Page 11 - Living Light 88

Friday March 7 - God’s standard of purity
(Wisdom) will save you from the adulterous woman, from the wayward
woman with her seductive words. Proverbs 2:16
Just as it is not only men who follow wicked paths, it is not only women who are immoral. Both can be saved from wickedness and immorality by the wisdom that is found in Jesus. The writer of Proverbs highlights here the temptation to sexual impurity, which is still as potent as it ever was.
The word ‘adulterous’ in the Old Testament means having sexual relations with someone you are not married to. Jesus talks of adultery starting in the heart when you entertain sexual feelings for someone outside of marriage (Matthew 5:28). He sets the standard far higher! With the ready availability of pornography today, and the western culture of open sex with anyone and everyone, we need to hear this and ask for God’s help to keep to his standards. This is true wisdom. God’s plan for sexual enjoyment is between one man and one woman, living together in love and faithfulness till their life’s end (Mark 10:6-9). On the face of it, this might feel impossible, but if we continually ask for God’s help, his wisdom and strength, he not only makes this possible but it is one of life’s greatest blessings.
Jesus can save us from the sexual sins that have stained our lives, as we come to him asking for forgiveness and cleansing. Only he can make us into a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) and give us a fresh start!
Father God, thank you for your perfect plan for sex. Please make me holy. Amen.
Saturday March 8 - God’s promise of a home!
The upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it.
Proverbs 2:21
The end of Proverbs chapter 2 contains this wonderful promise for the upright (those living according to God’s laws) and the blameless. But how do we make sure we are among their number, and what exactly does it mean to ‘inherit the land’?
Throughout his proverbs, Solomon has been talking about wisdom and the blessings of obeying wisdom. God gives wisdom (v 6), and we remember that Jesus is called the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24). Jesus alone can justify us (make us right before a holy God) through his death for us on the cross, and he alone can sanctify us (help us to live right before a holy God) by sending the Holy Spirit to live in us. So as we look to Jesus, believe and trust in him, we are called into the company of the upright and blameless – not because we have earned it but because of the free gift of God in Jesus.
The land that Solomon’s readers understood was God’s promised land of Israel (Deuteronomy 1:8). In Mark 1:15 Jesus spoke about a new ‘land’, ‘the kingdom of God’, arriving! He was talking about an eternal land that God invites everyone who believes in Jesus to be part of. That kingdom starts in our very hearts (Luke 17:20-21) and is made up of the people of God, with Jesus at the centre. It is a place of peace and security – my spiritual home!
Father God, thank you for Jesus and for calling me home! Amen.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
PRAYER FOR TODAY
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