Looking After Number One
Nehemiah 9:17 They refused to listen. They forgot the amazing things you did with them. They became stubborn. They decided to return to Egypt and become slaves again. “But you are a forgiving God! You are kind and full of mercy. You are patient and full of love. So you didn’t leave them!”
“Yeah, sure, I believe in Jesus,” we think to ourselves as we toddle along merrily through life developing a finely honed sense of self, a sense of entitlement, a sense of comfort … that works against God in our lives. Too harsh, do you think?
I had a cat once called Doggy (really!). But she was very definitely a cat, always looking after number one as cats do.
And I was thinking the other day how much like cats we’ve become. We’re pretty adept at looking after numero uno as priorities one, two and three in our lives, which makes for a pretty ugly world when you think about it.
So let’s do that. Let’s stop and think this through. God comes along and sets us free from the bondage and consequences of our sin through Jesus, who died so that you and I could be forgiven and rose again so that you and I could walk, as the Apostle Paul puts it, in newness of life.
So we’ve been set free from the slavery of our sin, and yet as we get all wrapped up in ourselves once more, it’s as though we want to return to that slavery.
Nehemiah 9:17 They refused to listen. They forgot the amazing things you did with them. They became stubborn. They decided to return to Egypt and become slaves again. “But you are a forgiving God! You are kind and full of mercy. You are patient and full of love. So you didn’t leave them!”
Maybe the reason God brought us together over this Scripture today is for a wakeup call. Maybe we’ve been tempted to regress back into our slavery, back into ourselves, back into the bondage and consequences of our sin.
But wake up …God is a forgiving God; kind and full of mercy; patient and full of love. He hasn’t left you.
That’s His Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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