Tag Archives: the scriptures

“Walk in obedience to all that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.”  (Deuteronomy 5:33, NIV)

The benefits of obedience to God are clearly set-forth by Moses in today’s scripture.

Writing to the Children of Israel, the benefits noted are: Life, prosperity, and longevity in a good place.  Most people find these benefits desirable, but one cannot truly apprehend them by following a “trial and error” method to living based on our own limited experience and point of view. God’s word provides us with the blueprint for life, prosperity, and longevity in a good place.

Obedience to God’s word delivers to us these benefits — and a personal relationship with our heavenly Father.  – Luther

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“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. . .”  (Psalm 1:1a, KJV)

There is a lot of bad advice out there.  Some of it is “conventional wisdom.”  Some of it is based on superstition.  Some of it is based on half-truths.  All of it is beneath the disciple of Jesus.

The children of God have a higher, truer, more enduring counsel: The Scriptures.

Obtaining the counsel (advice) that blesses us, and those around us, is not hard to obtain; but it challenges our resolve to spend time in the presence of God’s written word.

Like an attentive father to his child, the Lord God will guide our steps toward everlasting life, peace, and joy; the things that ungodly counsel promises, but never delivers.  – Luther

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““All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. . . The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” (Isaiah 40:6b, 8, NIV)

In the spring of each year, we are reminded of the splendor of nature as lawns and fields green-up; and flowers add color to every scene. It is wonderful to behold, but we know it lasts only for a season — even if it is repeated next spring.

Isaiah reminds us that we, too, are like the grass and the flowers: Magnificent in many ways, but also fleeting. In the context of more than 6,000 years of recorded history, even a lifespan 90 years is less than a dim flash.

Isaiah also reminds us that though we are less than a vapor, God’s word endures for all of time and eternity. If we desire any permanence in what we do or say, it must be enveloped in and consistent with God’s word. Such consistency comes only through the reading and the heeding of the scriptures.  – Luther

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