From the Kitchen Table

The Game of Life: Day 101
Navigating Life’s Highway: Danger

Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. Romans 1:24

The road becomes dangerous when people live in the lusts of their hearts and loath the purpose of their bodies. You can’t prepare for or understand their decisions in life. Our bodies were made to house the Holy Spirit and to honor the Lord of God. But when use our bodies to live in the lusts of a lost and lonely heart, we’re sure to find disappointment and dishonor. People living with disappointment and dishonor are desultory, unpredictable, haphazard. This is a dangerous lifestyle that is dangerous to everyone else on the road. Recognize it and resist it. You won’t be sad or sorry you did.

The Game of Life             Day 100

Navigating Life’s Highway:  Judgment Continued

Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. ²⁵ For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.                Romans 1:24-25

Our hearts live on love or lust.  We were made for love, the love of God, but we can settle for lust, the lust of man.  We were created to host the Holy Spirit but Adam’s choice to disbelieve and disobey forced the Holy Spirit to leave.  God is honorable, not hateful.  Now we all must choose to live in or for God’s love or man’s lust.  It all hinges on who and what we believe.  And it’s not always a clear and easy decision, we can find ourselves living in lust by simply accepting a lesser, smaller, version of God.  However, the lusts of the flesh cannot satisfy the love need of the heart.  So here comes judgment, revealing our bad decisions so that we can make a good decision to accept God’s love for us.

The Game of Life             Day 99

Navigating Life’s Highway:  Judgment Continued

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. ²¹ For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened                     Romans 1:20-21

Judgment begins with our choices, not our consequences.  Often we begin with the consequences of our choices rather than the choices of our consequences.  The moment we choose to no longer honor God we called forth the horrors of godlessness.  God is not hateful, He is honorable, and He will honor our right to choose.  But praise God, through trust and thanksgiving, we can choose God for our lives again.  God’s compassion is bigger than our choices, but we have to choose.

The Game of Life  Day 98

Navigating Life’s Highway:  Judgment Continued

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, ¹⁹ because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.            Romans 1:18-19

Wrath doesn’t just come on those who do wrong, it comes after those who choose wrong.  Wrath follows wrong and it will show up in our lives, our health, our relationships, our finances and even in our dreams.  We don’t just make mistakes; we make the mistake of rejecting the truth.  “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth…”  The truth is that we live in sin because we know Satan, but we live in salvation when we know the Savior.  Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life…”  The Bible says that Satan is a liar.  Wrath follows wrong because wrong follows rejection of right and it shows up on our lives like mustard on a white shirt.  Choose truth by choosing the truthful One.

The Game of Life  Day 97

Navigating Life’s Highway:  Judgment Continued

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, ¹⁹ because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.  Romans 1:18-19

It’s important to understand wrath and judgment because if we don’t understand either one, we will live underneath both.  There is the law that man posts along the highway to curb man’s actions and correct man’s attitude.  Then there’s the light of God’s word, God’s voice, which changes man’s attitudes and corrects man’s actions.  Judgment and wrath are the end result of rebellion toward either.  But wrath is at the other end of wrong.  Jeremiah the prophets wrote, “Your own wickedness will correct you.” (Jer 2:19)  God is not hateful, God is honorable and He will honor the choices we make along this highway of life.  But understand, disbelief and disobedience to God’s voice, word, will, ends in demonic abuse.

The Game of Life  Day 96

Navigating Life’s Highways:  Judgment Continued

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, ¹⁹ because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them .           Romans 1:18-19

God hates sin but loves the sinner.  That is absolutely true!  This highway of life is paved with love to be traveled in love.  Those things that interfere with this love are left to face these consequences.  God’s wrath is the experiencing of our wrong.  God gives us what we think we want.  It’s just like the story of the Prodigal Son who chose to leave the loving love only to experience the loveless life.  His father never quit loving him, but the kid found himself without love.  Don’t mistake God’s response as our rejection.  Judgment is woven into creation to keep us walking in His compassion.  God loves us so much that He lets us choose but He loves us so much that He chosen to love us anyway.  Remember that fact!

The Game of Life             Day 95

Navigating Life’s Highways

Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Galatians 6:10

God has not only given us the possibility of living in what is excellent but He’s also given us the opportunity to live for what’s excellent.  Anyone can live for the inferior.  God has given us this opportunity, this moment, this life, to do what is excellent.  But it’s something we must choose.  It’s all about wanting what is good or excellent for ourselves and others.  Because of sin, we must discover and desire what is excellent.  When we start living in and living for what is excellent, the highways of life become better, safer.  Don’t be deceived, God is not mocked.  A man, a believer, a church, they all reap what they sow.  This world is filled with inferior living, choose what is excellent.  Show the world something different, something better, Jesus did!

The Game of Life             Day 94

Navigating Life’s Highways

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up                      Galatians 6:9

God has given us the opportunity to live in excellence.  When God tells us to do “good”, He’s pointing us to what is excellent.   Paul writes, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (Philippians 4:8)  God gives us the opportunity to live in what’s excellent, good.  Then He tells us no to give up because there is a reward, harvest, for those who don’t give up.  Excellence isn’t something we just do, it’s something we must desire.  Anyone can do inferior, excellence takes energy, effort, and expectation for ourselves and others.  Excellence is what we find in God’s presence.

The Kitchen Table Devotional:  The Game of Life  Day 93

Navigating Life’s Highways

Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.                         Galatians 6:8

Our Father in Heaven has big plans for our lives that are eternal.  Life is God’s will for us, and His love creates life.  Love always creates life.  God says, “Do not be deceived.”  We can be deceived, it happened to Adam, and it can happen to us.  Understand this, our enemy is defeated but he is not dead.  However, the devil can’t do whatever he wants, he must work through something to bring us into agreement with his dark will.  That something can be our flesh, our sinful, human, nature.  We can be deceived by the appetites of our flesh and those appetites can and will take us down the wrong highways in life.  Feed the flesh and we fall into the hands of our foe.  Feed our faith and we will find ourselves in the hands of our Father.  The way we live is determined by what we believe.  We build belief by being in the Bible.

The Kitchen Table Devotional:          The Game of Life  Day 92

Navigating Life’s Highways

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. Galatians 6:7

Maybe the greatest struggle in life is to see the truth.  There’s a darkness in this world that began with deception.  There was no moral darkness in God’s creation, the devil brought it through deception when he became jealous of Adam.  Our enemy has no greater plan, promise, or power, so deception is his only solution.   The only way to see our soul and set our steps is to see and know the truth.  God’s word empowers us to do both, see our soul, and set our steps.  That’s the power of God’s word, God’s truth!  The truth is that God is not mocked, His word is and will always be the truth.  And when we deny the truth, we develop our trouble.  A man reaps what he sows’  We can’t just believe in God, we must believe God.  We must believe God for the truth about our souls and our steps.  If we let the truth speak to our soul, we can follow the truth with our steps.  If we are warped on the inside, we will be wobbly on the outside.  We must let the word of God speak truth to our spirit so that we can step to the truth in our lives.