Wed., 11/30/16 Devotion (2 Pet. 2:19b)

Today's encouragement comes from 2 Peter 2:19b, where we read these words:

" . . . for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bon-dage."

All of us are in "service" and "bondage" to someone. The way to know who this being is, is to ask oneself, "About whom do I most often think? About whom am I practically obsessed?" The answer to these queries reveals our master.

When the master is another fallen human being (be they good or bad), or a demon, then this is a miserable bondage. When the Master is the King of glory, the Lord Jesus Christ, then this is a liberating "bondage." When the master is self or the flesh, then this is torturous labor. But when the Master is God Himself, then this is sweet service. Let all Christ's faithful churchmen gladly serve under His banner today.

[Puritan quote of the day: "Lord, let the [magnet] of Your Spirit draw my heart upward. Lord, dig the earth out of my heart; teach me how to possess the world, and not love it; how to hold it in my hand, and not let it get into my heart.” —Thomas Watson, in, "The Ten Commandments"]