THE STORY OF JESUS: Amos 8-9
“I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted!” (Amos 9:15)
In the beginning, God put humans in a good place, never to be uprooted.
It was not God that caused us to be uprooted, homeless wanderers in the land.
Since then God’s dream has been to re-establish His “very good” kingdom.
God uses Israel to start the process, but they do not live up to the challenge.
They follow Adam and Eve’s example, and surrender themselves to evil.
Every warning goes unheeded, and humanity sinks lower and lower in depravity.
God cannot, and will not, allow sin and immorality to be established.
But neither will God fully give up on His plan for us, and creation.
He will restore His garden, and He will plant His family in it again.
Jesus is the first God-like human to refuse sin and Satan.
Jesus is planted on earth, and nothing – not even death – can uproot Him.
As Jesus followers, we trust in Jesus to plant us too.
As Jesus followers, we join Jesus in planting goodness in the land.
Am I living the kind of life God wants to plant, or uproot?
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, You have saved me from selfish living. You have called me to selfless living. Help me to do more than just stop sinning; help me to flourish with goodness and blessing!
How do we/I live?
Am I the same as the people around me?
How am I an epistle of the Lord that others may see Christ Jesus living in me?
I need to be n instrument of His peace
as the Lord restores/redeems His creation
and rebuild it as it used to be.
God is my helper as I serve Him in His kingdom
and He will empower me as I continue to live for Jesus.
Living for Jesus a life that is true,
Striving to please Him in all that I do;
Yielding allegiance, glad-hearted and free,
This is the pathway of blessing for me.
O Jesus, Lord and Savior,
I give myself to Thee,
For Thou, in Thy [redemption],*
Didst give Thyself for me;
I own no other Master,
My heart shall be Thy throne,
My life I give, henceforth to live,
O Christ, for Thee alone.