“Or despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But, after thy hardness and impenitent hear treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” Rom. 2:4-5
Today’s Christian Daily Devotional
It seems like many people despise hearing about God. In my heart, I believe much of this stems from people wanting to avoid giving God honor or a place in their life. Many desire to keep living in their current lifestyle (without any guilt). I only came to this conclusion —because this is exactly why I HATED to hear about God in the past! It made me feel so guilty when I would look around and see how God had blessed my life despite the fact that I was a not a very good person. It was easy to recognize that God was just being Himself–merciful, kind and good, in spite of my shortcomings. Allow me to take a moment and share my personal revelation with you. When I was a little girl, I made a list of everything I wanted in my “dream man”. I told my mother I would not settle for anything less than what was on my list. My list was long and I updated and fantasized about my future husband over the years. It included everything from character qualities to superficial nicities like: hair and eye color. When I met John, it was freakishly appalling as I got to know him, at how close he hit the mark on every quality on my “wish list”. My detailed prayer was heard and when he asked me to marry him, I not only was thrilled about sharing our lives, I realized that my childhood request to God was being granted. The most jarring part of this story is, when I met my husband, I was not living for God AT ALL. This broke my heart. God had answered the prayers of a little girl that grew up to spit in His face. Yet, although I broke His heart, He chose to bless me anyway. I look at my husband and I know there is a God that loves me even when I am not a loveable person. The goodness of God tore my heart apart, and in the end it was that very loving gift (my husband) that brought me to my knees in repentance. How could I continue to hurt the God that only wanted to love and bless me?
“Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for all the good gifts that you have given to all people…the ones that love you and the ones that don’t. You are such a good God and there are so many blessings that you don’t get the credit for, because many are afraid of feeling obligated to “live for you”. Lord, living for you is no obligation. It is an honor and a privilege. I pray that all who are afraid of you, and your wonderful ways, give that fear to you. There is no fear in putting God first. Only good things can come out of a life that is centered around the only good power out there…you! Thank you for the blessings that we see, and give us eyes to see the blessings that we are missing. Open our hearts to receiving the love that you have been pouring out to us, but for some reason, we have been cold hearted in accepting it. We need you, Lord. In Jesus’ precious name, allow the goodness of you to lead many to repentance and back into a relationship with the originator of all good things, Amen.”
Thank you for reading today’s daily devotional.