Today's Devotional:
The Upper Room Daily Devotional "The Great Physician" for Sunday, 31 May 2015 - Scripture: James 1:19 Therefore, my dear brothers, let every person be quick to listen but slow to speak, slow to get angry; 20 for a person’s anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness!
21 So rid yourselves of all vulgarity and obvious evil, and receive meekly the Word implanted in you that can save your lives. 22 Don’t deceive yourselves by only hearing what the Word says, but do it! 23 For whoever hears the Word but doesn’t do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror, 24 who looks at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But if a person looks closely into the perfect Torah, which gives freedom, and continues, becoming not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work it requires, then he will be blessed in what he does.
The heart is deceitful above all things.[Jeremiah 17:9 (NIV)]21 So rid yourselves of all vulgarity and obvious evil, and receive meekly the Word implanted in you that can save your lives. 22 Don’t deceive yourselves by only hearing what the Word says, but do it! 23 For whoever hears the Word but doesn’t do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror, 24 who looks at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But if a person looks closely into the perfect Torah, which gives freedom, and continues, becoming not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work it requires, then he will be blessed in what he does.
Recently a friend of mine went to the doctor for some tests. My friend said, “I was on deck for a major heart attack.” The doctor told him that 90% of one of his arteries was closed and another was completely blocked. Fortunately, the doctor was able to clear the blockage without surgery. My friend had thought his heart was okay, but it had deceived him. In reality he was desperately sick.
In the scripture verse above, Jeremiah wasn’t talking about the physical heart, of course, but our souls, our character — the way we go about satisfying our needs, wants, and desires. The prophet says that our own souls deceive us. Something’s wrong, and we don’t know it.
In contrast, Jesus’ character was perfect. Any time we do, think, or say something that Jesus would not do, think, or say, it is like plaque building up in an arterial wall. To help restore our hearts to spiritual health, we can see how Jesus acted as recorded in the Gospels. Watching Jesus, then looking at our behavior, is like a good self-examination. As we see how our thoughts and actions differ from those of Jesus, we can ask God in prayer to help us act the way Jesus did — loving God all the time and loving others as ourselves.
The Author: Tom Fuller (Oregon, USA)
Thought for the Day: God can heal my brokenness.
Prayer: Dear God, heal the parts of our hearts that we don’t realize are damaged. Amen.
Prayer focus: Cardiac Patients
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