The worldly beg us through commercials, literature and even the news to look to the sinful world and it’s lotions and potions to make us happy. The world can never offer true peace and joy, because the world doesn’t offer God’s truth; instead it offers up Satan’s lies. My dear, sweet and feisty friend Shar, who is now forever praising Jesus in heaven, said over and over again that every idea offered is either the truth of God or a lie of the devil.

God’s truth says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). In short, in our sinfulness we can never measure up to truly glorifying God (which is our purpose), and therefore we sin (miss the mark) of glorifying God.

So are we doomed to fail? Not if we accept His free gift of grace, which we receive “through faith in Jesus Christ” (Rom 3:22), then the Lord “justifie[s] [us] freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation [atonement] by His blood, through faith” (Rom 3:24-25a). 

So as those who have come by faith to the Father through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ–the only way to the Father (John 14:6), what is our proper response to our gracious and merciful Lord? “He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8)

We are to stay in God’s Word, which is the sword of the Spirit (Eph 6:17) given to us so that we can write His mercy and truth in our hearts (Prov 3:3). We are promised that the Lord will be our light; Jesus will plead our case and bring us forth to His light so that we will see His righteousness (Micah 7:8-9). It is His righteousness that covers over our sin so that we can come boldly to the throne of grace to receive mercy and grace in our times of need (Heb 4:16). “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Eph 2:8-9)

How do we as sinful creatures love mercy, be justified and walk humbly with the Lord? We trust in the One Who Created us, and breathed His own breath into our lungs. “Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.” (Ps 37:3-4) I found myself mulling over what it means to feed on the Lord’s faithfulness, which is what causes Him to be steadfast, unchanging, true, constant. He won’t leave. He won’t change. His faithfulness will sustain and carry us through each day, no matter what the day brings.

As we delight ourselves in His faithfulness, then a relationship with Him is what becomes the desire of our heart, and He will happily give Himself to us when we search for Him with all our whole heart (Jer 29:13). In our relationship with Him, we can trust that He is always faithful and will never leave us. “Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, And your justice as the noonday.” (Ps 37:5-6)

Lord, thank You for Your faithfulness that never changes. Thank You for continually sending Your Spirit to remind us of things You have shown us previously, to be our helper in discerning the truth of Your Word. Lord, we ask that Your will be done in our lives so that we may be used as Your vessels here on earth so that You will be glorified. In the precious name of Jesus, amen.