For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    This proverb reminds me of the importance of telling people that they have had a positive impact on my life, no matter how minor.

    We may think that God has abandoned us because of our sins, but, if we turn back to Him, He will rouse to our defense. However, the rescue He brings us may not come from the direction we were expecting and He may lead us down paths completely different from where we thought He wanted us to go. Let us remember that the plans God has for us will be far better than anything we could have imagined for ourselves.

    Jesus reminds us that we are all sinners deserving of death. If we do not repent of our sins and turn to God, we will suffer and die. He follows this up with a parable of a fig tree that has been carefully tended, but failed to bear fruit. The man who had planted it determined to cut it down. However, his gardener begged him to give it one more year. That is where we are. If we are not currently bearing the fruit of the Spirit for a harvest for God, we are on borrowed time. We have a limited amount of time left to demonstrate that we will respond to the love which God has lavished on us. When I read passages like this one, and look at my life, I grieve at how far I have fallen short of fulfilling God’s will for my life and pray that He will change me so that I will do more for Him.

    God loves His people, those whom He has called to His service. I read this passage, and the very different blessing which Moses gave for each of the tribes, and I was reminded of how God calls each of us to different paths in this life. Let us not think that because someone else has been called to leadership and been blessed by following that call that it means that we need to take up a position of leadership in order to be blessed. Some are called to build up their families and teach the next generation to serve God. Others are called to stand up to pressure and use the strength God has given them to resist evil. Yet others are called to exercise the gifts which God has given them in economic matters to acquire wealth to use for furthering God’s purpose. I will not go on listing the various ways in which God may call different people, since I cannot possibly list them all. Whatever path God has called you to trod, follow it with dedication to Him and He will bless you throughout your life and into the next.