Devotion for Monday, March 2
Romans 4:1-17 | We say that faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness.
Do you know anyone with an ”attitude?” Buy attitude today we usually mean an emotional position in life, like a ”chip on the shoulder,” a perpetual spirit of bitterness, or chronic self-pity. When I worked in a drug rehab years ago, they used to tell the residents, “turn your attitude to gratitude!” (Not sure that was very effective).
In the Bible there are two fundamental attitudes—taking and receiving. The “natural man” (1 Cor 2:14) sees life as an obstacle course, to be won through, as in the bumper sticker, “whoever dies with the most toys, wins.” It is normal and universal to get, or try to get, one’s desires; to achieve or ”realize” fulfillment. The attitude here is anxiety, and the keen, over-mastering desire to control.
The other attitude in scripture is receiving. The open (vs. defended) spirit of letting God be God in one’s life. It is to us the most precious thing in the world, the attitude of humility, and ultimately faith. Abraham did not know where he was to go. He consciously “let go and let God.” God called him righteous because of that.
PRAYER
Dear God let me be
a receiver of your love.