It all comes down to the walk: Are we walking with Jesus? Is He guiding us and teaching us every step of the way?

24a A person’s steps are directed by the LORD;

9a Who can say, ” I have kept my [own] heart pure?”

7a The righteous lead blameless lives;

27a The human spirit is where the LORD shines His light;

Why do we do the things we do? Most of what we do is out of routine. Maybe we need to scrutinize our routine to make sure it’s bringing God glory. Is He directing our path or are we just acting out of habit?

A lot of what we do is taught to us by our family and heritage. A good deal is taught by our culture/society. All of it hinges on how we interpret things according to our temperaments. As we can see, there’s a lot of margin for error in our system of learning. Where does God start?! He starts with the heart.

Let’s look at a passage of Scripture that explains what God does for us upon salvation. It is taken from a passage concerning the return of Israel that is still in process. God has chosen to save Israel one soul at a time rather than as a nation. Pray for them that they may hear His voice and respond to the Gospel just as we did!

²⁶ I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit inside you; I will take the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh [that responds to Me].
²⁷ I will put my Spirit inside you and cause you to live by my laws, respect my rulings and obey them. Ezekiel 36:26-27

Our desire as Christians is to respond to His voice, live by His laws, respect His commands and obey Him at every turn. If that desire is not in us, then we had better look at our salvation again and make sure that we have the Holy Spirit inside of us! Are we:

• getting up in the morning hearing His call to sit down with Him and discuss His Word?
• looking at our daily lives and working on getting rid of the things that we have learned from our family and culture that are contrary to what God desires?
• listening closely to the Spirit as He directs our steps?
• trying to die to self and live for Him?
• rejoicing in the daily process, understanding that we are INTERACTING WITH GOD ALMIGHTY?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The book of Romans is a great letter to people who were not raised Jewish (that’s most of us). It explains what salvation is and what godliness is. In chapter 13, he tells us:

¹¹ Besides all this [learning to love our neighbor as we love ourselves], you know at what point of history we stand [the times of the Gentiles may be nearing its end]; so it is high time for you to rouse yourselves from sleep; for the final deliverance is nearer than when we first came to trust. ¹² The night is almost over, the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and arm ourselves with the weapons of light. ¹³ Let us live properly, as people do in the daytime — not partying and getting drunk, not engaging in sexual immorality and other excesses, not quarrelling and being jealous. ¹⁴ Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Yeshua [Jesus] the Messiah; and don’t waste your time thinking about how to provide for the sinful desires of your old nature.

Today, let us focus on Jesus and let everything else go. He will let us know what is worth keeping. He lives for interaction with us; let’s learn to live for interaction with Him.

Abba, I pledge myself today to You and Your will for my life. Even as I go about my daily routine, may You speak to me about what’s important and what is frivolous, what is helpful and what is harmful. May I always be ready to adjust my schedule and my agenda to match Yours. Interrupt me anytime, LORD. I am Your servant. Amen.