Weekly Devotional: Gems From Pastor Jim 3/16/2020

by Jim Hughes

Jer. 13:23 Can an Ethiopian change the color of his skin? Can a leopard take away its spots? Neither can you start doing good, for you always do evil.

You may be able to hide who you are from others, but you can never hide who you are from God. It’s easy to appear to be who we are not. We can do the right things, say the right things, be in the right places, and hang out with the right people, but if the heart is not right with God it doesn’t matter. There are so many of us who know how to come across in a positive light. We want to be looked upon as children of God. We don’t want others to see our down side, the side that is prone to wander away from God.

We may even convince ourselves that all is well with us and God. But, the Lord knows the heart. He knows whether or not we are all show and no go. He does not honor the living of those who are not right with him. If your heart is not right with God, what you do is deemed to be worthless and useless to God.

If you have any question at all about your heart condition before God, examine the Scriptures. Let God’s Word show you how you are doing. God makes it very clear what we need to be like, what we should be doing and not doing, how we should think about things and others. A careful reading of the Word leaves no sin unturned and it shows us the pathway of holy living.

It is imperative that we take seriously our heart condition before God. Before you try to live a Christian life, you must first let Christ make you one. Only Christ can change the heart of man from one that is evil to one that is righteous and holy. Only Jesus can make what we do acceptable to God.

About the Author:

Spending his formative years in Ft. Wayne, IN, Jim followed the love of his life to southeast Iowa where they married and have spent the majority of their lives. Jim has pastored several churches throughout his life and has worked many years in local factories to help support his family. The father of two married adult children and one son still at home, Jim is a first-time author.

C Through Marriage came into being through many years of pastoral and life experiences. The book first took on a life of its own over 20 years ago when I sought to address the much publicized moral failures of prominent leaders in the church. In the chapter on Chasity, I include the guideliness that I developed then to protect one's self from such failures.

I am a firm believer in order to make sense out of life you have to use much common sense. We need to get back to the basics of what has worked for many, many generations. If is isn't broke, why try to fix it? I strive to return to the basics of what really works in all my writings.