About being self-destructive

Devotional Guide For the week of June 15, 2008

WHAT IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD LIKE?

About being self-destructive


To read the Bible in one year today read, Isaiah 25-27


To Know:

³ŠI blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives for ever;
for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from
generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as
nothing; and he does according to his will in the host of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him,
ŒWhat doest thou?¹² (Dan. 4:34,35)

Sinners do not want the plans of God. We have our own plans.  Sin is going
our own way. We were all born going our own way; therefore, we are all born
in sin. King Nebuchadnezzar learned the self-destructive nature of going his
own way the hard way. On that day when he strutted about his palace and
soliloquized, ³Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty
power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?² the king was on
top of the world. While his deadly words were still on the king¹s lips, God
announced that his kingdom was forfeited and that his mind would be taken
from him. What happened to Nebuchadnezzar will also happen to every one who
will not glorify God for his goodness and grace in their lives.

The hope for Nebuchadnezzar was repentance. Repentance is an about-face. It
is the willingness to turn and go the way of God¹s commandments. Out of his
great grace, the God of glory decided to restore the king to his rightful
mind. Then the king of Babylon praised the King of Kings who now ruled
through Nebuchadnezzar.


To Do:

Am I self-destructive? Do I insist on my own plans? Is the kingship of God
only an idea I accept, but not the way I must act in everyday life? In order
to please God, I must trust Christ explicitly. To not trust the Lord is to
sin. God¹s patience with Nebuchadnezzar came to an end. Our culture tempts
us to try the patience of our Savior. The kingdom of God is manifest where
the human heart believes that God is all in all.



06188$-06188


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