DaySpring Daily Word of Inspiration: Isaiah 26:9 – My soul yearns for you in the night, in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.
The longings from our heart always extend into the way we react or conduct ourselves. If we have a passion to become something, anything, people will see it in our actions! There is nothing that can hide the fact that an athlete wants to become a professional. His work ethic, dedication, and anxiousness to play coupled with the desire to be the best at what they do will always shine through. We’re going to apply all application to our meditation for today. Let’s get started.
When we think about our relationship with God can we liken it to anything in this world? Now this isn’t to say that we should reflect what the world says or does in any part of our relationship with God but if there was an earthly example of your relationship with God, how would someone describe it? A huge problem with promoting a life of Christianity is that our examples or actions don’t suggest that we are dedicated to the cause of Christ. We look more like everyone else than we do like Christ. Let’s have a self-assessment. For example, if you asked someone what they think you were dedicated to; what you yearned for and got excited about, what do you believe they’d say? Would they say that you’re dedicated to your family? Career? Car? House? Friends? Partying? Or would they say that you’re a person whose yearning and truly expectant of the Lord?
The scripture would suggest that as we yearn and long for something (in this case the Lord), it’s like our yearning or longing we’d have for anything. You know the funny thing about our dedication, yearning or longing for anything is that it is convicting to other people. Oh, you don’t believe me? Think about the last time you saw a friend getting in shape. They started feeling good, looking good and being more confident in themselves. Did you ever think, “man, I need to work on some trouble areas myself” Or suppose you come into your break room at the office and see someone who once frequented the local McDonald’s with you has changed their eating habits and has opted for the healthier alternative of a home packed lunch. Did you ever think, “Man, I should probably start watching what I eat and save some money too!” If you’re honest, whether it was one of these situations or another, you were convicted by what you saw in someone else. Well that is the exact same thing that will be produced in our lives when we are dedicated and yearn for the Lord. People should look at our lives and be convicted. They should want to get their own spiritual lives together with the Lord. Just as the second half of the scripture states ”When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.” This is why it is so serious and we have to take it that way. The judgment that comes is someone’s own conscious telling them that what they’re doing is wrong because of your commitment and dedication to the Lord. It’s NOT you judging someone but your resistance to performing a certain way or conducting yourself a certain way shines light on the fact that in God’s sight – the things they could be doing are wrong! Directly in that, people will learn the righteousness of the Lord, simply because of how you are living, acting, and doing life because of Christ!
Today, we pray that the only thing you yearn for is a real, rich relationship with our Father God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If you happen to yearn, long and press after that with a genuine heart, people will learn what righteousness looks like through your example and they will see the judgment in continuing to NOT put their hope in Christ. Actions speak, what are yours saying to the world? Let’s get better…..together. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!