Seeds Of Hope Daily Devotional: Start Where You Are!
A pastor once thought that it was his responsibility to change the world. For years he struggled and worked. He finally became so discouraged that he decided to quit.
In a moment
of insight, he decided to utilize a new strategy. “I’ll change my Elders.
That’s the place for me to begin.” But he soon realized that this was not going
to happen. Their resistance was fierce, and he soon gave up.
“Since they
didn’t respond,” he said to himself, “I’ll change my family.” That didn’t work
either. Each evening when he laid out their tasks for the next day they looked
at him with blank stares.
Finally, he
identified his calling: “I must improve myself first and the others will
follow.”
David got it
right! He said, “Search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me and know my
thoughts.”
It is much
easier to look at the lives of others and see things that we think they need to
change. It is also much easier to want to change them than to want to change
ourselves. But seeing what needs to be changed in others and wanting to change
them is not the way God works through us. He wants us to begin with ourselves -
to see the sin that is in our lives - the sin that He sees. And when He removes
the sin from our lives we become like Him, we will become an example for others
to follow.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, help us not to be concerned about what others need
to change in their lives, but what we need to change in our lives to be more
like You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Scripture For Today: Search
me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Psalm
139:23-24
