For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Devotion based on Hebrews 4:12,13

“I didn’t mean to.” It’s one of the classic defenses children give when caught doing something wrong. “Johnny, you broke the cookie jar that you weren’t even supposed to touch.” And Johnny says, “I didn’t mean to.”

Do we ever really outgrow that excuse? We might not say it in quite the same way, but “I didn’t mean to” can become a coverup for everything from gossip to angry words to drug or alcohol abuse to pornography or intimacy gone too far outside of marriage. But the truth is, rarely are our thoughts and intentions pure. We may not have intended for things to turn out the way they did, but what we did was no accident.

Maybe we can fool the people around us, but God and his Word are not fooled. God’s Word “penetrates.” It doesn’t just look at the surface. It exposes the heart. It uncovers selfish motives and priorities and lays them out as evidence before the God to whom we must answer.

What thoughts and attitudes does God’s Word expose in your heart? How does it show priorities that don’t put God first in your life? Confess those things. Come clean.

And then see God’s Word expose God’s heart for you. God’s priority was to make a way for you to live with him forever. He did that by giving Jesus as the sacrifice to cover all your sinful priorities and actions. Now God’s priority is to make sure you see that sinless sacrifice as your own, to plant and grow faith deep in your heart, and to lay hold of his forgiveness and the life he wants to give you. That’s why he wants his Word to be a priority for you—because you are a priority for him.

Prayer: