Inside and out. Daily Devotional - April 12, 2010

Daily Bible Reading - Leviticus 16, Psalm 19, Proverbs 30, I Timothy 1

A woman once said to me “I am so holy that sometimes I go days--or even weeks without sinning!” In my head I prayed to God, “Lord, please never let me become that prideful.” I prayed that because I have read Psalm 19, and I understand that there are times we sin and we don’t even realize we sin!

12 Who can discern his errors?
Forgive my hidden faults.
13 Keep your servant also from willful sins;
may they not rule over me.
Then will I be blameless,
innocent of great transgression.
14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Verse 12 says, “Lord forgive my hidden faults.” There are times our thought life or our motives are wrong and we aren’t even aware of it! Then verse 13 speaks of willful sins. There are sins that we willfully commit that we need to pray don’t rule over us.

There are times when I ask God for forgiveness and then I ask a second time for forgiveness for those things I am not even aware of! I want to give God every opportunity to purify my heart and make me holy as He is holy.

Many times we look back on our day and try to pinpoint times where we committed those willful sins. Let’s not become so focused on those willful sins that we forget that we also have hidden faults. Just because we haven’t done X, Y and Z this week doesn’t mean that we are super-holy and have it all figured out!

I love the end of this Psalm “May the words of my mouth AND the mediation of my heart be pleasing in your sight…” It is not just about me avoiding sin with my words, but it is about my hearts meditation pleasing God.

Matthew 23:25-26 says, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.”

Let’s not be like the Pharisees who were focused on cleaning the outside of the cup, but neglected the inside. I thank God today for his amazing Grace and transforming power to cleanse us inside and out!

Thanks for reading,
Mel