God's Word Is ...

... Sweeter than Honey

Bible Verse of the Day

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Psalm 119:103

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WORDS OF MINISTRY:

Psalm 119 is of course the longest chapter found in Scripture, and is known for its teaching on God’s law. This Psalm is not simply about what to do and not do, but about how God’s law leads us into a deeper devotion with him than the things of this world ever could. In Psalm 119:103 the words of God are said to be sweeter than honey.

Honey was and is used today as a natural sweetener. God’s words or laws bring sweetness to the life we live. Our tongues crave a sweet dessert or treat as our lives should crave the sweetness of God’s word if we are followers of Jesus

(1 Peter 2:1-3).

This desire does not come from good works or going to church, but from the one and only giver of sweet things, God (Psalm 119:18). While we can learn much from God’s word as we listen to a pastor preach or a musician sing we shouldn’t rely on just these as our honey.

We need to learn to enjoy God’s word by ourselves also. As we look at our lives we can see many things that bring sweetness. Unfortunately, many of us rely on things of the world to bring satisfaction to our lives.

C.S. Lewis said, “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

Ask God to open your eyes to behold His wondrous law Psalm119:18

Liberating Gift of Forgiveness

The Place to Begin

Read the Scripture in full context: Mark 1:1-8

Key Verse is verse 4:

And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

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Today’s Thoughts from Today’s Scripture:

John announced this great word: that repentance is the way people come to God, and the result is the forgiveness of sins. The greatest blessing people can experience is to have their sins forgiven. This is what the people who streamed out of Jerusalem to listen to John were looking for, and this is what they found. They found forgiveness of sins, and it came by way of repentance.

That is why the prophet Isaiah said John's message would be like a great bulldozer, building a highway in the desert for God to reach the isolated stranger in the midst of the wilderness. Without a road you cannot drive out into the desert in order to help somebody. You must have a road, a highway in the desert. John was God's bulldozer to build that highway. You know how roads are built—exactly as Isaiah describes in chapter 40: Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. (Isaiah 40:4).

That is what repentance does. It brings down all the high peaks of pride that we stand on and refuse to admit are wrong. It takes the depressed areas of our life, where we beat and torture and punish ourselves, and lifts them up. It takes the crooked places, where we have lied and deceived, and straightens them out. And it makes the rough places plain. Then God is there at that instance of repentance.

John brought people to Christ the only way they can come—through acknowledgment of guilt. When people come this way, God meets them, cleanses them, and forgives them. John demonstrated that by the baptism he performed. However there is a greater baptism — that of the Holy Spirit. And on the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit of God came, Peter stood up and offered people two things: Forgiveness of sins and the promise of the Holy Spirit. From that time on, God has made these things available to any man or woman who will begin at the beginning—the place of repentance.

Have you ever repented? Have you ever changed your mind, stopped defending yourself and trying to blame everything on others, and said, No, Lord, no one else is to blame, only I. This is the way I am—and I need help? That is where God will meet you. He always meets humans at that point, washes away guilt, cleanses, and forgives. That is where you will find forgiveness of sins. If you have never repented before, I urge you to do so now. God will meet you right there. In the quiet of your own heart, where God alone hears, you can say to Him, Lord, I repent. Lord, send me the Holy Spirit through Jesus. And He will.

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Lord, thank You that You promise to meet me in this place of repentance. I come to You now on that basis.

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Life Application:

A new year, even a new life, can begin with the liberating gift of forgiveness. Have we understood and embraced the means by which this blessing may be known?

PRAYER: