Monthly Archives: June 2016

Weekly Devotional 6-27-16 Our Responsibility As Citizens, Both Heaven And Eart

Week Devotional 6-27-16
Our Responsibility As Citizens, Both Of Heaven And Earth.

In November of this year (2016) America will once again be voting to elect a president, vice president, senators, congressmen and many other officials of lesser Office. We are beginning to hear the question asked more and more, “Who should I vote for?” This question is being asked by Christians as well as those who are not.

Those who are not Christian will vote for persons, no matter on what level, who most agree with their own ideologies and who will supposedly give them the desires of their heart. However, we who are Christian, if we are to be pleasing to God, must consider Him in our decisions and in the casting of our votes. We are, after all, citizens of heaven and that is where our allegiance must lie. Ideologies and personal desires that are contrary to the righteous standards of heaven must be brought into conformity with these standards if we are to be pleasing to God.

Joshua, the leader that succeeded Moses, charged Israel thusly; “14Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD! 15And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:14-15).

Israel was being given a choice whom they would serve, the gods of their fathers, the gods of the Amorites, or the Lord. Similarly, in the upcoming elections we will be asked by God who we will serve, the gods of our old natures, the gods of the world, or Lord God.

As we continue with the dialogue between Joshua and the Israelites we read; “16So the people answered and said: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods; 17for the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed. 18And the LORD drove out from before us all the people, including the Amorites who dwelt in the land. We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God.”

19But Joshua said to the people, ‘You cannot serve the LORD, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. 20If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good.’ 21And the people said to Joshua, ‘No, but we will serve the LORD!’ 22So Joshua said to the people, ‘You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD for yourselves, to serve Him.’ And they said, ‘We are witnesses!’ ‘23Now therefore,’ he said, ‘put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to the LORD God of Israel.’ 24And the people said to Joshua, ‘The LORD our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey!’ 25So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem” (Joshua 24:14-33 NKJV).

If we were to continue reading the passage we would find the people did serve the Lord for the remaining days of Joshua’s life and for the remaining days of the elders who had witnessed God’s many deliveries. In that serving they lived lives that were pleasing to Him. They obeyed His laws. Laws that were a representation of His righteous, holy standards. However, after Joshua and the mentioned elders passed from the scene Israel eventually forsook the Lord and served others gods. When they refused to repent, God caused them to lose their land and go into captivity of the Assyrians and the Babylonians. For the next 2400 plus years Israel was a dispersed people living among most of the nations of the world.

We of today must understand that God demands our worship. He is God, there is none beside Him, and that He is holy. Any and all things that we do, even the votes we cast, are a reflection of our worship of Him or lack thereof. If we as a nation or as individuals want God’s blessings we must conduct ourselves in ways that glorify Him.

stevelampman@comcast.net stevelampman.com
Transforming Power; The Work of God on Behalf of Man
Steve Lampman

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