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This Week’s Devotional Topic
THE BEST
Think about what it means to be “best” at something, to give the “best”, to look “best”. Today, let’s look into scripture at God and “His best”, us and “Our best” and that for Christians, “the best” is yet to come!
His BEST
I have heard it said that God always gives His BEST to those who leave the choice with him.
Genesis 1:31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. [His best] And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
We are told in I Corinthians 12 about the “gifts” such as healings, helps, governments and diversities of tongues and in verse 31 we are told to covet, to desire the BEST gifts and then the author says that there is even a “more excellent way”. That is where we step into I Corinthians 13 where God describes His greatest gift, His absolute BEST for us is His LOVE.
Jeremiah the prophet declares to Israel that God’s plans are ‘best’…
Jeremiah 29:10-13 “For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
Our BEST
One of the many sayings I’ve shared with our children is it is always BEST to obey, the first time, right away.
Ephesians 5:15-21 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
II Timothy 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
It is important that we do good, our best
Micah 6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
Romans 12:1,2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
The BEST is yet to come
We live in a world filled with tests and challenges, opportunities for growth. And we have some good times also. But the best of times here are no comparison with the BEST that is yet to come. Heaven, where God is, where we will see Him as He is, we will be like Christ. And where He is, there will be no SIN. No Penalty for our sin, sin will have no Power there for there will be no Presence of sin.
John 14:1-4 “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in Me. There is more than enough room in My Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with Me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going.”
I Corinthians 2:9 That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him.”
I Thessalonians 4:13-18 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.
This week’s Scripture
Ezra 8:21,22; Genesis 1:31; Jeremiah 29:10-13; Ephesians 5:15-21; II Timothy 2:15; Micah 6:8; Romans 12:1,2; John 14:1-4; I Corinthians 2:9 and I Thessalonians 4:13-18
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