GPS for the week of September 1st, 2024
“But Be Doers Of The Word”
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“We must learn to look less at what people do or don’t do and
more at what they suffer. The only fruitful relationship with
people-and especially with the weak-is love, that is, the will to
have fellowship with them. God himself did not despise human
beings but became human himself for our sake (Dietrich
Bonhoeffer).”
Dear Lord, thank you for your gracious love. Help us to
rejoice as we share your love with others. Amen.
Monday 9.2 “The time of singing has come.”
Song of Solomon 2:8-13
“The voice of my beloved! Look, he comes, leaping upon the
mountains, bounding over the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a
young stag. Look, there he stands behind our wall, gazing in at the
windows, looking through the lattice. My beloved speaks and says to
me: ‘Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; for now the winter
is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth;
the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtle-dove is heard
in our land. The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in
blossom; they give forth fragrance, Arise, my love, my fair one, and
come away’.” What a joyful song! This is the joy of knowing our
Lord.
Tuesday 9.3 “My heart overflows with a goodly theme.”
Psalm 45:1-2, 6-9
“My heart overflows with a goodly theme; I address my verses to the
king; my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe. You are the most
handsome of men; grace is poured upon your lips; therefore God has
blessed you for ever… Your throne, O God, endures for ever and
ever. Your royal sceptre is a sceptre of equity; you love
righteousness and hate wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has
anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions; your
robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia. From ivory
palaces stringed instruments make you glad; daughters of kings are
among your ladies of honour; at your right hand stands the queen in
gold of Ophir.” We may join in celebrating the hope and joy we have
in our Lord Jesus.
Wednesday 9.4 “But take care and watch yourselves closely.”
Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9
“So now, Israel, give heed to the statutes and ordinances that I am
teaching you to observe, so that you may live to enter and occupy the
land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. You
must neither add anything to what I command you nor take away
anything from it, but keep the commandments of the Lord your God
with which I am charging you… You must observe them diligently, for
this will show your wisdom and discernment to the peoples, who,
when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is
a wise and discerning people!’ For what other great nation has a god
so near to it as the Lord our God is whenever we call to him? And
what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this
entire law that I am setting before you today? But take care and
watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your
eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of
your life; make them known to your children and your children’s
children.” Our God is near to us whenever we call to him. He has
promised life for us as we seek to know him.
Thursday 9.5 “Those who do these things shall never be moved.”
Psalm 15
“O Lord, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy
hill? Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right, and speak
the truth from their heart; who do not slander with their tongue, and
do no evil to their friends, nor take up a reproach against their
neighbors; in whose eyes the wicked are despised, but who honour
those who fear the Lord; who stand by their oath even to their hurt;
who do not lend money at interest, and do not take a bribe against
the innocent. Those who do these things shall never be moved.” We
are so easily drawn into hurting others with our criticisms and
malicious intentions. Our Lord wants us to abide with him, living our
lives openly and graciously.
Friday 9.6 “Quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.”
James 1:17-27
“Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above,
coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no
variation or shadow due to change. In fulfilment of his own purpose
he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind
of first fruits of his creatures. You must understand this, my beloved:
let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your
anger does not produce God’s righteousness. Therefore rid
yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and
welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to
save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers
who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not
doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they
look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they
were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty,
and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act-they
will be blessed in their doing. If any think they are religious, and do
not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is
worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father,
is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep
oneself unstained by the world.” Powerful words! James invites us
into the work of our Lord.
Saturday 9.7 “Their hearts are far from me.”
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
“So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, ‘Why do your disciples
not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled
hands?’ He said to them, ‘Isaiah prophesied rightly about you
hypocrites, as it is written, “This people honours me with their lips, but
their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching
human precepts as doctrines.” You abandon the commandment of
God and hold to human tradition.’… Then he called the crowd again
and said to them, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is
nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things
that come out are what defile.’… For it is from within, from the human
heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery,
avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride,
folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a
person’.” These things that come from within so easily destroy us
and the life our Lord desires for us. Let us join Jesus’ disciples and
fill our hearts with his teaching and goodness.