Matthew 23:23). Listen, it all boils down to this: “He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly,

To love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8)?

Finally, if we aim to walk in the LIGHT, we T – Trust the Lord. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths.”

Now, let’s be honest, this is often one of the most difficult things we’re called upon to do. How often did Jesus ask those who looked to Him for help if they trusted Him or if they had faith to believe He was able to do as they asked? Far more often than we tend to remember. Then, when He was about to return to the Father, He said, “I will not leave you as orphans.” Then He promised the Holy Spirit to guide, correct, teach and remind them of everything He had taught. His promised Spirit is still at work today; first, we trust, we rely on Him, we obey His direction and then God works all things together for good.

All I’ve been trying to say comes down to this: we can live with confidence if we get up each morning and pray the prayer of James. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him (or her) ask of God who gives freely and without reproach, and it will be given.”