ESOCS Devotional 21 January 2021
TEXT: ISAIAH 57:15-21
MEMORY VERSE: “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.” Isaiah 57:20-21 NKJV
There is a choice we must make, whether to be numbered among the wicked or to be named among the people that God would see in their hearts the hunger and desire to be like our Lord Jesus, who went about doing good everywhere (Acts 10:38). The wicked have their price to pay; they must reap a bountiful harvest of the evil they have done against people; and the wickedness they have practised. They would no know peace, according to God’s just decree.
On the other hand, God would forever cherish those who practice kindness, care, humaneness, empathy, sympathy, love, and such like, for they are like His Son Jesus, and they wear His identity. At the end of time, they would come to the resurrection to new life (John 5:29). Their name names would be written in gold in the kingdom of God; and He would not be ashamed to call them His children (Heb. 11:16). They would dwell with Him forever.
Dorcas was a good example of such people (Acts 9:36). Heaven would never forget her kind deeds and acts of charity. The Bible says, “She was always doing good things for people and had given much to the poor” (Acts 9:36 CEV). Such is the acts of the saints. The care for others and their wellbeing is important to them; just as our Lord Jesus cared for us, and came and died for us.
It is a thing of the heart. We would not be able to practise care for other people unless we develop such a tender heart; a heart that is willing to bleed, so that others would live. A heart that easily shares the sorrow and distress of others; a heart that cries louder than the afflicted; a soft heart that would not do anyone wrong is the heart God desires to see in us. It is a heart in which Jesus lives, and the Holy Spirit superintends it. Such is the kind of heart to have, a good heart.
Read yesterday’s ESOCS Devotional here
In our world today, evil supersedes good, and the hearts of men and women are more inclined to lean towards evil. But we should be different. We should take our examples from the lives of the triumphant saints who ran the Christian race before. They lived a pure life. Today, they are our reference points, which we look back to as our good ready examples in many ways. If we live like them today, generations yet unborn would take us as their ready examples too in the future. Whatever we decide to do with our life now would determine what would we become at that time in God’s scheme of things.
Those who choose to live the life of the world are the wicked, for they willingly crucify the Lord Jesus a second time. They would spend their eternity in perdition. While they are alive, they would not experience, for their life is in rebellion against God and His ways. Rebellious people do not have peace. What is our stake in these things? To be numbered among the saints or the wicked? Let us think on these things and do the needful.
CHALLENGES
Make efforts to ensure that you are named among the good people of God; not the wicked.
PRAYER POINT
Lord, help me to practise goodness always and to eschew wickedness.
FURTHER READING: Job 42:1-6; John 14:1-7; 2 Peter 3:1-14
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ESOCS Devotional 21 January 2021
