Weekly Devotional - June 7, 2013

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken
and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise."

Psalm 51:17 NIV

 

Everyone has a relationship with God. Don't misunderstand - I'm not a universalist who believes everyone will be saved. I believe that a personal, transformative, saving relationship with Jesus Christ is the only way to be right with God and be in his eternal presence in heaven.

 

But God has reached out to every person to offer the way to that kind of relationship. Since God has contacted us through Jesus Christ's sacrificial death, we everyone has a relationship. Although for those who have not placed faith in Jesus for their salvation that relationship is simply a line of communication where God has initiated a conversation, they may or may not have replied in some fashion, and no salvation has taken place.

 

It's kind of like this: my wife says there is no way some of my "friends" on Facebook are really my friends. Good point! We have some connection but may not really be friends outside the Facebook environment. Being a friend of God because you clicked a button (or whatever motion you may have gone through) is not the same as being a friend of God because you know him intimately.

 

Making a sacrifice to God without a heart that mourns for the sin (see Matthew 5:4) is an empty attempt to appease him. God despises that kind of sacrifice - that attempt to be right with him will not accomplish what you may think. But a sacrifice from a broken and contrite heart is acceptable. Coming to him with the right attitude is what matters.

 

Sometimes our children say "please" and "thank you" but with a bitter attitude. I'd rather have them say something, even if not the "right words," with the right attitude than to just repeat the magic phrase.

 

Here's a timeline: a person sins, the Holy Spirit convicts of that sin, the person confesses with a pure heart, God forgives. Pray that God will help you have the attitude that represents a pure heart.