Devotional Guide, Today’s Reading – Friday, November 15, 2019

Theme: AWAKE TO RIGHTEOUSNESS AND SIN NOT

Text: “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, … Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. … And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” – Ephesians 4:17,19, 24.

Comment: The term “lasciviousness” refers to a carefree, reckless lifestyle that is driven by lust. It is by no means a virtue but a vice. Isaiah the Prophet, writing about the attitude of the ungodly, declared: “And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.” (Isaiah 22:13). Such description should not be used for those aspiring for salvation. According to St. Paul “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30,31). Earlier, he charged the Christians at Rome to live a pattern of living which will make them offer their bodies as it were a sacrifice unto God in a way that God would accept. Because of the knowledge that the things this life has to offer are ephemeral (1 John 2:15-17) he encouraged them therefore not to be “conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable and perfect, will of God.” – Romans 12:1, 2.

No sacrifice will be too much to pay to win the glorious promise of life eternal and other blessings. The choice is ours to make. As recommended by the God of our Salvation, let us “choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.” – Deuteronomy 30:19.

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