Word for the day Christian Education Forum

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Consecrated Life


Shannon Thomas
Long Island MTC, NY
17 I know, my God, that you search the heart, and take pleasure in uprightness; in the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you. 18 O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our ancestors, keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you.

In this passage, David had been addressing the gifts he had given for the building of the Great Temple. Despite the glory and magnificence of all the gifts that he had provided for the temple, it was not the focus for David and the Israelites. Even with all the splendor of the Temple, David had not forgotten to and give all thanks and praise to God. He acknowledged that all of the gifts that he had given for the building of the temple had belonged and come from God.
 
The beauty of the passage can be found within the integrity of David’s faith. When he says, “all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you” he is clearly aware that the temple is a sign of God’s graciousness and that all he can possibly do is give all the praise back to Him. David gave solemn thanks to the Lord since anything they had or did was because of the Lord’s commitment to them. The last verse, which is when David asks the Lord to give Solomon the same devotion to His commandments as his people had, proves the importance of the integrity behind David’s motives. Despite his sinful past, he did all that he could to give sufficient praise to God and honestly do all things according to the Lord’s will for him and the Israelite people.

Most of us don’t realize that importance of integrity and how much our faith and relationship with God is affected by it. Integrity is so much more than doing the right thing when no one else is watching. It is the act of being wholly obedient to God’s will and His way of living. Integrity is knowing that we are imperfect in our loyalty to God, yet still trying to constantly perfect our relationship with Him. And that means allowing God to venture to the darkest depths of our souls so that he could renew us from within. When we are renewed through Christ, we are then able to live out our faith with full integrity. Once we achieve this integrity in our faith, we are then able to enjoy the freedom that it gives us and we are able to live our lives in a way that praises God.


PRAYER


Lord we thank you for graciously sharing your will with us when we fall short of fulfilling it. We thank you for allowing us to be heirs to your kingdom. We pray for the integrity that David had shown and we ask that you enable us to be loyal to your commands in all that we do. Amen.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Don’t let your sin prevent you from living a life of integrity.

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