JMD Devotional 195 Zephaniah 1:12 Men Settling on their Lees
And at that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish the men who [like old wine] are thickening and settling on their lees, who say in their hearts, The Lord will not do good, nor will He do evil.
I am partially responsible for my own burnout and workaholism; but the other side of the 20-80 coin (20% of the people doing 80% of the work) is that my experience of church life is one of seeing tremendous needs go unfulfilled because many capable and talented people were unwilling to serve (except on their own terms). Many seniors said that they ‘paid their dues’ up North and that they came down to Florida to retire. Instead of sharing the wisdom and experience of those years with the next generation of believers, they invest their remaining lives on shopping and golf and travel. Am I being too critical to state that the same people will be the first to complain about the sorry state of the youth in the church and the disintegration of families? If God spared not the natural vine (Israel); the in-grafted branches (the Christian Church) should take careful notice! Zephaniah says God lights a lamp to find the men settling on their lees (going to seed); the implication is that doing nothing to resist evil and doing nothing to promote good are both conduct worthy of punishment.
Dear God,
It is not just seniors, Lord; everybody is growing old one day at a time; each day writes a page of our autobiographies. Please help me to number my days; to not waste precious time on vain things; to invest carefully on getting other people into Your kingdom as maturing Christians. May You not have to light a lamp to find me; make me a faithful servant of the true light of Jesus Christ.
Amen
All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by
the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
*New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)
If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to
my daily devotional, please forward.
jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com
Short, concise, thought-provoking.
More features:
http://SaintJamesPoetry.blogspot.com
http://recoverydevotional.blogspot.com/
http://jamesezadventures.blogspot.com/
I am partially responsible for my own burnout and workaholism; but the other side of the 20-80 coin (20% of the people doing 80% of the work) is that my experience of church life is one of seeing tremendous needs go unfulfilled because many capable and talented people were unwilling to serve (except on their own terms). Many seniors said that they ‘paid their dues’ up North and that they came down to Florida to retire. Instead of sharing the wisdom and experience of those years with the next generation of believers, they invest their remaining lives on shopping and golf and travel. Am I being too critical to state that the same people will be the first to complain about the sorry state of the youth in the church and the disintegration of families? If God spared not the natural vine (Israel); the in-grafted branches (the Christian Church) should take careful notice! Zephaniah says God lights a lamp to find the men settling on their lees (going to seed); the implication is that doing nothing to resist evil and doing nothing to promote good are both conduct worthy of punishment.
Dear God,
It is not just seniors, Lord; everybody is growing old one day at a time; each day writes a page of our autobiographies. Please help me to number my days; to not waste precious time on vain things; to invest carefully on getting other people into Your kingdom as maturing Christians. May You not have to light a lamp to find me; make me a faithful servant of the true light of Jesus Christ.
Amen
All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by
the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
*New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)
If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to
my daily devotional, please forward.
jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com
Short, concise, thought-provoking.
More features:
http://SaintJamesPoetry.blogspot.com
http://recoverydevotional.blogspot.com/
http://jamesezadventures.blogspot.com/
Labels: addiction, Christian, devotional, recovery, sex
posted by James M. Dinsmore at 6:11 AM
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