Do For Others
READ: Psalm 2
Have you ever gone against a friend or loved one just for your own benefit, not caring if he or she got hurt? Maybe you have let a secret leak out that a friend told you in strict confidence, just because a “popular” person wanted to know. You wanted to be accepted by that person, so you gave in. Or, maybe you ditched your friends because at the last minute you got a date with that great guy or gal.
Psalm 2 talks about how people go against God’s law in order to insure personal gain in some aspect of their life. “Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?” We may love God, but often we fail to follow His laws that He has given us. We become greedy and selfish, and, as a consequence, hurt our Lord and others for our own benefit. By worldly standards, it is everyone for themselves, so this selfishness is okay. Christians, however, should act by God’s generous and loving standards, not by the sinful world’s standards.
All Christians want to obey God and keep His commands. However, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Fortunately, God saves all who repent of their sins and believe. For it is written, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.”
Let us not give in to temptation and sin and only look out for ourselves, but rather obey God and help others.
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT: What have you done today to be God’s disciple? In what ways can we help not to put our personal gain first and foremost? In what ways are Christ’s standards and the world’s standards different?
PRAYER SUGGESTIONS: Pray to be strong enough to face the world and its temptation head on. Pray for those who can’t do this. Pray for those who are not spiritually-minded.