4/5 Maranatha Devotion

Mark 7:6-9 Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

So many today think they are religious and think their good deeds will outweigh the bad and hopefully they will make it into Heaven. However, many's heart is wicked and there is no good thing found in it. Even at its best, as with the Pharisees, there is not enough to enter Heaven. If it were not so, Christ would have died in vain.

But today's devotional is not about the Pharisees but it deals with doing a sincere moral inventory on your heart. Be honest with yourself for once in your life. Why? Because where you spend eternity depends on you being honest with yourself! Ask yourself these questions:

  1. Is your heart truly dedicated to God and the things of God? Only you can answer that. What do you think about the moment you wake up? What do you think about during the day? Is it your heart's desire to serve God?  What do you think about when you are alone? Mother Theresa was one of the greatest benefactors of mankind. However, even at the end of her life, she questioned where she would spend eternity and knew she was lost as lost could be. Even after so many good deeds, she had no assurance and knew she was not going to Heaven!

  2. Do you truly worship God or is it honestly only through your church? What I mean is, do you think about God at all after you walk out the church doors? Do your thoughts revolve around God, His Word, righteous living? Or do you predominantly think about work, your next party, or hanging out with friends?  The Bible says that what is in your heart will come out of your mouth.  The Bible also says that a good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.  What kind of fruit are you bearing?

  3. Are the commandments/instructions you follow in your church a priority in your life? If so, why do you keep them? Is it because the church says so or is it because the Bible says so?  Is it because you love God and want to serve Him?  Do you keep these commandments because you have to or because you desire to do God's will?

  4. If the Bible contradicts one of your church traditions, do you continue to do it or do you figure the church "fathers" know better and so you follow what they say instead?

  5. Does your church have their own instruction book like the Book of Mormon or something similar? If so, does it take precedence over God's Word making God's Word irrelevant?


Moral inventory is something everyone should do and the sooner the better.  God desires to be your Father. God desires fellowship with you. God desires to guide you. What are your desires today? Do they revolve around God or the here and now? If you desire to be a child of God, you must be born again according to Scripture. Baptism at birth does not allow the baby to make a conscious decision. A baby cannot be born again because it does not even realize it has sinned yet. However, you can. You must be born again to be able to go to Heaven.
~John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

You must recognize that not one of your good works is going to be good enough for your entrance card into Heaven. If it were, Christ died in vain (Ephesians 2:8-9).  Salvation is ALL about Christ and has NOTHING to do with any good deed we do. Accepting the fact that Christ is the Son of God, who came to earth to live a sinless life, died on the cross and shed His own blood so He could pay the price of our sin and penalty of Hell. He rose from the dead and now sits in Heaven as our King and Saviour. That is the Gospel full and complete. Nothing more, nothing less.

Please, reader, be sincere and honest with yourself for once in your life.  If you are not a true born-again Christ, you will know.  Today's devotional will sound like mumbo jumbo to you.  You will pass judgment on me and will criticize my writing.  That's good!  :smile: I don't mind as long as my devotional will get you to thinking!

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