Liz’s Morning Devotional: Scripture selected from Upper Room
May 6, 2022
Read Ephesians 4:17-28
17 So I’m telling you this, and I insist on it in the Lord: you shouldn’t live your life like the Gentiles anymore. They base their lives on pointless thinking, 18 and they are in the dark in their reasoning. They are disconnected from God’s life because of their ignorance and their closed hearts. 19 They are people who lack all sense of right and wrong, and who have turned themselves over to doing whatever feels good and to practicing every sort of corruption along with greed. 20 But you didn’t learn that sort of thing from Christ. 21 Since you really listened to him and you were taught how the truth is in Jesus, 22 change the former way of life that was part of the person you once were, corrupted by deceitful desires. 23 Instead, renew the thinking in your mind by the Spirit 24 and clothe yourself with the new person created according to God’s image in justice and true holiness. 25 Therefore, after you have gotten rid of lying, Each of you must tell the truth to your neighbor because we are parts of each other in the same body. 26 Be angry without sinning. Don’t let the sun set on your anger. 27 Don’t provide an opportunity for the devil. 28 Thieves should no longer steal. Instead, they should go to work, using their hands to do good so that they will have something to share with whoever is in need.
Good Morning, Create in us a clean heart!
Back in my days as a full-time piano teacher, I spent many hours trying to help my young students learn to play the piano. As with most any skill that we are working on developing, one of the primary requirements is to practice. Now there are many attitudes that exist among piano students and piano teachers. Many teachers ask even their youngest students to practice a specific amount of time each week.
For the sake of my story, let’s say that the required time is 60 minutes. I have had many students who would plan to practice that entire 60 minutes in one sitting, and then their chosen time wasn’t available because of some unexpected other things. Of course, then they would arrive at their lesson without the benefit of practicing, but quite confident in their excuses. Instead of this approach, I encouraged my students to practice a few minutes every day instead of sixty minutes once a week. First, that is a better way to build the muscle memory necessary for learning to play the piano, and second, it is easier to carve out ten minutes in our day than sixty minutes.
Let’s apply these ideas to our spiritual life, how many times do we plan to spend time with God and that time gets interrupted by life happening around us. God doesn’t require us to fill out our practice sheet to show our efforts, and God doesn’t determine when we should spend time praying and studying the Word. Being in a relationship with God is not about checking a box. God leaves all of the logistics up to us and is available to listen 24/7.
God is with us when we say a quick thank you or utter a short prayer, and God is with us when we need hours to work through our thoughts. Just like building that muscle memory when developing a skill, frequent communication with God helps build our relationship with our loving parent who is always ready to listen and show us the way. Do not make excuses because you can’t find time to share your life with God! When we are weary, when we are anxious, and when we are burdened by our troubles, God is waiting to take these earthly worries from us and give us peace.
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:28-29
Loving and Gracious God, Thank You for loving us. Help us reach out when we need You. Thank You. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen
Thought for the day: Time spent in God’s word gives rest to my weary soul.
Embrace the Peace of Christ! Pastor Liz
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