Daily Word
A word of encouragement for your day.
THE ABOMINABLE
"Samuel said, "Does the Lord have as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than a sacrifice, and to pay attention is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as reprehensible as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as reprehensible as false religion and idolatry. Since you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you."
"You snakes, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?"
(Matthew 23:33);
"The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?"
(Jeremiah 17:9)
What does the Lord detest more than anything else?
Our terrible moral decay?
Our horrible sexual sins, drunkenness, murder, lying, etc. etc.?
No, the very thing that is the root and cause of it all.
The independent self-life, the rebellious self-will with the venom of vipers in it!
This is the incurable disease of our fallen heart, which no one understands and which constantly deceives us.
In what way?
Like it did with the Pharisees.
They were outwardly extremely fine and morally splendid persons and therefore considered themselves to be patterns for all others, obvious heirs to the kingdom of God.
But Jesus saw through it all and exposed their hypocrisy and total self-deception.
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs. On the outside you appear beautiful, but on the inside you are full of dead men's bones and all kinds of uncleanness. So it is with you. On the outside you appear righteous to men, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."
That is why they hated Jesus and decided to get rid of Him.
So infernally evil and blinding is this disease of the heart.
The only one who can diagnose it is the Lord.
"There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him to whom we must answer." (Heb.4:13)
That is why Jesus uttered the shocking words to the Pharisees: "Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you."
Not until we realize our deep decay and are prepared to let go of our proud and frenzied grip on our own lives will the door to the kingdom of God be opened for us!
But do we understand what is most abominable in God's eyes?
Our deep decay? – or – our proud and frenzied grip on our own lives?