For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
If you lose your temper easily, you will start many fights you did not need to have. If you can keep your temper, even when provoked, you will bring calm and end fights, even some you were not involved in. Those who are lazy see insurmountable obstacles to every endeavor. Those who truly wish to do what is right see a clear path to that goal. Where other people might see obstacles to doing right, the righteous either see a path around or consider the “obstacle” an acceptable consequence of doing the right thing.
I will seek to live according to what the psalmist writes. I will not seek glory for myself, but I will act so that God may be glorified. If and when I have success I want it to cause people to glorify and praise God. God is my helper and my shield. Any thing I have done that is praiseworthy is because of God, not because of some credit that I am due. God has blessed me and I will praise Him.
Jesus tells us that He is the good shepherd. His sheep know His voice and follow Him. They will not follow the voice of a stranger because they do not know it. Rather they will run from the voice of a stranger. This reminds me of those churches which constantly tell us that we need to change the message of Christ to be relevant. As a general rule, those churches seem to always get smaller. I will not say that we should measure the success or failure of a congregation by how big or small it is. However, I will also say that we should not measure our message by how “relevant” society finds them. We should measure our message by whether or not we are speaking with the voice of Jesus.
Saul once again demonstrated the insecurity which eventually brought him down. When he discovered that Ahimelech, the priest, had aided David, he had him, his family, and the entire town where he had lived killed. Saul did this despite the fact that when Ahimelech aided David most of the people of Israel knew David as Saul’s faithful, and most successful, servant. Saul’s actions are contrasted with David’s. Saul ordered an entire town of Israelites killed and plundered. David, on the other hand, went to rescue a town in Judah from the depredations by Philistine raiders. Doing so put David at some risk because it allowed Saul the chance to attempt trap him there. Are we willing to put ourselves at some risk to aid others? Or do we hold a grudge against those who we perceive as having wronged us?