Choose The Right Path

Scripture Reading: Proverbs 3:1-18

Focus Verses Proverbs 3:5-6  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, do not depend on your own understanding.  Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.”

We make hundreds of choices everyday.  Many of those choices are not that important.  When getting dressed in the morning you may decide to wear red socks.  That’s a choice that is not very important.  Some of you reading this devotion have made the decision of who you will marry. Now that is a very important decision that will have an impact on the rest of your life.  I’m thankful that the Lord helped me make the right decision in who to marry.

Some people say “just follow your heart in making decisions.”  Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked.  Who really knows how bad it is?”  Following your heart is a bad idea.  Our focus verses tell us to trust in the Lord and not to depend on our own understanding.  When we seek His will for our lives He will show us the right way.  Why is God able to help us make better decisions than we can for ourselves?  Because God knows the future and we don't.  God knows what the outcome of every decision is.  No matter how much you think you know about life, you don’t know what tomorrow will bring.  So God wants to help us make choices that will benefit us and not to harm us.  God’s path, even if it's a challenging path,  will lead us to an abundant life in Him.  That’s why we need to put our trust in Him and not our heart that can lead us astray.  So let’s choose the right path in asking God to give us wisdom in our choices.

Bobby Johnson
Interlocking Ministries

Are You A Salty Christian

Scripture Reading: Matthew 5:13-16

Focus Verse: Matthew 5:13  “You are the salt of the earth.  But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor?  Can you make it salty again?  It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.”

The sermon on the mount was a collection of many messages by Jesus.  In these verses, Jesus was talking about salt.  In Jesus' day salt was so valuable that sometimes people were even paid with salt instead of money.  When there was no refrigeration it was a challenge to keep meat from rotting, so salt was used to preserve the meat to keep it from spoiling. This is still a method used today.

It is true that if you are going to be an effective Christian you will need to be a salty Christian. How are we called "the salt of the earth"?  Today in the world I see a society that is spoiling.  Sin in this world is causing rot or evil to spread, but a salty Christian can speak out against such evil and help rescue those who are trapped by it.  Salty Christians can spread the gospel and teachings of Jesus to be the cure in our culture today.

Salt also creates thirst.  I love to eat country ham biscuits.  The ham is salt cured (preserved), so after I eat one I’m very thirsty.  A salty Christian is going to stimulate a thirst in others to know God!  1 Peter 3:15 says, “If someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it.”  Are you living as a salty Christian?  This world needs to see Jesus through you.

Bobby Johnson
Interlocking Ministries

Godly Advice & Encouragement

 Bible Reading: Hebrews 13

Focus verse: "You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God." Hebrews 3:13

I hope you read Hebrews 13 slowly.  The end of Hebrews was full of Godly advice and encouragement.  Everyone should find something there for growth.  Maybe we are so wrapped up in our own problems that we have ignored the needs of others.  Maybe we have forgotten to be thankful toward those who mentored us in our faith.  There is a lot of great advice in that chapter as the author, thought to be Paul, concludes the letter.  Like a loving father he gave a lot of great advice for living the Christian life.  From topics of hospitality, marriage, money, fear, leaders, sacrifice, to living honorably, he reminds them of their position.

I don't want to say too much, but read through Hebrews 13 again.  We all need to be reminded of God's truth so that we won't be deceived by the lies of the enemy.  It is the role of Christ followers to exhort, or remind others of the ways of the Lord in a loving way.

As a believer, we are given the position of God's child.  As a believer, we should also behave like God's child and remember even in verse 9, to be aware of strange ideas that aren't biblical. 

Page Johnson
Interlocking Ministries