“Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and depart from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and strength to your bones.” Proverbs 3:7-8
We often feel we know better than the LORD God and His Word. But the Scriptures admonish us not to be wise in our own eyes but, rather, to fear and respect the LORD God, listen to His Word, repent of the sin and evil in our lives, and seek God’s forgiveness in Jesus Christ’s innocent sufferings and death in our stead. That will bring health to our bodies and strength to our bones.
O LORD God, Your Word is right; I am wrong. Pardon my sin for the sake of Christ Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross, and lead me to walk according to Your holy Word. Amen.
“For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For each one shall bear his own load.” Galatians 6:3-5
We often think of ourselves as good and are quick to point out the shortcomings of others. But to do so is foolishness and self-deception. Rather, we should examine our own lives and works against the standard of God’s Word so that we might repent of the sin and evil in our own lives and rejoice in the good that God has graciously worked in us by His Holy Spirit, for each of us will be accountable for his own burden.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Ps. 139:23-24). Amen.
“But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.” Galatians 4:8-11
Before hearing and believing the gospel of forgiveness and life eternal through faith in Christ Jesus, people served false gods of their own imagination through earthly rituals and rites, such as observing certain days, certain seasons, certain foods, and other man-made religious practices. Why would we, after receiving, through faith in Christ and His cross, pardon and forgiveness and the promise of eternal life, go back to trying to serve God with such weak and elemental practices? To do so is to lose the true faith and God’s blessings in Christ.
Grant that I trust in You alone, O Christ, and not trust in man-made religious works and rites for my salvation. Amen.
“O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” Galatians 3:1-3
Sadly, many people are also deceived today. They hear the Word of God, and the Spirit leads them to trust in Christ Jesus and His cross for pardon and eternal salvation; however, they foolishly turn back to the law and traditions, relying on their own works to be acceptable in God’s sight.
Graciously keep me in the true and saving faith, O Lord, and grant that I not rely on my own works under the law but on the perfect sacrifice of Christ Jesus, my Savior. In His name, I pray. Amen.
[Scripture is quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.]
“Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity, and revive me in Your ways.” Psalm 119:37
The ways and things of this world are vanity and emptiness; it is foolish to look upon them with desire. The way of the LORD is life; we pray that God would graciously show us His way and give us life in communion with Him through faith in Jesus Christ, our Savior.
Grant that I not desire the things of this world, O Lord, but desire You and the life in Christ Jesus revealed in Your Word. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
