Day 5
Gleaning Gold
~Luke 16:13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.
Nuggets of Truth
Before salvation, I can honestly say that my thoughts and my desires did not focus on God. My life was spent doing what I wanted to do. I did what felt good. I went to church every Sunday but did not live the life that I claimed to esteem on Sundays. I was a religious die hard, however, rooted in my upbringing, and clinging to doctrines taught as a child by my parents and my priest. I defended a “faith” never confirming whether or not it was based on God’s own Word, the Scriptures. I was trying to serve two masters – my religion and my flesh (sin), which were both being controlled by the devil. Some may find this a harsh statement. However, the Word says that anyone who is in a religion that is based on what I can do to enter Heaven and not on the fact that Christ did everything for us, is serving another master.
Christ’s words in Luke 16 help us to understand that one cannot mix “religion” and the world. You must have one or the other. It is our nature to love the one and pay less attention to the other. Trying to be religious will always be a battle in futility. The flesh will continue to win because we have a sin nature and it is natural for us to desire sin. Jesus said in:
~John 8:42-44 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
When we know the Truth, the truth will guide us and will keep us. Every man is a liar according to God’s Word:
~Romans 3:4a God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar;
Why believe a man when one knows man is a liar? Why base our eternal destination based on man’s words? It stands to reason that you would want to know the truth from the source that cannot lie, wouldn’t you? The Word says that God does not lie as He is not a man:
~Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie;
His Word is perfect and does not contain lies. Therefore, you can trust God’s Word to lead you in the right direction. His truths will set you free through salvation in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone.
~John 8:31-32 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Jesus provides not only salvation but He sets us free from the bondage of Satan or religion. We are no longer serving two masters but now possess the Holy Spirit and are now able to say that we know the Father. We are now children of God and have a relationship with the Father as a child has with his own earthly father.
Refining the Gold
As believers, we have the pure Word of God to guide us. The Author of the Word, the Holy Spirit, inspired and instructed Godly men to pen what God intended for mankind to have. We are truly blessed to have God’s Word in our lives. The word “Author” is found three times in the Bible, all three in the New Testament:
~1 Corinthians 14:33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
~Hebrews 5:9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
~Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
This same Author, God, does not want us to be in a state of confusion. He desires peace for us. No longer do we have to serve to masters. We, as believers, now serve Him. He also is the Author of our salvation. His perfect and sinless life and death on the cross became the atonement we desperately needed to overcome serving two masters. Lastly, He is the Author and Finisher of our faith. Notice Hebrews 12:2 says He is the finisher of our faith? Once we place our faith in Christ and the salvation He provides, our salvation is finished. We have a different Master to serve! Let’s serve Him and glorify Him in word and action!
valorie
Good Afternoon Kate:
The Lord has blessed me immensely by bringing your website and blog across my path.
I have been a Christian for many years but I also have been tossed two and fro and been quite confused over the years, by many false teachings
I have been looking for a bible study written by a Christian lady whom uses the KJ bible to help me as I study Gods word.
I am so hungry to learn and grow in Gods word and I have found the amount of studies and devotions you have written are truly a gift to help me.
In Christ
Valorie
Kate Plourde
Good morning, Valorie! Thank you for stopping by and checking out my blog. I hope you find what you are looking for amongst the devotionals I have on here. I also have a discipleship series that is not on this blog but we can do through email, should you be interested. I’d be happy to do that with you. I’m glad you dropped by and I pray that you will be blessed by what is here. Let’s connect by email OK? I’ll email you shortly 🙂
Awaiting His Return,
Kate