Day 2 Devotional

In today's devotional I will be covering two different passages. First there is 1 Samuel 16:7, it reads.



But the Lord said to Samuel, " Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."



Second there is Revelation 2:3-5 that reads.



You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did first. If you do repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.



I believe what is being told in the first verse is that we can not judge someone on what they look like but what is on their heart. I think the best way to sum this one up was done best by an author named Dale Beaver in his book "Before the Thunder Rolls."



Though a person may appear to be loaded with credentials on the outside, he or she may

lack the most important characteristic- the heart of a servant under the authority of God.

That is the trait in us that God values most.



In the second verse the apostle John records Jesus' words to a church in a place called Ephesus, there Jesus warns the church to remember Him first in everything that they do. I think that we often forget to keep Jesus first in all aspects of our lives. If do not keep first Him first in our lives, how can he bless the things that we do? It is tough to give praise to Jesus even when things are going bad, but we will bow to Him and ask for help. When things go good we often chose not to, thinking that it is our talent that did it. I have to ask, who gave you the talent? It is God that gives us our talents. Good or bad we always have to give praise to God and keep Him first.



I think that today we need to ask ourselves the following questions. When did you last look for what is in someone's heart and not what they look like? When was the last time we put Him first? Then the challenge that I put out there today is 2 things. First look for what is in someone's heart, instead of what they look like. Second put God first in everything that you do.