Devotional Guide -- March 9

Saturday, March 9, 2019
The Seekers: God and Man

“Seek the Lord and live, lest he break out like fire…and it devour, with none to quench it…. Seek good, and not evil, that you may live…. Hate evil and love good…. I hate, I despise your feasts and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies…. Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Amos 5:6, 14, 15, 21, 24

Amos gives us guidelines for seeking God, challenging us to seek with pure hearts and turn away from what displeases God. The consequences of not doing so are pretty severe!

If you read the whole chapter in Amos, you’ll find that he is not speaking about the fires of hell but the destruction of evil on this earth. He says there comes a time when God will tolerate evil no more and will bring destruction – to evil, to those who “abhor truth,” “trample the poor,” and other things God calls sin.

Our part in this drama is to know the word of God well enough to help us define evil. God, speaking through Amos, makes it pretty clear that we cannot live like hell all week and then come in and expect him to be pleased with our so-called worship.

Seek the Lord; love good and truth; hate evil. Our seeking must be heartfelt and sincere. God, according to Amos, has very specific guidelines for our seeking!

Prayer: Father, you have told us that hearts are wicked and can fool even us! Cleanse our hearts from evil and sin, and make our seeking real — of the quality that pleases you. Amen

“I am the resurrection and the life.” John 11:25
Lenten Devotional Guide
prepared for Homosassa United Methodist Church, Spring 2009
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Director