Tuesday, August 18, 2020

Manna for Today: Psalm 49

 

Psalm 49:1-19

Key Verses:48:9-10

“We humans are praised when we do well, and all of us are glad to be alive. But we each will go down to our ancestors, never again to see the light of day.” CEV

It is so easy to come to live for the praise and recognition we can get from others. We measure our success or failure by the opinions and estimations of those around us, whether is be our bosses, our friends, our parents, or other relatives, or even the opinions of celebrities, or famous personalities whom we respect. But the success which is often measured in this way is hollow success and holds no ground in comparison to eternal things. The only real success in this world is gauged by God and found in how we live out the values and character of God in all we do and how we live our lives.

Whenever we find that we are gauging our worth, our value, our success by the standards, the opinions, and measurements of the world around us, we can be sure gauge is off. Our lives should be lived out reflections of the love, grace, gentleness and kindness of Jesus Christ. The yard stick we use is that of Jesus, that of loving God and neighbor. For these are standards of the Kingdom God.

 

 

Thing to Think on

Whose opinion do you tend to value? Is their opinion truly valuable?

What standard do you often try to live up to? Are those standards worth living up to?

In what ways are you not always a kind, caring, or forgiving as Jesus is?

In what way would your life be different if you loved as Christ loved, and lived out that love toward everyone around you?

Find one way to step away from the praise and adulations of other and seek to do something kind, something loving, something which reflects the life Christ lived, do that thing today. Love as Christ loved in one small way today.

 

 

A Prayer for Today

I want to be my best. I want to do good, to be good. I want others to see how hard I am working, how good I am doing. I want others to tell me I am doing a good job. To see what I am doing and notice say, “Good job!” And although I know Christ calls me to do my best, to be my best, sometimes I desire the praise and recognition of my peers, my superiors, my friends and others more than I desire to be the person you call me to be. Lord, help me to find my value in you. Help my greatest desire not to be how well I lives up to the expectations of those around me, but how well I live out your call upon my life, to love as you love, to forgive as you forgive and to reflect your loving-kindness in all I do, in all I say, in all I type, in how I live out my life each day. Let that be the standard to which I compare myself. Let me be who you desire me to be, today. - Amen

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