Sunday, August 31, 2008

Above All Else....the pathway to Holiness

"A noble man make noble plans, and by noble deeds he stands" Isaiah 32:7-9

So how do we do it?

Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart,
for it is the wellspring of life.

24 Put away perversity from your mouth;
keep corrupt talk far from your lips.

25 Let your eyes look straight ahead,
fix your gaze directly before you.

26 Make level paths for your feet
and take only ways that are firm.

27 Do not swerve to the right or the left;
keep your foot from evil.

The call to wisdom urges me to work from the inside out and set as upmost importance.

1 thoughts; guard my heart, for it is the wellspring of my life.

2 words; pay attention to my words,

3 plans; fix my focus on the way ahead,

4 actions; pay attention to what I pursue.

I enjoy the lines verse 26 " Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm"

They engender a confidence that the choices we make are significant that we can carve out a future, build hope that we can make wise decisions and sound judgments for our lives.

Lets keep to straight paths verse 4 "I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths". and "This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him". Matt 3:3

This verse causes me to see that the choices we make can make it easier for us to see God in Action in our lives. In I Peter1 :13 we get the preparation phase to living a Holy, God centered life. "Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. So When is Christ revealed? Maybe like Zacchaeus, he repented, reformed and Jesus said of him "Today Salvation has come to this household" What Zacchaeus needed in order to repent, was to receive God grace and make a God centered choice to "make his path straight".

[Luke 19:8-108But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount." 9Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."]

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