PSALM 119:1-3

You’re blessed when you stay on course, walking steadily on the road revealed by God. You’re blessed when you follow his directions, doing your best to find him. That’s right—you don’t go off on your own; you walk straight along the road he set. (MSG)

TO PONDER

I was at a P&C Cake Stall last week when I got into a discussion with some of the other parents about discipline, mainly about counting to three to warn the boys about the seriousness of the issue they needed to respond to. We used this method on both our boys and for the most part, I personally, never got past two before their behaviour was altered. In the discussion with the other parents, I confessed to my relief that I never actually made it to three as I had never had a plan for the consequences if I got that far.

See, as a child I was smacked, so the result of arriving at the dreaded number three was a sore bum as a result of its collision with a hand/wooden-spoon/belt. Our boys were not smacked but there were consequences through the loss of privileges ie. Things they enjoyed.

Today’s verses address what happens when you obey God, when you follow His ways, you are blessed, you receive the rewards of His grace.

John 10:10 is used often when we talk about the vision of LifeWay in regard to “Living Fully”. The John 10:10 life is a promise of overflowing life and it is the result of God’s blessing through grace as a consequence of following His road. Just as the loss of privileges was the consequence of our boys choosing not to follow our family road so too not following God’s road results in not living in the blessing of the John 10:10 life. 

It’s not a punishment, just the natural consequence of deviating from the path.

PRAYER: Almighty Father, I praise you for all the blessings you lavishly share on me as your child, for the blessing of grace and an overflowing life as a consequence of following your path, help me to walk it daily. Amen.

Today's devotion written by Danny Brock, LifeWay Westside