Nov 16

After calling us to be pure vessels of honor for the Lord in 2 Tim. 2:20, 21, God's Word then calls on us to do our part in this cleansing work. We know that only the blood of Jesus can make us clean in God's eyes, but we do have a part to play in continuing to live a life of purity after this initial cleansing in Jesus.

We are to flee the evil desires of youth, and to pursue righteousness. These are two choices that we can make, two divergent paths that we must follow. We must flee one path and pursue the other -- a negative and a positive. We must set our selves to reject the one and follow the other.

These are conscious, determined choices and actions that we must set ourselves to do, not just go along with the crowd or the everyday flow of life, for to do that is to ensure that we will be swept away with the flood of sin and evil that so engulfs the world.

In his vision of the end of the world, the last days of evil that will sweep over this planet, John saw the devil portrayed as a great dragon who pursued the church of God, portrayed as a woman. And he saw from the dragon's mouth a river spew forth that threatened to sweep away the woman.

We have already seen how the words that we speak have great power for good or evil, and in this day we live in, certainly we have seen the public acceptance of profanity and swearing and all manner of speaking evil words. If we are not careful to keep ourselves clean from this torrent of filthy language, we can easily find ourselves swept away, just as John saw in his vision.

Scripture for today: 2 Timothy 2:20, 21; Rev. 12:13-15
Thought for today: Dirty vessels spew forth dirty words; clean vessels speak words of righteousness and purity.
Prayer for today: Guard my lips, O Lord, that I may never dishonor your holiness by words that come from my mouth.

NOV 16