2 minute read.
Daily Reading: Lamentations 4:1-5:22 ESV, Hebrews 2:1-18 ESV, Psalm 103:1-22 ESV, Proverbs 26:23 ESV
Daily Verse: “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.” (Hebrews 2:1 ESV)
PROSECHO (4337): “Suggest devotion of thought and effort to a thing.”[1]
Devotion of thought.
Setting our minds on Christ’s teachings means devoting our thoughts to Jesus. If we pay attention to the scriptures but don’t put them into action, we quickly move down the wrong path, inevitably leading to spiritual death.
Forgiveness remains an ongoing process in anyone’s walk with Jesus. You don’t have one lesson in forgiving someone and never doing it again. No, offering grace to people will continue throughout your journey on earth.
Recently, three different individuals who caused harm to my heart re-entered my life. All of them required grace to respond to them. In those moments, I had to let go of the pain, not exacting justice but moving forward. If I didn’t let go of the past, I couldn’t move into what God has for me today.
Pay attention.
We must pay attention to what we hear, read, and see. What we put into our hearts and minds will form the basis of our actions. We act upon what we think.
If I didn’t follow Jesus daily, learning more and more as time goes by, I wouldn’t respond with love. In each case, part of me wants to require amends and restitution. But that’s not Jesus; He didn’t demand repayment from me for my sins. If I want to mimic Christ, I’ve got to lead with grace.
But God knows I struggle, as we all do. The battle against our human nature never ends. But with Jesus, we can find victory. Paying attention to God’s word, applying it to our lives, and becoming more like Jesus gives us the win.
Pay attention to Jesus. Do what God calls you to do; imitate Christ. Loving the Lord and those He places in our lives will give us life to the full, something we all want.
[1] Strong, J., & Strong, J. (2010). The New Strong’s expanded exhaustive concordance of the Bible. Greek Dictionary of the New Testament (p. 213) Thomas Nelson
