Bragging On Jesus

Proverbs in 365 Devotions

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What Guides Your Sail?

What ushers a person throughout their life?

A motor? The fuel?… A spark that ignites?

Something leads them along and shows them the way.

What steers the wheel when there’s a truck in the way?

What says “don’t do your chores”

“Steal from the department store”

“Taunt that wild bore”

“Pull into the next liquor store”

What makes some delight in God, they kneel and pray

They submit to their parents in the Lord and obey

Even when the road is dark in the middle of the day

Their heart is turned a particular way

What guides them is the integrity of the upright

There has only been one who has lived that life

Where Adam and Eve and we all fail

It’s Jesus righteousness in those who believe that guides our sail

Proverbs 11:3 The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.

Proverbs in 365 Devotions

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Proverbs 11:4 Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. 

The day of wrath…

Well the greatest day of wrath will come when God judges sin and sinners. Even if you could take your riches with you to face that judgment it would not profit you. A person cannot bribe God. He already owns it all. And anyway the streets are made of gold in heaven so what would you offer him that he might keep justice from you?

No, God is just and no one can stay his hand.

Even here on earth when a sentence of justice is to be read even a most exorbitant amount of money from the guilty party will not be enough to pay off a just judge; and equally just is how that judge will neither sentence an innocent person to death. 

The thought of justice can be an uncomfortable thought though because we all fall short of perfection. This underlying force of conscious causes us to check our speedometer and seat belt at the sight of a police officer, become self conscious when we are telling a lie and may not look someone directly in the eye when we have something to hide. Justice reminds us of our insufficiency in relationship to the law and its intentions. 

Today I heard someone say we should never pray to God for justice but rather for mercy. 

In one way that seems so true because justice would mean all sinners are condemned and that would definitely include me.

However, Jesus did extend his mercy to us by substituting the execution of our just punishment on to his only begotten sinless Son thereby satisfying justice through his grace and mercy. Thank You Father for your Son in being my Attorney (my Advocate in providing my defense), my Judge in declaring me pure, holy and 100% innocent, for becoming sin for me and serving my sentence, and for justifying me by defeating the curse of sin which is death.)

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With Whom He Is Pleased

Robin Aylor

When Jesus was born, in Bethlehem shepherds were with their flocks when a multitude of heavenly host praised God and said this:

Luke 2:14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Today I want us to look at that little phrase “with whom he is pleased”.

What would it take for God to be pleased with any of mankind since we are all sinners? Who was the only one who never sinned? Jesus right?

This is true… and God is pleased with his Son.

Speaking of Jesus in Isaiah 42:1 pointing to Jesus it says God says: …in whom my soul delights;

You can read the context for yourself. God delights in his Son.

Again, speaking of Jesus 1st Peter 2:4 says ...a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious,

Jesus is precious to God.

In Matthew 3:17 When Jesus was baptized a voice from heaven said: ...“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

When Jesus was transfigured before Peter, James and John a voice from the cloud says: ...“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” That’s from Matthew 17:9

Let’s go back to the Christmas story… The angels said: Luke 2:14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

How can a person be accepted by God?

Luke 1:28 tells us Mary was favored by the Lord.

The angel Gabriel said: ...“Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”

How did Mary find favor with God? She was a sinner like us all.

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

How can God be pleased with sinners like you and me and Mary... and still be a just God?

You see, something else pleased God.

Speaking of Jesus, Isaiah 53:10 says: Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt,...

Other versions like the KJV say “it pleased the LORD to bruise him”; and Holman says “the LORD was pleased to crush Him severely”. This word "pleased" is mentioned in the Hebrew as one definition of the meaning.

What does it mean that God was pleased to bruise Jesus?

Jesus being bruised was prophesied early on in Genesis 3 after Adam and Eve trusted satan over God… Here God is speaking to satan.

Genesis 3:15 says: I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

It pleased the LORD to bruise Jesus.

But how does bruising Jesus make God pleased with those who believe in him?

Jesus who is pleasing to God, took the payment for our sin… That payment is death.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And in exchange God gives us the righteousness of perfect Jesus… We get the acceptance and favor of God... We please God.

Where Adam and Eve and you and I failed God, Jesus succeeded in obedience and perfection and imputes his righteousness to all who delight in him… to all who rejoice in him as good news.

2nd Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Pray

Proverbs 9:7 DC / A Poem

Proverbs in 365 Devotions

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Proverbs 11:2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.

Disgrace Or Delight

Robin Aylor

You may have heard how Proverbs 16:18 says: Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

In today's text we see pride’s destruction also tagged with disgrace. Throughout the Bible you can find many examples of both of these outcomes. 

Speaking of King Uzziah in 2 Chronicles 26:16 it says: But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. 

With his sin of pride he was struck with leprosy for the remainder of his life.

You might want to check out Ezekiel 28 which seems to relate how Lucifer's pride caused him to fall and brought him disgrace.

The opposite of pride is of course humility. Admitting our sin which brings us shame and dishonor… in faith we turn away from exalting self toward giving the glory due to Jesus; when we do, he exalts us with his own righteousness.

In Luke 14:11 Jesus said: For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Jesus our Creator in extreme humility gave himself as our example

Speaking of Jesus in Philippians 2:6 - who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Pray

Proverbs in 365 Devotions

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Proverbs 11:1 A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, but a just weight is his delight.

Justification

For Abomination

Robin Aylor

There is a symbol of justice which you may have seen before… a statue of a blindfolded woman who makes judgments of right and wrong. She is holding perfectly balanced scales and a sword. Being blindfolded she favors no one person over another. She executes righteous judgment with her sword.

A dishonest scale is held by a crook who unjustly favors themselves over the ones they want to deceive for their own gain. It is a false balance, a false witness; and claims a lie as truth.

Solomon calls this injustice an abomination to the LORD. An abomination is something we despise so badly… we are utterly disgusted at the thought of it… we loathe it!

Have you ever found something that has turned your stomach or caused you to gag and turn away quickly? For me, in my younger years it was spinach. Something about it triggered that gag reflex and it was like… I had no choice but to spit it out. But today… well, spinach has this weird love hate relationship with me… It’s not important... Back to the text… The LORD’s stand on deception and greed and lying and taking advantage of others does not vary… It is always an abomination to the LORD period.

You know it is possible for a person to take stock of their own life with this same unjust scale. We can appraise and evaluate our own life and present ourselves as someone who tips the scale in our own favor. We need to be cautious of that.

1st John 1:8 says: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Its true that God is just and he wants us to agree with him on what is right and wrong, hating our hypocrisy and being disgusted with our own sin. But not only is God just but he is also justifier. Thats good news for us.

In Romans 3 Paul talks about how we are justified by Gods grace through faith in Jesus for what he did for us in dying on the Cross.

Verse 26 says: It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.



Agreeing with God demands that we are in favor of full punishment due to be made for our abominable deeds. I am so thankful that we can humbly and joyously submit to his righteous judgment in that God sent his only Son who willingly took that punishment for us and then defeated the wages of sin (which is death) by rising from the grave.

God Is Glorified in the Insignificant / Brad Chase

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Don't Settle For A Politically Correct Christmas! Rest In Jesus As The Good News He Is.

Simeon Cradles His Long Expected Savior Luke 2:25-32

Daniel Castor

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Stereotypical Christmas Text Of Leviticus 12... What? Yes! It's true! / Blake Farley - For more go to braggingonjesus.com