by Desiree Bustamante

Take only God’s truth into the New Year ahead.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“Although God’s promise still stands—his promise that all may enter his place of rest—we ought to tremble with fear because some of you may be on the verge of failing to get there after all. For only we who believe God can enter into his place of rest.

For whatever God says to us is full of living power: it is sharper than the sharpest dagger, cutting swift and deep into our innermost thoughts and desires with all their parts, exposing us for what we really are. He knows about everyone, everywhere.”
Hebrew 4:1,3,12-13 The Living Bible

Why does it appear easier for people to believe that Bigfoot exists, aliens have visited us or ghosts haunt us but not believe in a God who is all powerful and loves them? Some believe they are too intelligent to trust in someone so archaic as God. The truth is that denying the existence of God happens when people want to be their own god.

Some have a warped view of God as either a benevolent Santa who will grant access into heaven because people are basically good, or as a mean God because they can’t fathom why He allows evil in the world. Their views deny the reality of God who offers them forgiveness, peace and eternal life.

Christians are not immune to being led astray by the beliefs of the world. We may mix our faith with other words that are not truth but sound good to us and are accepted by the world. We need to be vigilant to those things, because God will eventually expose our innermost hearts and desires and reveal who we really are.

Are you listening closely to God, staying on His path and aligning your thoughts and actions with His truths? Or straying away from His word by allowing ideas and beliefs into your heart that may sound good, but are clearly not of God?

Copyright Family of Christ Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado